Quite brilliant

In his elegant, sometimes ornate, prose, Styron balances a loathing of military life with a respect for the human nobility it grants the most unlikely candidates

This group of previously unpublished stories by Pulitzer Prize-winner William Styron crackle with youthful virtuosity

What intrigues here is the way all soldiers, whether or not they ever see combat, still live with the notion: I am expendable canon fodder. And that sort of existential knowledge makes even the toughest Marine pause for thought

This book will be welcomed by admirers of Styron's work

There's such a depth to the characterization and mood here, with doubt, guilt, bravado, lust and more to be felt by the heroes, who of course never fit any such token template

Styron's ornate prose has a wonderful rhythmic flow. The title story, a sultry, white-knuckle sex odyssey across the US, is a particular gem. Told with a frenetic humour that bleeds out into lyrical disquiet, it paints a vivid picture of young men trying in vain to drown out their own death knell

This collection is a jewel-box containing gems of near perfection... She's a consistently superior writer. Do yourself - and literature - a service: Read her

Rose Tremain is a prolific and much lauded writer but here she is at her best

Painful moments of self-revelation are expertly drawn

Striking collection of stories

As you would expect, the stories in this collection involve a certain amount of cultural tourism to the lower depths, undertaken with black humour... Welsh's relish for degradation covers up a strong sentimental streak

Welsh's transcription of Scots dialect is brilliant... Welsh also has a fabulous sense of the absurd... The overall vibe of these stories is dark and grim. And fierily, fiercely funny