“Mercilessly, masterfully nails its target. . . . Astonishing. . . . A discipline of craft and sensitivity to place that do for Central Asia what Paul Bowles did for North Africa.”
–The Chicago Tribune
“[Bissell’s] wit and dry-eyed compassion are on ample display, along with a precocious capacity for invention that would put most golden codgers to shame. . . . These stories are one more proof of a stunning and prodigious talent.” –Los Angeles Times Book Review
“Terrific. . . . Scabrously funny. . . . Dazzling. . . . ‘A’.” –Entertainment Weekly
“Bissell has a keen awareness of human loneliness — what O’Connor defined as the mark of great short story writers. . . . [He] reveals himself to be not only a subtle craftsman but also a mordant observer of a new generation lost in a complex and dangerous world.”
–The New York Times Book Review
“Gobsmackingly great . . . Bissell traverses the landscape of modern war, and he does it with the tough bluntness and literary assurance of a young Hemingway.” –Outside
“Razor-sharp, blackly comic. . . . Bissell always avoids easy cynicism, dotting each bleak plot twist with big-hearted detail and pitch-perfect humor. This is fiction full of friction . . . [and] it’s a thrill to watch the sparks fly.” –Newsweek
