This Iraq War vet’s debut novel is provocative and right

While deployed to Iraq in 2007, the U.S. Army's then-Captain Matt Gallagher started a blog called Kaboom that quickly became very popular ... and controversial -- so controversial, in fact, that the Army shut it down.

After he separated from the military, Gallagher compiled the best of the blog into his 2010 memoir, "Kaboom: Embracing the Suck in a Savage Little War."  He has since written for the New York Times, The Atlantic, The Daily Beast, and Boston Review, among others. Now, with an Master's degree from Columbia, he's writing fiction. This week saw the debut of his first work of fiction, "Youngblood: A Novel."

The U.S. military is preparing to withdraw from Iraq, and newly-minted lieutenant Jack Porter struggles to accept how it's happening—through alliances with warlords who have Arab and American blood on their hands. Day after day, Jack tries to assert his leadership in the sweltering, dreary atmosphere of Ashuriyah. But his world is disrupted by the arrival of veteran Sgt. Daniel Chambers, whose aggressive style threatens to undermine the fragile peace that the troops have worked hard to establish.

Irreverent but dedicated like a modern day Candide, Jack struggles with his place in Iraq War history. He soon discovers a connection between Sgt. Chambers and and a recently killed soldier. The more the lieutenant digs into the matter, the more questions arise. The soldier and Rana, a local sheikh's daughter, appeared to have been in love and what Jack finds implicates the increasingly popular Chambers.What follows finds Jack defying his command as Iraq falls further into chaos.

Gallagher's storytelling is compelling and his characters are vibrant. "Youngblood" immediately immerses the reader into the Iraq War, defying genre and perspective. We equally see the war from the soldiers who fought there and the Iraqis who lived it, while Gallagher weaves a narrative that is engaging, thoughtful, and thought provoking.

"Youngblood: A Novel" is on sale now.

Editor's note: Catch Matt Gallagher's Reddit AMA or read his recent opinion piece in the New York Times welcoming us to the "Age of Commando," where he describes the public fascination with special operations forces in the military today.