Publisher's Weekly Review
Returning to her New Hampshire town after serving in Iraq, Liz Mastrangelo is celebrated as a hero, but she feels more like a ghost. She's unable to reconnect with the people in her life, burning bridges left and right, and instead finds companionship with a mutt, Brutus, who reminds her of Ender, a military working dog that saved her life by sacrificing his. Brutus and Liz have plenty in common-both are essentially homeless and tend to explode at those around them. In their first book for teens, Johnson and Egleson craft a powerful, unflinching narrative that tackles a variety of issues connected to the impact of war, including PTSD, sexual coercion, finding new meaning in one's life, and the well-meaning but unhelpful efforts of those who remained behind. The often minimalist backgrounds and careful, naturalistic detailing in Milevski and Stevens's graphite drawings imbue the story with a sense of absence that aligns perfectly with Liz's estrangement. Tense pacing and the speed of Liz's unraveling will hold readers' focus in a sharp-edged portrait of a soldier's struggle to re-acclimate to the civilian world. Ages 14-up. (Feb.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Booklist Review
After a tour serving in Iraq, specialist Elizabeth Mastrangelo finds it difficult to transition back into civilian life. Haunted by flashbacks, Liz only finds comfort working with a troubled dog named Brutus at an animal shelter, hoping to save him from being euthanized. This covers a lot of subject matter, from rape in the military to the treatment of our veterans at home, but at times it takes on so much the core of the narrative gets lost, and it ends up reading like a piece of journalism rather than narrative fiction. Still, it does a good job documenting the struggles of coping with PTSD, and the female perspective of the book is a welcome change of pace. Stevens and Milevski's sketchy artwork, with heavy black ink and shading, is naturalistic, though sometimes distractingly stiff. Additionally, while this is published as YA, the lack of teen characters might limit teen appeal. In the hands of the right audience, however, this could powerfully hit home.--Blenski, Peter Copyright 2017 Booklist
