The Fighter

'You will not be disappointed' – Daily Mail

From the author of Desperation Road, longlisted for the CWA Gold Dagger Award 2017

The acres and acres of fertile soil, the two-hundred year old antebellum house, both 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

'Smith's fiction is full of hard people in tough situations, but his obvious love of language and innately rhythmic prose lift his stories to a higher level' – Big Issue

'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