A Line in the Sand

A Novel

By: Kevin Powers

Narrated by: Christine Lakin

In this “spellbinding and totally original thriller” (Philipp Meyer, author of The Son) a lonely veteran’s gruesome discovery throws him right into the face of danger as a twisted investigation unravels the secrets of his dark past.

One early morning on a Norfolk beach in Virginia, a dead body is discovered by a man taking his daily swim—Arman Bajalan, formerly an interpreter in Iraq. After narrowly surviving an assassination attempt that killed his wife and child, Arman has been given lonely sanctuary in the US as a maintenance worker at the Sea Breeze Motel. Now, convinced that the body is connected to his past, he knows he is still not safe.

Seasoned detective Catherine Wheel and her newly minted partner have little to go on beyond a bus ticket in the dead man’s pocket. It leads them to Sally Ewell, a local journalist as grief-stricken as Arman is by the Iraq War, who is investigating a corporation on the cusp of landing a multi-billion-dollar government defense contract.

As victims mount around Arman, taking the team down wrong turns and towards startling evidence, they find themselves in a race, committed to unraveling the truth and keeping Arman alive—even if it costs them absolutely everything.

©2022 Kevin Powers (P)2022 Little, Brown & Company

Critic reviews

"A riveting powerhouse of a book, A Line in the Sand pits two small town cops—and a mysterious Iraqi interpreter whose secrets have already gotten a lot of people killed—against corruption and violence at the highest levels of government. A spellbinding and totally original thriller; Kevin Powers has reinvented himself as novelist yet again.”—Philipp Meyer, author of The Son

“A riveting powerhouse of a book, A Line in the Sand pits two small town cops—and a mysterious Iraqi interpreter whose secrets have already gotten a lot of people killed—against corruption and violence at the highest levels of government. A spellbinding and totally original thriller; Kevin Powers has reinvented himself as novelist yet again.” (Philipp Meyer, author of The Son)

"Sure to rank among the year's best thrillers, A Line in the Sand is a tense, twisting, and thoughtful story of the intersection between grief and greed— and the human lives crushed in the middle. Kevin Powers writes with uncommon grace, delivering the rare novel that is both propulsive and contemplative, calling to mind writers as varied as Tim O'Brien and Michael Connelly.”—Michael Koryta, author of Never Far Away

Suspenseful plot

I enjoyed the unfolding of the story but got impatient with the occasional overdone sentimentality in the descriptions and interactions between characters.

Amazing book beautifully written and narrated. Kevin Powers is an American treasure.

Wonderful suspenseful book lots of twists and turns fantastic landscape descriptions and amazing characters fill the pages.

Well written, well read

Characters, dialogue, plot, pace, images….all excellent!
Many thanks to the author for an excellent read.

Good. Not Great.

I enjoyed this story. But it does involve more than the usual amount of suspension of belief. Sometimes a story is so well-written that I just don't care. But it's hard to ignore once you get too many implausible scenes piling up on each other. The characters were interesting, and I've got to credit the author for creating unique characters that didn't fit into any mold. But sadly, that also meant that many of them didn't light me up, either. In fact, Armand and the female Master Trooper were the only truly inspiring characters for me. The others, while well-developed, just didn't appeal to me personally, either because of weakness, major personality flaws, or whatever.

There were also a ton of characters, which kept me on my toes trying to place everyone. But the author did a good job for the large cast he created. Part of my issue with this story may have been the fact that the author had no problem killing off his darlings. In a book like this, people are going to die, and it's not unusual to lose some characters you don't want to lose. But it was actually getting depressing toward the end. At least for me.

So what am I saying? You're on your own with this one. It's fast-paced and complex with some very well-written characters. But for some reason, it just didn't wow me. You may feel completely differently.

Excellent

Book had an engaging story and the narrator was great. It had a reasonably small number of characters and was easy to follow.

GREAT!!

I finished this in two days, because I could not stop listening to it. I have never written a review befofre.

First time listening to this author

The story was extremely well written and narrated. The character development drug one into the action. I ended the novel by staying up all night. Looking into his other works

Felt like reality

The characters seemed like real people and the story like something interesting that could actually happen. I hope there will be more like this.

Interwoven character life paths

I liked how the various characters life stories pulled together. I did wonder about the odds of the supporting character, Sally, had a connection to the war (the industrial war complex big money some that drove the entire story). Her severe alcoholism was a stretch if you’ve ever known a drunk at the shaky hands level, but it didn’t drag on too long.

Overall the story was engaging, but a bit gruesome. If you like bloody gun and knife violence, you’ll get an extra kick out of this mystery story.

Arthur was able to take a large cast of characters, intertwine their stories, and multiple points of view very well

I like the way the author was able to take a large cast of characters with multiple points of view, wind together their stories to an impactful, climax and satisfying finish. It takes a while to get into the book due to the many characters and stories, but is well worth it. Stories like these of Iraqi civilians and others from conflict zones and veterans are beyond the usual stereotypes and important to tell.