All the Ways We Kill and Die

January 11, 2016
Castner, an Air Force Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) officer who commanded bomb-disposal units in Iraq, follows his memoir, The Long Walk, with another account of the harrowing EOD world. This time Castner offers a tautly written, first-person look at the death of another EOD officer, his friend Matthew Schwartz, in Afghanistan in January of 2012. The fatal attack on Schwartz sent Castner on a quest to find the killer, and this wide-ranging investigation—in which he interviewed many Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans, as well as intelligence operators and others in the EOD community—centers on figuring out who exactly planned and executed the killing, and whether it was “unlucky or targeted.” The working theory was that it was a man known as the Engineer, who had been targeting Americans since the start of the Iraq War. Castner writes in the style of a thriller, replete with military and high-technology jargon (a glossary is included). This is a fast-paced, personal tale that examines some little-known aspects of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and how they have influenced the current fight against al-Qaeda and ISIS.

Starred review from January 1, 2016
The search for the story behind an IED death leads to the history of the post-9/11 wars and the lives of the men and women who fight them. Coming to terms with the details surrounding the death of a fallen comrade is often both personal and businesslike. In Castner's (The Long Walk: A Story of War and the Life that Follows, 2012) latest book, it is almost entirely personal. No longer on the job as part of an Air Force explosive ordnance disposal team, the author investigates his friend Matt's wartime death to answer some of his questions and the demons that lived alongside them. Castner already had intimate knowledge of what Matt was doing every day in Afghanistan as part of the EOD team, and he used that foundation to find the personal stories of others who survived IED blasts, men and women who were crucial in the search for "the Engineer" of the bomb and the way war has changed for the current generation of soldiers. Castner's personal drive shines through the investigation, providing an intimacy that draws readers in. Not just along for the ride, readers will be equally invested with the author in finding the elusive man behind the IED technology. Castner does a beautiful job of putting together his puzzle, weaving all the seemingly disparate elements into one cohesive whole. Covering all aspects of his experiences, the author makes learning about a week in the life of a drone pilot as integral to the story as understanding how insurgents target specific military vehicles. Castner's writing is evocative and engaging, completely absorbing from beginning to end. A must-read for military buffs and a should-read for anyone who has given even a cursory thought to the U.S. efforts in Afghanistan and Iraq.

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February 15, 2016
The military's bomb-squad acronym, EOD, stands for explosive ordnance disposal, and Castner was a member. In writing about an EOD friend killed by an improvised explosive device (IED) in Afghanistan in 2012, Castner adopts the voice of an investigator. Visiting people who knew the deceased, Matthew Schwartz, Castner assembles a biographical backdrop for his quest to identify the organizer of the attack, whom he names the Engineer. Fictionalized episodes of the Engineer's activities hint at the outcome of Castner's search, while his depictions of American intelligence and EOD personnel who have hunted for enemy bomb makers illustrate the difficulties and dangers involved. Including a medic, a biometric expert, a Predator drone operator, and others, Castner's interviewees relate incidents of surveillance, combat, and recovery (for the wounded) and burial (for the dead) in IED warfare. Concluding with the EOD community's annual remembrance ceremony at Eglin Air Force Base, Castner solemnizes a small but recently critical section of America's armed forces, and powerfully acquaints readers with the risks run and the sacrifices made by EOD personnel in Iraq and Afghanistan.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)