About John

John Lawson is a military analyst, a former journalist, and a former Marine. His novel, Kurtz, is published by MilSpeak. John’s previous two books are Talking To Girls About Football, a collection of short stories, and Tom Landry and Bill Walsh, a nonfiction book featured in an NFL Films documentary. John has degrees from Maryland, Florida, and Washington & Lee. He lives in Northern Virginia with his wife, Beth McMurtrie. They have two children.

About KURTZ

Annie Kurtz joins the Marines, makes a split-second decision her superiors never wanted her to make, and wrestles with whether she should have followed her orders or her conscience. Nick Willard has pined for Annie since they were both prep school students. After he becomes a successful journalist, he discovers that America’s war in Afghanistan has changed the schoolgirl he deified. Their story explores the tensions between love and friendship, and those between morality and law. Nick and Annie come of age, and they suffer the psychological traumas that result when war makers sweep reality under a rug of ridiculous details.

What People Are Saying About Kurtz

“A romantic thriller oozing with maturity and insight.”

Gary Shteyngart, New York Times bestselling author of Super Sad True Love Story

“Kurtz is an all-American love story set against the rise of the post-9/11 national security state. John Lawson deftly mixes youthful romance with foreign intrigue as his novel probes the dark corners of America’s forever wars, telling a tale of a consuming love between an aspiring journalist and ambitious Marine. It’s a bit like reading Graham Greene’s Quiet American, but narrated by the earnest young American rather than the jaded old Brit. A mesmerizing read.”

John Delury, author of Agents of Subversion: The Fate of John T. Downey and the CIA’s Covert War in China

“A shrewd analysis of the military industrial complex, the dangers of groupthink, and the importance of moral courage, packaged in a compulsively readable love story—plus a dash of intrigue! Annie Kurtz is the hero we need right now: a fierce young woman who’s committed to a cause but not afraid to ask important questions, even when answers don’t exist. As a female Afghanistan veteran and former military journalist, I encountered many of the absurdities John Lawson captures so brilliantly. Nearly every page left me laughing, eye rolling, face-palming, and exclaiming, ‘YES!’”

Lauren Kay Johnson, author of The Fine Art of Camouflage

“In Kurtz, John Lawson has accomplished the rare feat of weaving a biting critique of the military-intellectual complex into a moving love story. It is a knowing account of war, love and longing.”

Ray Locker, author of Nixon’s Gamble and Haig’s Coup

“I read alarmingly little fiction but I devoured Kurtz in two sittings. Rollicking, authoritative, and alternately painful and laugh out loud funny, it will resonate with journalists, veterans and anyone who has encountered an impossible choice or navigated mind-numbing bureaucracy. It deftly captures the fog of the war, the agony of young love and the murky decision-making processes each can lead to. (My job is all about seeing around corners, but I did not see the twist coming with this one.) The novel starts out deceptively breezy with dishy dives into prep school and country club machinations and by the time you’re having too much fun to turn back, well, strap up. Authored by John Lawson, who did a tour in newspaper journalism before becoming a United States Marine, it is positively cinematic and I demand that Netflix, Hulu or Amazon Prime adapt it immediately! Until that happens I strongly encourage you to check it out.”

Jennifer Brett, deputy managing editor of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution

“It’s an old story: Men go off to war and women wait to receive them if they return, however changed. Kurtz turns that ancient verity on its head. Nick Willard is a callow kid when he falls for older woman Annie Kurtz, and the author depicts him warts and all as he struggles to grow up and find his way into Annie’s arms even as she embarks on a career with the Marines. Against a backdrop of military absurdity and the horrors of the Afghan war, they seek justice and learn how to make peace with compromise.”

Valerie Nieman, author of In the Lonely Backwater

“What a ride! Feels like Nicholas Sparks meets Joseph Conrad. John Lawson has conjured a fascinating book about the Global War on Terror, falling in love and moral courage. Kurtz is a thrilling mystery and a fast-paced romance, but it’s also a cri de coeur for bravery and empathy to a country that has lost its way. If you want a novel with a heart and mind and a keen critique of American foreign policy, find Kurtz.”

M.C. Armstrong, author of The Mysteries of Haditha and American Delphi

“It’s extremely rare that I read a novel about women in the Marine Corps and see myself in the writing, but Lawson’s book beautifully captures the layered complexities and contradictions of what’s fair in love, military service, and war so beautifully, it makes it all feel real. Finally, a fictional woman Marine leader and protagonist who is anything but a victim but is fully human in her flaws, her decisions in combat, and her truths.”

Kate Germano, author of Fight Like A Girl: The Truth behind how Female Marines are Trained

“Kurtz is a compelling, multi-layered love story and thriller. Set against the Global War on Terror, it draws inspiration from Heart of Darkness and Apocalypse Now and their critiques of imperialism, but it is thoroughly original, beginning with its nuanced portrayal of Annie, a woman fighting to make a place for herself in the male-dominated world of the Marine Corps while remaining true to herself. Kurtz offers sharp insights into the naivete and moral obtuseness of post-9/11 military and security doctrine and also the challenges and complexities of being a thinking, moral grownup in a dark, often absurd world. It’s mature in its take on love and politics, with a conclusion that is satisfying in being, appropriately, neither simple nor easy.”

John Cochran, author of Breaking into Sunlight

“This novel tackles so many real issues: government corruption, poor leadership, sexism, PTSD, women in combat and more. And while it is more explicit than most books I read, I tore through this book in less than a week. I also love that it highlights the story of a woman Marine. Thanks John Lawson for writing this book.”

Amanda Huffman, host of Women of the Military Podcast and author of A Girl’s Guide to Military Service

“It’s very nice…a spicy read.”

Jummy Olabanji, co-anchor of Washington, D.C.’s News4 Today

“Kurtz is amazing…Anyone who spent any time around [the Global War on Terror], anyone who cares about a woman who is a Marine, anyone who wants to grapple with ethics, the law and morality…[this] is for you.”

Kyleanne Hunter, former Marine attack helicopter pilot

“Lawson’s story benefits from his years as a military analyst, news reporter, and Marine.”

Michelle LaFrance, book review editor for HillRag