I would like to begin this review by heartily congratulating Michael Farris Smith on writing a book that is so beautifully plotted and exquisitely characterised that I’m already doubting my ability to do justice to the book in this review. I’ll try…

The Fighter is at times so painfully brutal in terms of the physicality of violence that the author presents, but this is tempered by some of the most sensitive and soulful prose that I have encountered for some time. In a throwaway comment on social media I described Smith as the bastard lovechild of Cormac McCarthy and Willy Vlautin, as his writing exudes all the pain, brutality, and baring of the soul of his characters that these two writers excel in. Jack Bouchard- the fighter of the title- is a man metaphorically and physically bruised and battered by the life he has led, and suffering in the wake of bad decisions and wrong turnings that he has made. As he teeters on the edge of financial ruin, and in the face the impending loss of the one person who, to use a boxing analogy, has fought his corner, since his less than stable childhood, we see a man at his lowest ebb. More importantly as dependent as he is on gambling, illegal medication, and fighting the physical effects of a life spent punched and pummelled as a prize-fighter, Smith loads this character with an incredibly strong moral centre, and a man capable of a depth of emotion that his actions and outward appearance belie. Smith plays with our expectations of this character from the beginning, as he moves Bouchard from an almost clichéd portrayal of a punch drunk wastrel, to this incredibly empathetic character. The characterisation of Bouchard is phenomenal, as we experience his extreme lows, and see his increasingly desperate reaching towards a safe haven and stability in his life. The scenes with Maryann, his adoptive mother, and his recollections of the life lived with her, are beautifully poised and incredibly moving, and there is such a melancholic grace about Bouchard as he teeters on the edge of loss. Bathed in pathos, but not cloyingly so, Smith achieves a rare balance between the essential tough masculinity of Bouchard, and the more sensitive core of his emotional regret and sadness – it’s masterfully done.

Parallel to Bouchard, we enter into the less than stable existence of a young woman, Annette, who bears her pain in a strange parallel to Bouchard. As much as he wears the scars of fights lost and won, Annette has chosen to represent her life, and channel her emotions and thoughts with her body art. As we see her initially in the roustabout world of the travelling show, with no sense of permanence of rootedness, her and Bouchard’s paths crossing seems inevitable, opening up a whole other world of emotional bargaining and personal revelation. I liked very much her curious mix of strength and vulnerability, and how, as a reader, we recognise this symbiosis of emotion that Smith imbues in these two characters. Also, with shades of Elmore Leonard, Smith constructs a small band of despicable criminal characters, to whom Bouchard is indebted, replete with their southern redneck mentality, and violent compulsions, to raise the stakes for Bouchard’s survival. They play beautifully in the overarching feel of violence and hopelessness that permeates the book, leaving the reader in hope of more uplifting revelations…

The sultry, suffocating feel of Mississippi drips from every page, and the laconic cadence of the Deep South, resonates in your mind, in the stripped down, bare bones dialogue, that says as much in the gaps that it leaves, as the spaces it fills. The book oozes atmosphere and tension, and as Smith weaves his tale, I would defy you not to surrender to this dark, brutal, but utterly beautiful story with its glimmers of redemption, and the power of human connection. Cannot praise The Fighter enough- highly recommended.

This is an excellent, powerful and affecting book. As in the outstanding Desperation Road, Michael Farris Smith is in the Mississippi Delta examining lives of both desperation and hope.

The central protagonist is Jack Boucher, and ageing cage fighter suffering the effects of multiple injuries and concussions and dependent on painkillers and alcohol simply to survive the day. He returns to his old home town where his loved foster-mother is dying and where debt and brutal circumstance threaten to force him to fight once more.

It doesn't sound very alluring on the surface, but Farris Smith creates a powerful, gripping atmosphere of the struggle for redemption among the threat and violence, and also a convincing, moving portrait of the history of both brutality and humanity which brought Jack to this point. He writes wonderfully, in an almost poetic style at times which both conveys the humanity and pity in Jack's life and also looks unflinchingly at the cruelty and violence. Just as a small example, I liked this fragment: "…the only thing he knew was that he had once been a boy and then he had become a hitchhiker in his own life."

This isn't a light read, but it's utterly absorbing and shows a rare humanity and insight. Very warmly recommended.

(My thanks to No Exit Press for an ARC via NetGalley.)

Once again the erudite Michael Farris Smith writes with poetic lyricism of southern characters in the Mississipi Delta, of lives facing desperation and suffering of biblical proportions, hanging by the last remaining thread in the last chance saloon. The self destructive Jack Boucher is in his fifties, growing up with his foster mother, Maryann, her indomitable strength and love saving him as a child. Now, his beloved Maryann is in the throes of dementia and dying. She gave Jack her home, a family legacy that he lost through accumulated gambling debts, now in the hands of those looking to sell it. Jack's own mind is faltering and failing, unsurprising after his decades as a bare knuckle fighter, suffering concussion after concussion, leaving him addicted to illegal painkillers and forced to rely on his notebook which documents his friends and foes, as his memories wither and decay. However, he cannot escape from his overwhelming guilt, betrayals and regrets as he sets out to save Maryann's home and his soul.

Jack owes money to the all powerful, merciless, and uncompromising Big Momma Sweet, and no-one gets away without settling their debts, if they have any aspirations of living. He has the money, but a cruel twist of fate ensures his money is lost. His path crosses with that of the free spirit that is Annette, a tattooed carnival woman who beckons Jack onto the road towards redemption without reckoning on the dangers that Big Momma Sweet brings. Jack finds himself boxed in, with nowhere to go but back into the unforgiving and brutal fighting ring with his very life at stake. This is a relentlessly dark, atmospheric, bleak and viscerally brutal world for the reader to traverse through with the barest glimmer of light or hope within it. However, the author ensures that it is never less than compelling with his evocative and vibrant prose, rich descriptions and complex characterisation.

Farris Smith has written a memorable novel on a topic that I would not normally contemplate reading, that of a southern fighter. Whilst its darkness, brutality and violence is hard to endure, it captures the setting and trajectory of Jack's life with authenticity. It has a strong sense of location with its people, traditions, southern lives. Farris Smith gives us an outstandingly heartbreaking and powerful narrative of pain, love, intense suffering and redemption. In the background you just might hear the varied heartfelt southern blues tracks playing as the story unfolds, not to mention the telling of biblical stories. Outstanding storytelling and comes highly recommended. Many thanks to Oldcastle Books for an ARC.

A searing, intense tale of masculinity and salvation, filled with abandonment and brutality, lit only dimly by rare human connection and the possibility of love.

Farris Smith has forged something poetic and spare, sidestepping sentimentality, so that Jack Boucher becomes a kind of mythic Everyman - alone, fallen into error, self-destructive, yet somehow still hopeful that he can put things right, that there is an earthly redemption, that something can be rescued.

After his Desperation Road, Farris Smith seems to have emerged as the poet of masculine despair - a short, sharp, stunning book.

Wonderful beautifully written and elegiac book by an incredible writer. The subject matter is dark and the hero, Jack Boucher's situation desperate but the quality of writing is unsurpassed and the book grabs your attention from the opening chapter and never lets go.

His last book, "Desperation Road" was exceptional and this is even better.