James Phelan returns to Sydney from Afghanistan escorting a coffin with an Australian flag draped across it and the body of a mischievious young soldier, Samuel Robert Beckett, resting inside.

Phelan, aged 50, has risen to a senior rank in the army but sees himself as an ‘armchair officer’ – he’s never experienced active combat. To rectify this, he deploys himself to a remote base in the Uruzgan badlands to accompany a simple mission on the front line. But what should have been an in-and-out job turns deadly when Taliban forces find out a senior brigadier is with the soldiers. They attack. Phelan watches Beckett bleed out. Upon his return to Sydney, Phelan visits a tattoo parlour to etch a tribute to Beckett onto his skin. He makes a fast and intense connection with his tattoo artist, Kira, who has a Celtic warrior woman tattooed on her arm. This connection threatens his already unsteady marriage.

The War Artist follows Phelan over years as he deals with the death of Beckett and the blame directed at him. The book explores PTSD, nationalism, and how the Afganistan War – the longest running war Australia has ever been involved in – affects those embroiled in it. Simon Cleary’s writing is excellent and clear, and short chapters drive the novel forward. This is a thrilling and thought-provoking book, and in Simon Cleary I feel as if I have discovered a brilliant and under-appreciated Aussie author.

Reviewed by Angus Dalton