Caring Is Creepy

Praise for David Zimmerman's The Sandbox: "[A] gripping first novel....Zimmerman has more in mind than merely getting a hard-luck soldier into trouble. The Sandbox is loaded with an M.R.E. caseful of plot elements, all pulled from Iraq war headlines.... That every question in this novel interrogates every other is one of its great strengths and will keep you turning the pages of its short chapters, as each weaves the insistent first-person mystery of "Why me?" with the larger mystery of 'What are we doing here?'"--New York Times Book Review

"Zimmerman adroitly depicts [Iraq's] isolated moonscape -- a place as liable to produce hallucinations and heat exhaustion as it is to churn up sandstorms that last for days ... Even better is Zimmerman's grasp of grunt speak -- the enlisted man's vulgar poetry.... this book's most searing episodes take place in the minds of these men, in their raging speech and sleepless nights."--Los Angeles Times

"Zimmerman's remarkable debut succeeds both as a realistic portrayal of the current Iraq war from the American perspective and as an energetic thriller.... Zimmerman is a talent to watch."--Publishers Weekly (starred review)