Soldiers who can write are as rare as writers who can strip down a machinegun in 40 seconds, but Patrick Hennessey is one of the few Sunday Times High-tempo, full-on ... honest and revealing ... a memoir brimming with vinegar and testosterone Evening Standard The military memoir of the moment Times A very fine book, a powerful dispatch from the front line ... what impresses is the sheer candour and immediacy Spectator An extraordinary memoir ... Hennessey has a reporter's eye for detail and a soldier's nose for bullshit Guardian Outstanding ... A classic of its kind William Boyd, Sunday Herald, Books of the Year Harrowing and frequently funny ... sparkles with wit, wisdom and boyish glee ... His generation owns the war Times Must rank as the most accomplished work of military witness to emerge from British war-fighting since 1945 Independent Remarkable ... conveys vividly what it's like to experience combat Jeremy Paxman, Daily Telegraph, Books of the Year An engaging mix of war reporting, stream of consciousness and reflections on the nature of conflict in the twenty-first century Caroline Moorehead, Spectator, Books of the Year All politicians need to read honest accounts of war - at no time more than now - and Patrick Hennessey's The Junior Officers' Reading Club is one of the very best David Cameron, Observer, Books of the Year A vivid account of a rollercoaster tour of duty ... testosterone-charged, expletive-splattered Phil Jacobson, Daily Mail A compelling read ... Hennessey's book ought to be read by all officers that have yet to experience combat ... He has written an important portrait of contemporary warfare and the nature of battle - a portrait that can claim a line of descent from Sassoon's Memoirs of an Infantry Officer Will Pike, British Army Review