Engaging read from an author with first hand experience, which came through in the writing. This made me want to read the authors journalistic pieces and non-fiction writing to gain further insight into this war and foreign correspondence.

A book that felt very current with the current war. Maybe a bit too current. I feel like the emotions hit me as I read – even though this was sort of a dark humour vibe sometimes – the weight of it all was felt.

It was an engaging read.

Grateful to NetGalley and Europa Editions for the ARC.

This novel is a satirical commentary of international journalism coverage in conflict zones. In 2012, Sara Byrne is in Gaza after the death of her father and the breakup of her affair with his married editor. Trying to advance her career, she over-promises stories to her editor and goes through increasingly desperate measures to deliver an intense story that will set her apart from the rest of the corps of journalists covering the conflict.

I thought this novel was really timely and thought provoking. Sara was deeply unlikeable as a character, but at the same time it was easy to see how her callous outlook on an oppressed people arose from a privileged upbringing and the repeated exposure to violence and atrocities that comes from reporting from an active conflict zone.

3.75/5 stars

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an eARC of this book!

Vulture by Phoebe Greenwood is a dark satire about the world of war journalism. Set in Gaza in the 2010s, this book takes an unflinching look at the lengths journalists will go to to "get the story," no matter the human cost. The main character, Sara, is highly unlikeable. She seems to have little care for the consequences of her actions and little emotional depth for the plight of Palestinians. But her actions reveal truths about the "spectacle" of war and how easy it is to lose sight of the human toll of war.

For me, this book was a gut punch - difficult to read, especially given the devastation in Gaza now. But that makes it all the more timely. However, I really did not care for the backstory on Sara and the flashbacks to her time in an affair. It took me out of the story, removed me from the urgency of what was going on in Gaza.

(oh boy, I don't want to be the first one to review this book... or any book! But I guess that's the danger with Netgalley)

An excellent insider's view of the complicated, dangerous, dirty, dark world of the Gaza conflict from someone who was actually there (I looked her up around the midpoint; she seemed way too spot-on to just be going off secondhand stories). The opening felt like more of a nonfiction book, but it quickly settled into a fiction groove that didn't let up for the rest of the story. Well-written and puts you right into the action.