RILEY LIBRARY ADULT

Book of the Month

Bill Lynn's Long Halftime Walk, by Ben Fountain

A ferocious firefight with Iraqi insurgents at "the battle of Al-Ansakar Canal"--
three minutes and forty-three seconds of intense warfare caught on tape by
an embedded Fox News crew--has transformed the eight surviving men of
Bravo Squad into America's most sought-after heroes. For the past two weeks,
the Bush administration has sent them on a media-intensive nationwide
"Victory Tour" to reinvigorate public support for the war. Now, on this chilly
Thanksgiving, the Bravos are guests of America's Team, the Dallas Cowboys,
slated to be part of the halftime show alongside the pop group Destiny's Child.

Among the Bravos is the Silver Star-winning hero of Al-Ansakar Canal, Specialist
William Lynn, a nineteen-year-old Texas native. Over the course of this day, Billy
will begin to understand difficult truths about himself, his country, his struggling
family, and his brothers-in-arms--soldiers both dead and alive. In the final
few hours before returning to Iraq, Billy will drink and brawl, yearn for
home and mourn those missing, face a heart-wrenching decision, and discover
pure love and a bitter wisdom far beyond his years.