"Why are we doing this?" Kethros pauses. He looks over the boy's uniform, decorated at the breast with a patch the military hands out to all the soldiers assigned this kind of duty.
...
"Nicholas," Kethros says, "you can either ask that question or wear the uniform, but you can't do both."

Omar El Akkad wrote about such a powerful image we all associate with the refugee crisis and made a bold decision with the ending that it feels wrong to to rate this book lower, but for me it was certainly closer to "it was okay" than "liked it".

Understanding the ending helps wash away the grievances I had about the characters, motives and the entire after moments of the book but only just.