This collection by the playwright, Dan O'Brien reads as much like a collection of dramatic monologues that could easily come from his play, The Body of an American. The speaker in this collection captures a voice based on Paul Watson, the Canadian war journalist. What seems to make this collection succeed is the lack of intrusiveness by the poet. The reader feels this is the journalist speaking directly without the flash bang pyrotechnics of formal poetry. It is the disappearance of the poet, letting the reader see the thing itself, that makes this a success, even intersecting with moments of history and personae, a body dragged through the streets of Mogadishu, or the connections to Kevin Carter and the Bang Bang Club.

Some passages are plain haunting, such as this ending to "The War Reporter Paul Watson on War Reporting":

"If you get the truth,
you get out. But you don't, it just gets worse,
the darker it gets. As opposed to what,
being like you, I suppose. Right? Who Cares?
Let's watch some more TV. Let's drink some more wine.
As long as I'm safe I don't need to do
a thing. You see, this is why I don't talk
to anyone. People ask me questions
they don't want the answers to."

A book well worth the time.
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