Review: Cherry

Cherry by Nico Walker
Page length: 336 pages
Genre: Crime Fiction, Thriller  
Publication Date: 28 February 2019
Publisher: Vintage Digital
Source: ARC via NetGalley
 
Stars:  4.5 out of 5
 
Link: AMAZON (UK)

 
ABOUT CHERRY
 
Cleveland, Ohio, 2003. A young man is just a college freshman when he meets Emily. They share a passion for Edward Albee and ecstasy and fall hard and fast in love. But soon Emily has to move home to Elba, New York, and he flunks out of school and joins the army. Desperate to keep their relationship alive, they marry before he ships out to Iraq. But as an army medic, he is unprepared for the grisly reality that awaits him. His fellow soldiers smoke; they huff computer duster; they take painkillers; they watch porn. And many of them die. He and Emily try to make their long-distance marriage work, but when he returns from Iraq, his PTSD is profound, and the drugs on the street have changed. The opioid crisis is beginning to swallow up the Midwest. Soon he is hooked on heroin, and so is Emily. They attempt a normal life, but with their money drying up, he turns to the one thing he thinks he could be really good at – robbing banks.
 
Hammered out on a prison typewriter, Cherry marks the arrival of a raw, bleakly hilarious, and surprisingly poignant voice straight from the dark heart of America.

My Review:

There are few novels that make you want to dip your toe into the murky waters of crime, but this is one of them. The prologue starts with a heist. And then chapter one goes back in time to the protagonist's freshman years. Politically the message was strong throughout the middle of the book set in Iraq. Why are we sending young men to war?
 
The last third was set is the US after the long stint in Iraq, and seen through the eyes of PTSD suffering junkie. A lot of his behaviour was reprehensible yet it was told with such candor and charm!
 
I could see this being made into a television series or a film.
 
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
 
Thank you so much the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with a complimentary electronic copy in return for an honest review.