Debut novelist Young deftly maneuvers between Dean's postdischarge life and the corrosive and brutalizing events of his military service and clearly conveys the jarring realities of transitioning from wartime to lifetime . . . humor and perceptive insights mark the storytelling; people he meets want to hear about his war experiences, but what they really want to do is to tell him about their own, or secondhand, war stories. Young . . . delivers a cleareyed, nonsentimental chronicle of the corrosive and far-reaching effects of war and its inevitable aftermath . . . War is hell, but Young shows us that what happens afterward can be worse.

Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

Artful and piercing . . . an essential addition to the literature of war.

Publishers Weekly (starred review)

Young throws readers into Dean's wars with the same tough love as his outstanding memoir, Eat the Apple (2018), writing in rhythmic military shorthand to hypnotizing effect. Dean insists that he's telling us a love story, and in Young's utterly contemporary war novel, he's right, several times over.

Booklist

Young's writing style is staccato, clipped, propulsive . . . the story of a young vet desperate to shed the habits of mind and body that were drilled into him . . . [End of Active Service] reinforces the personal consequences of war and violence: the heavy physical and psychological weight and the habits of mind that are so obdurate and hard to interrupt. Young creates and sustains an unbearable tension.

California Review of Books

Matt Young brilliantly captures the peculiar mixture of pride and sorrow that comes with fighting in our modern wars, and the difficult work of reintegration into civilian life. But more than simply a war story, End of Active Service is a powerful and deeply affecting portrait of the challenges of life and fatherhood, with characters you come to care for deeply.

Phil Klay, National Book Award winning author of Redeployment

Young writes with howling musicality, bounding between Iraq and Indiana with the dexterity of a pro and the mania of truth. The effect is irresistible, hilarious, and poignant when least expected. At once a raw portrait of trauma and a takedown of macho brouhaha, End of Active Service delivers shock and awe on every page.

Jakob Guanzon, National Book Award longlisted author of Abundance