Writers are sometimes advised to write what they know. Author Kevin Powers, who served in the United States Army during the Iraq War, took that advice to heart. In one way or another, each of his novels has involved veterans. The same is true for A Line in the Sand, which was published in 2023 and tells the story of a detective named Catherine Wheel. The wheel is tasked with investigating the murder of a young man whose body was found by Arman Bajalan, a former interpreter who immigrated to the U.S. after dealing with a lot in his early life. After finding the body, Arman learns that he is no longer safe in the U.S. and teams up with Detective Wheel to figure out who is after him and who killed the person whose body he discovered.
Critics have singled Powers out as one of the few people who continue to keep the Iraq War alive in fiction. Mark Athitakis of The Los Angeles Times, who enjoyed the book, wrote in his review that we should "Credit Powers for trying to remind readers of the consequences of war." Kirkus Reviews similarly loved the novel. In their review, they called it "Masterful in its structure and pacing" and "a great read."
