“Russell, just released from an 11-year prison sentence, finds anger and revenge waiting for him on the outside. Maben, homeless, broken, and walking along the interstate in the blazing Mississippi heat toward McComb, is forced to make a decision that puts her and her young daughter on the run from the police. In a desperate moment of chance or fate, Russell and Maben's paths cross, their shared past is revealed, and Russell is left to make the ultimate choice. Smith's novel is mesmerizing from its opening pages; you will have to pace yourself while reading it to fully enjoy and appreciate the pitch-perfect language and descriptions that can only come from one who has a masterful command of storytelling.”
— Matt Kelly (W), Lemuria Bookstore, Jackson, MS
“Russell and Maben are at the end of their respective ropes, and when their paths collide one day in the pine barrens of southern Mississippi, only two options remain: endless violence or salvific retribution. Along the way, they bump against a memorable cast of characters equally scarred by past sins and the legacy of cruelty. Forget the labels ‘Southern Gothic,’ ‘antihero drama,’ or ‘literary noir.’ With Desperation Road, Michael Farris Smith arrives triumphantly on the American literary landscape—a landscape striped with dark dirt roads and the redemptive freedom of the interstate.”
— Steve Iwanski, Turnrow Book Company, Greenwood, MS
