The Surge

by Adam Kovac

Overview

Larry Chandler had done his time in Afghanistan when he was redeployed to Iraq. With only five weeks left, Chandler is assigned a dangerous mission. While his men crave action, Chandler hopes they’ll all make it back alive.

Inspired by his deployments, Adam Kovac’s debut novel is set during 2007’s troop surge, revealing the human cost of achieving military objectives.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781938126413
Publisher:	Engine Books
Publication date:	01/29/2019
Pages:	188
Product dimensions:	5.25(w) x 8.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

Adam Kovac served in the U.S. Army infantry, with deployments to Panama, Haiti, Iraq and Afghanistan. A former journalist, he's also covered the crime and court beats for newspapers in Indiana, Florida and Illinois. Kovac earned his MFA in creative writing from Northwestern University. He lives with his wife and son in suburban Chicago. This is his first novel.

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

“Ever since the United States has been throwing our men and women into combat in Afghanistan and Iraq, novelists have been trying to come to grips artistically with these so-called ‘forever wars.’ Onto this already-crowded shelf of war literature comes one of the best of the bunch: Adam Kovac’s The Surge. It perfectly captures the combat experience — long periods of boredom punctuated by sudden bursts of violence — in prose that never lets up in intensity.”
— David Abrams, author of Brave Deeds and Fobbit

“It is hard to imagine a soldier protagonist more apt for our time than Larry Chandler: physically and emotionally wounded, disillusioned, popping pain pills, and trying to keep raw recruits eager to prove themselves from knowing what he knows of war. In this remarkable debut, Adam Kovac has not only produced a vivid and compelling story about the reality of war, he’s somehow conjured an allegory for where we are in American history.”
— Naeem Murr, author of The Perfect Man

“Adam Kovac has written in The Surge a novel rare in its insight and power. There is no trumpeting of conflict or sacrifice here, no outlandish satire. Instead, Kovac faces the boredom and horror, the drudgery of a forever war, with a steady hand and gaze. Readers will come away from this book shaken, mad, stunned.”
— Eric Shonkwiler, author of Above All Men and Moon Up, Past Full