Casualties — Elizabeth Marro

A heartbreaking and insightful debut novel about the wars we fight overseas, at home, and within our own hearts.

Some come back whole. Some come back broken. Some just never come back...

As an executive for one of the most successful military defense contractors in the country, Ruth Nolan should have been thrilled when her troubled son, Robbie, chose to join the marines. But she wasn't. She was terrified.

So, when he returns home to San Diego after his second tour in Iraq, apparently unscathed, it feels like a chance to start over and make things right -- until a scandal at work tears her away from their reunion. By the next morning, Robbie is gone. A note arrives for Ruth in the mail a few days later saying, “I'm sorry for everything. It's not your fault. I love you.”

Without a backward glance, Ruth packs up Robbie's ashes and drives east, heading away from her guilt and regret. But the closer she gets to the coast she was born on, the more evident it becomes that she won't outrun her demons -- eventually, she'll have to face them and confront the painful truth about her past, her choices, the war, and her son.