First in the trilogy, the book tells of psychiatrist William Rivers who treats British officers suffering from "shell-shock" during WWI. The story becomes his story, also that of the soldiers he tries to heal, all for the stated purpose of sending them back to the front where, in all likelihood, they might be maimed or killed. Enough to make any man question his purpose. Rivers isn't just any man -- he's quite brilliant and self-possessed. So I struggled somewhat to swallow the idea that initially his sense of duty overrode the sheer lunacy of his work's overarching goal. Of course, he does experience some transformation neat the end.

Barker writes fantastic dialogue, sharp, pared down, and smart. And she deals with weighty issues. Two niggling things: first, I didn't feel I got enough of Rivers sense of values and how they were instilled in him such that despite his extraordinay empathy, he willingly sought to repair these men as a doctor, then dispatch them as a soldier, and reconcile those two acts; second, transitions between scenes were often not clearly demarcated, and since there were POV shifts within chapters, this created confusion.

However, a fascinating story, all the more so since Rivers was a real historical figure.