The Fighter

"You will not be disappointed." - Daily MailFrom the author of Desperation Road, longlisted for the CWA Gold Dagger Award 2017The acres and acres of fertile soil, the two-hundred year old antebellum house, all gone. And so is the woman who gave it to him. The foster mother who saved Jack Boucher from a childhood of abandonment now rests in a hospice. Her mind eroded by dementia, the family legacy she entrusted to Jack is now owned by banks and strangers. And Jack's mind has begun to fail, too, as concussion after concussion forces him to carry around a notebook of names that separate friend from foe.But in a single twisted night Jack is derailed. Losing the money that will clear his debt with the queen of Delta vice, and forcing Jack into the fighting pit one last time the stakes nothing less than life or death. Praise for Michael Farris Smith'An elegantly written, perfectly paced novel about a man and a woman, indelibly marked by violence' - Ron Rash, NYT bestselling author of Serena and The Cove'Every once in a while an author comes along who's in love with art and written language and imagery... writers like William Faulkner and Cormac McCarthy and Annie Proulx. You can add Michael Farris Smith's name to the list' - James Lee Burke, New York Times bestselling author of Creole Belle and The Tin Roof Blowdown'Cinema written all over it... A particularly good novel if you like whispering 'Sh*t...' in an incredulous voice' - Shortlist'One of those wonderful and rare books that's both a page turner and a novel of great depth and emotion. The Fighter is Southern Noir at its finest ' - Ace Atkins, bestselling author of the Quinn Colson series'The Fighter is a book I wish I'd written but am deeply grateful I got to read. It is a masterful portrait of place and character and how one influences the other, with language that is both brutal and tender at once' - Attica Locke, author of Black Water Rising and Pleasantville

Michael Farris Smith is the author of Desperation Road and Rivers and is the recipient of the 2014 Mississippi Author Award. His short fiction has twice been nominated for a Pushcart Prize, and his essays have appeared in the New York Times, Catfish Alley, Deep South Magazine, and more. He lives in Columbus, Mississippi, with his wife and two daughters.