Lay Your Armor Down, Michael Farris Smith
Lay Your Armor Down, Michael Farris Smith
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Lay Your Armor Down
A Novel

Author: Michael Farris Smith

Narrator: Mike McColl

Unabridged: 5 hr 24 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 05/27/2025


Synopsis

A "prophetic, propulsive" tale of one mysterious, messianic child with untold powers who draws three desperate souls into acts of mercy and mayhem. (Scott Blackburn)

An old woman, riddled with dementia, walks off into the woods in the middle of the night. A light in the wood draws her to a campfire with two strange, dangerous men, one young and one old, who are there plotting a crime of as-yet-indeterminate purpose. The two men have a job to do. They are hunting something precious but have only been told: you’ll know it when you see it. When they arrive at the place, an abandoned church cellar in the burned-out countryside, they find an answer they never could have predicted. Now, the job feels dubious, one that’ll surely bring them to ruin. Yet if they’re to go against orders, no step can be undone, and nothing can be taken back.

In spare, imagistic prose, Lay Your Armor Down reduces the epic to its most elemental. It charts the course of several broken people, all outrunning danger’s dark fingers, and all brought together for one last chance at redemption.

About Michael Farris Smith

Michael Farris Smith has been awarded the Transatlantic Review Award, Brick Streets Press Short Story Award, Mississippi Arts Commission Literary Arts Fellowship, and the Alabama Arts Council Fellowship Award for Literature. He is a graduate of Mississippi State and the Center for Writers at Southern Miss. He lives in Columbus, Mississippi, with his wife and two daughters. Rivers is his first novel.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Karen on January 09, 2025

Loved it! Micheal Farris Smith is a master at grit-lit! Two men.. one young one old, are doing a job for some dangerous men.. to hunt down something precious but they have no idea what it is.. they are told they “will know it when you see it” it is a “someone’ that they come across… a child in the ce......more

Goodreads review by Norma ~ The Sisters on May 31, 2025

Lay Your Armor Down by Michael Farris Smith Expected Publication: May 27, 2025 Genre: Literary Fiction / Southern Gothic Format: Digital ARC Haunting, suspenseful, and unnerving! This novel swallowed me whole from the first page and didn’t let go until the very last word. It is packed full of anticipatio......more

Goodreads review by Sue on May 27, 2025

Lay Your Armor Down, the latest book from Michael Farris Smith, once again follows travelers on back roads of Mississippi. This time it’s two men who live on the edge of life, skirting law and trouble as they earn money where they can. Not quite bounty hunters but living on the shady side. to be con......more

Goodreads review by Bam cooks the books on May 22, 2025

As a big fan of Michael Farris Smith's Desperation Road, I couldn't wait to read his latest work. It starts out strangely, with a demented old woman gathering random bits and pieces of her life into a plastic bag before leaving her house and wandering into the night. When she approaches two men sitt......more

Goodreads review by Ethan on May 29, 2025

An irresistible mix of Stephen King and Cormac McCarthy and has to be one of my favorite reads of the year. It’s a slim book that flys by but weighs just as heavy.......more


Quotes

"LAY YOUR ARMOR DOWN, is an exceptional exploration of the existential malaise that drives us to find our paths in a cruel and indifferent world. Not to be missed"—S.A. Cosby, bestselling author of ALL SINNERS BLEED

"It’s not a surprise that Michael Farris Smith is also the front man for a rock-n-roll bar band. His sentences stalk the stage, flamboyant and visceral and howling, the choral heights of call and response. He possesses a conductor’s mastery and a lead singer’s swagger, and Lay Your Armor Down demands that you pay attention."
 —Wright Thompson, NYT bestselling author of THE BARN and PAPPYLAND

"Lay Your Armor Down is a prophetic, propulsive tale that is sure to leave its lasting mark on the Southern gothic cannon. Smith is at his best in these pages, his signature prose rendering   a work as dark and beautiful as a summer storm. This novel is a masterclass in storytelling, with characters that are uniquely unforgettable, and an ending that’s well worth the journey."—Scott Blackburn, author of IT DIES WITH YOU

"Michael Farris Smith’s Lay Your Armor Down is a work of divination. The magic sticks with you long after you’ve read the last page. It’s his best one yet."—Mark Westmoreland, author of A VIOLENT GOSPEL

"Michael Farris Smith’s stories are constructed with the kind of patience and artistry that would be used when making a patchwork quilt. Never too on the nose, his characters leave you yearning to discover what makes them tick. LAY YOUR ARMOR DOWN is the kind of ‘edge of your seat’ and ‘can’t put it down’ stuff that keeps us reading instead of scrolling."—Charlie Starr, lead singer for Blackberry Smoke