Salvage This World

This is a very hard novel for me to review. I was torn between a 4 and a 5 rating, so let's just say I give this a 4.5. This is my first by Michael Farris Smith, but I don't think if will be my last. He has a very unusual writing style and I am definitely interested in reading more of his books. Salvage This World has some strong and flawed characters who are believable and from the very beginning I was drawn into this and couldn't put it down. In the hurricane ravaged bottomlands of south Mississippi, stores are closing and jobs are few and people have to do whatever they can do to carve out an existence. Most people have left and those who remain are very strong individuals who know how to survive. In this setting, a fierce religious zealot has gained a following and is preaching a salvation from an unknown girl child, but in the shadows she sows violence. Jessie and her toddler, Jace are on the run across the Mississippi Louisiana line in a hastened, but not welcome return to her estranged father, Wade. Holt, Jace's father, is missing and hunted by a ruthless crowd and has disappeared. In only a matter of days their lives will collide in the midst of the wildness of a changing world full of hurricanes and devastation. This story is very profound and kept me reading. I still can't stop thinking about it long after the final page was read. This one will stay with me for a long time.