Brendan Bennett Bennett itibaren San Martín de los Cansecos, Oaxaca, Meksika
From page one, Andrew Smith's new novel IN THE PATH OF FALLING OBJECTS takes the reader by the throat and holds on tight. Maybe that's an exaggeration. And maybe it implies reading the book is not a good experience, which isn't true. So let me rephrase. Smith's new novel hits the ground running, thanks to the vulnerability of his protagonist Jonah (and his younger brother), and the brutal intensity of the story's psychotic villian, Mitch (who looks, in my imagination, like Charlie Manson, perhaps thanks to the novel's Vietnam era setting). Some of its early readers have called the book creepy, and it is definitely filled with mayhem and danger. But it's more than creepy. It's thoughtful and thought provoking -- full of emotional twists and turns. GHOST MEDICINE, Smith's first book, was beautifully written but came to a boil very slowly. ...FALLING OBJECTS proves the new novelist has more than one trick up his sleeve. It makes me eager to see whatever might come next. A MUST for anyone shopping for a book for reluctant male readers. A real page turner, all the way around.