The Fighter

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.

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.