A candid and unsettling account of the author’s work as a government contractor in Iraq charged with interrogating detainees in Baghdad, Fallujah, and Abu Ghraib.
Some of Mr. Fair’s descriptions of Abu Ghraib and the National Security Agency facilities at Camp Victory recall the absurdities of Catch-22 and Animal Farm, but here the sense of the absurd is infused with real horror and injustice ... [a] profoundly unsettling book.
Fair has a compelling, matter-of-fact voice. He never shirks responsibility or offers excuses while recounting his struggles with alcohol, marital strains and mental health ... This lean, well-edited memoir gratefully leaves out politicized commentary. Fair gives us simply a record of what happened.
In Consequence, a disturbing twist on a coming-of-age story, Fair learns about his own life and about his country — and also about the desire to hurt and humiliate other people ... This sparsely written and moving book is about silence. Fair expresses regret for the times when he didn’t speak out, allowing detainees to be abused.
