Fives and Twenty-Fives

Starred review from June 16, 2014
Two-tour Marine veteran Pitre’s affecting debut delivers an unflinching portrait of the Iraq war, both through flashbacks to the conflict and stories about its principal characters once they have returned home. The novel’s protagonists are 1st Lt. Peter Donovan, who receives a Bronze Star Medal after defending a downed American helicopter’s crash site under heavy fire in Ramadi; Lester “Doc” Pleasant, a medic dishonorably discharged for developing a dependency on his own supplies after witnessing a roadside IED explosion and the gruesome death of two members of his unit; and Kateb “Dodge” el-Hariti, a former student at Baghdad University who works as an interpreter for Donovan’s team, helping them deal with locals as they clear and reseal potholes containing buried artillery shells. Interspersed with official records and letters between characters, Pitre’s restrained depictions of Doc and Donovan’s wartime doings and their labored readjustment to civilian life—which involves avoiding psychological triggers, drinking too much, and feigning interest in new career pursuits and girlfriends—is praiseworthy. But it’s the nuanced take on Dodge’s divided loyalties—to his family, country, and postwar identity as an activist in Tunisia pressing for President Ben Ali’s resignation—that imbues the novel with depth and integrity. Agent: Rob McQuilkin, Lippincott Massie McQuilkin.

The corrosive psychological effects-and the dark humor-of modern conflict are hauntingly captured in Iraq War veteran Pitre's powerfully understated debut.Named after a procedure by which Marine convoys maintain the proper distance from a possible roadside bomb, the novel moves in oddly unsettling rhythms between present-day New Orleans, where members of a bomb-defusing unit uneasily reunite, and Iraq, where they had to contend not only with lethal potholes and a nebulous enemy, but also Blackwater-like contractors who couldn't care less about their well-beings. At the heart of the novel is a gangsta rap-loving, increasingly vocal Iraqi translator nicknamed Dodge, who goes to work for the Americans even as his father and brother plot to kill them-not because they hate them but as a way of hastening their exits from the country. Pitre, who served two tours in Iraq, uses his superior powers of observation and empathy to maximum effect; he knows he doesn't have to overdramatize sudden deaths and betrayals and PTSD. And though Dodge's ongoing study of Huckleberry Finn provides metaphoric weight, Pitre plays down his literary aims in favor of a straightforward, even-keeled narrative. Among the many memorable scenes is one in which Lt. Pete Donovan, his nerves already stretched to the max, upbraids a callow young private security officer in an air-conditioned Suburban for exposing his heat-stricken men to a leaking stockpile of toxic chemicals. The story is told from the alternating perspectives of Donovan; his drug-addicted fellow Marine, Doc; and Dodge. Though the narrative voices of Donovan and Doc sometimes blend together, and the scenes on the homefront, where Donovan gets a job with a money management firm, are a bit undercooked, those are minor flaws in a book in which everything rings so unshakably true.A war novel with a voice all its own, this will stand as one of the definitive renderings of the Iraq experience. COPYRIGHT(1) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

June 15, 2014
A member of the Marines Corps deployed twice to Iraq, achieving the rank of captain, Pitre returned to get an MBA and then write this debut novel about the war experience. It started getting attention when it was picked for the "Summer/Fall Indies Introduce Promotion" at BookExpo America. The platoon featured here is tasked with filling potholes along the highways and byways of Iraq, which sounds like a monotonous task but is filled with constant risk. Every pothole could hide a bomb, and any bomb within five meters will cut straight through armor. Note the eight- to ten-city tour.

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