The New Republic

Shriver, a National Book Award finalist for So Much for That, which tackles health care, takes on terrorism in her newest novel (which was actually written in 1998 but is just being released now). Reporter Edgar Kellogg is sent to an imaginary outpost called Barba to report on the terrorist activities of the SOB (Os Soldados Ousados de Barba—the Daring Soldiers of Barba). He's replacing the larger-than-life Barrington Saddler, who has mysteriously disappeared. The book's satire is timely; we see reporters hungering for violence, terrorist outfits clamoring for attention, and would-be terrorists rising to positions of respect and prominence. There's also a fascinating plotline that raises the question of whether a terrorist group has to be real to be effective. Less interesting is the main character, a former fat kid and a former lawyer desperate to step out of the shadows of the various men he's idolized. It's hard to care about him; more compelling is the chemistry between him and the elusive Saddler.