Thank you so much for the opportunity to read this book. Unfortunately it’s not the book for me. DNF @ 18%.

DNF @ 65%
If I'm going to give up on a book I like to do it at around the 30%-40% mark. As that feels like a point at which I've given the book a fair shot, but also it's still worthwhile to give up and not complete the book for reading challenge. Smoke City really challenged my usual 'rules' for DNF's.
Oddly, I didn't DNF because this is a bad book, but because it just lost appeal for me. I didn't care what happened to any of our characters nor was I intrigued enough by the plot to continue. It just didn't make sense to carry forward.

Plot & Characters
From the blurb for Keith Rosson's book you will know right away there is reincarnation, Joan of Arc and an (mostly) all male cast in Smoke City. Yet it's really a contemporary story with oral journal-esque entries from the executioner of Joan of Arc. If you're thinking what I did; which is no one person really killed Joan, then I suppose you will also be surprised to know (as I was) that only one person lit the fire at her feet on the day of her death. These journal-esque entries are very interesting, a bit gruesome, but well worth the read. Easily my favourite parts of the book.
Instead the contemporary men just didn't do it for me. All of three of them are interesting enough as individuals; I just didn't connect with any of them. Neither did I have any sympathy for them. This may be because I had a hard time relating to these men. Each of them (there are 3 eventually) end up in the car (by fate) on a trip to Los Angeles. So they have little in common with one another. Thus it was hard to figure out why they were even putting up with one another; never mind why I was putting up with listening to each of them whine about their life.
Between one guy that ruined his own life, the young idealist (and naive) teen, and the god obsessed man I just didn't have much in common with them and honestly felt like they were all very self-centered and inconsiderate of those around them.

Similar to
I read a book a number of years ago that I hadn't thought about in a very long time; but certainly Smoke City reminded me of it on several occasions. It's called The Gargoyle by Andrew Davidson. While a totally different story it has many similarities including: leading male character(s), obsession with religion, and grotesque or gory moments that are very descriptive. I think if you liked The Gargoyle you are likely to enjoy Rosson's story.

Overall
Normally I would give one-star to a book that I do not finish but as I don't think this book is poorly written or has massive flaws I am choosing not to rate it at all. Instead I think it just isn't for me. There are lots of reasons for this (as noted above). While I do not attend Christian church anymore I was raised in the Christian faith and have a fascination with religion and people's experiences with it. So I don't think it was the use of religion here that put me off, as it was that I just didn't connect with the overall story. I would try another book by Rosson in the future as the writing and plot was not the core of my issues. It was more about the character choices Rosson made. I'm confident they make sense for the end of the book but I just couldn't convince myself to keep picking it up to read.

Please note: I received an eARC of this book from the publisher via NetGalley. This is an honest and unbiased review.

A quick, entertaining read from a new to me author. Smoke City is at once dark and hopeful, literary and brutal AF. Rosson is an author to keep an eye on.

This started as an interesting concept but never developed into a great read for me. I really wanted to like the book, it had lots of things I love in it, but it ended up all surface with no deeper explorations. It was a fun read, but not one I would recommend.

Thank you NetGalley for my copy of this book! I found the plot unique and difficult to categorize it in any genre. This book is so intriguing and unique that it almost deserves a genre of it’s own, since I can’t quite compare the story to any other book I’ve read. It is well-written, there’s no unnecessary dialogue or boring bits, the characters are interesting and the premise for the plot, including Joan of Arc’s executioner, it’s just one of the most creative storylines I’ve ever had the pleasure of reading. I can’t wait to read other books by Keith Rosson.

This book was provided to me via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Honestly, this was such a pain for me to finish - it took me over two months, which is just ridiculous. But the truth is, the first 75% were just tedious. The last 25% saved the book for me, and are the reason for there being a third star at all. I also absolutely hated Vale for the first 75% of the book, which made his parts a pain for me to read.

Somehow, this story just seemed like a mess to me. There was a bit of history in there, and also a hint of fantasy (that being the existence of the smokes), but mostly it was some sort of personal drama, I guess? In addition to that, there were two characters that the POV mainly shifted between (though there were some chapters that were from yet another character's POV), and one of those was written in first person and the other in third, which was just exhausting. Even more, the two POVs jumped between the respective character's past and the present, as well.

To be honest, the only reason I fought myself to finish this was because I wanted to write a review on it. Of course, my dislike may be a case of "it's not you, it's me". But really, it was just too slow and at the same time tried to be too... much for my taste.

I thought the concept of this book sounded awesome! Marvin Dietz has been reborn over and over again, with all his previous lives memories intact. Ever since the day he lit the pyre that send Joan of Arc to death, he has lived with the awful curse, has borne dozens of children, and watched everyone he loved die as he continued to be reborn. But never to live past his 57th birthday (I can’t remember for sure, but somewhere in his 50’s). When the “smokes” (apparitions) start to show up around the country, a young girl also goes on TV to claim she has been possessed by the soul of the late Joan of Arc. Hoping for a small chance at salvation and forgiveness at Joan’s hand, he hitches a ride with Mike Vale, who is already travelling to CA for the funeral of his ex-wife, to find the girl living there who claims to be Joan. I found Marvin to be a very compelling character, and I would’ve happily stayed within his POV thru the whole story.

Then we get to Mike Vale. Drunkard has been artist with a huge chip on his shoulder. I honestly couldn’t stand reading from his POV. He was obnoxious and lazy, and I honestly couldn’t find it in myself to even feel sorry for him losing his ex-wife. We didn’t even get a POV from Casper, but I liked him more as a character. Casper is a young guy, who is hoping to make it big in California by essentially being a ‘ghost-hunter’ of the smokes that have appeared throughout the country, but mostly in L.A. He hides out in the back of the van that Mike and Marvin stop to have fixed, and it isn’t till much too late to turn around that Mike and Marvin realize he’s there.

Ultimately, all the characters end up finding their own kind of salvation, but nothing is ever explained about the ‘smokes’. Honestly, I don’t even know why that was the central occurrence going on in the story, but I thought it still an interesting concept and wish more had been learned and explained about them.

I’d give this author another try, as I did enjoy about 50% of what this book was about and the characters in it, hence the 3 stars.

Copy received via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Sometimes you just read a book that's hard to explain but which also really clicks with you. Smoke City is that book. So basically Marvin, one of the three MCs, believes that he is personally responsible for executing Joan of Arc many many years ago and that because of doing so, he is cursed to be reborn over and over again. He also believes that his time is up in a few weeks. Suddenly Marvin sees an individual who claims to be Joan of Arc reincarnated, and he is on a mission to find her and apologize. Marvin end up teaming up with Mike, a down-on-his luck alcoholic and once famous artist whose ex-wife just died. California is being overpopulated with ghostly apparitions called "smokes" so the third member of our crew is a wanna-be paranormal investigation named Casper - yes, you can snicker - Casper the ghost hunter!

So all three are on a road trip to Los Angeles for their own reason and honestly, it's been a long time since I've met such a likable group of unlikable characters. These people are flawed - REALLY REALLY flawed, but man, are they fun to read about. Smoke City is a very character driven book and I really became invested in what happened to Marvin, Mike and Casper.

This book may not be for everyone. In fact, every time I look at the cover I think "That book must be really out there." And it is, but man is it a fun trip to an unknown destination.

Keith Rosson's debut novel "The Mercy of the Tide" was a creepy and heartbreaking mystical thriller about life in a small, run-down town. So this was definitely not what I expected from the sequel. I mean, to go from a dramatic horror to an insane magical realism on-the-road book is quite a departure. Which makes Rosson's absolute triumph in this all the more amazing.

The premise here is so wild that it's kind of hard to believe that it actually works. Ghosts of people from the past turning up all over the USA, Joan of Arc's executioner getting reborn over and over and dying in horrific ways, a has-been painter, there are as many plot points at the core of this book that it's tough to imagine how Rosson got the balls to put them together. Let alone had the gall to make this sing.

What makes this all run smoothly is that the novel never stops to do elaborate explanations or question the events that fall onto the character's heads. The heroes never doubt each other and manage to mesh even despite being radically different people, the journey is rocky and entertaining with some non-predictable turns, though it never stoops to the tired cliche of crazy twists. You can easily guess the nature of the "smokes", you can guess how the road will end for the Executioner, and it is not tough to see just how easily this could go wrong if the writing was less restricted.
Rosson knows how hard to push his protagonists, how much of an asshole to make out of Mike Vale . And he pinpoints the exact amount of drama, of, forgive me, shmaltz that is needed to make this not just a story about a martyr, a dumbass, and an idiot. Putting a heart inside this somewhat cynical tale makes it that much more readable and gives it a chance to stay grounded.

There are flashbacks scattered throughout, breaking the downbeat antics to talk about the old France, the life of Marvin as a jazz-loving junkie etc. And despite the fact that they appear frequently and stop the main plot, they still manage to be engaging and pull you in.

I've been putting off writing this because I really don't know how to properly articulate why this works because I just really have no idea why it does. It just does, it's one of those books. And it's easy to enjoy, and it's even easier to start anticipating whatever the hell Rosson plans to do next. Hopefully, it's no less insane.

Have you ever thought, "Every plot has already been used so what's the point in reading (or writing) another"? If so, Smoke City is going to surprise you. No book or movie is anywhere near its plot for imagination and creativity.

Smoke City is a captivating genre-smashing novel. Here are the major genres that are colliding like atoms within this novel:
• Historical fiction (Joan of Arc’s death)
• Horror (ghost story)
• Tragedy (predestination during reincarnation)
• Adventure (adult male bonding during a road trip)
• Literary fiction (famous artist hits the skids)
• Magical realism (see above)
It sounds like it would be a huge mess. But somehow it works!

Half-visible wraiths nicknamed smokes are appearing in Southern California and northern Mexico. Mike Vale, a washed up previously famous artist is desperately trying to get to a funeral in Los Angeles.

Mike picks up Marvin Deitz after Marvin is unceremoniously kicked out of his record store's lease by his shady, possibly mob-connected, landlord. Marvin is convinced that he will die violently before his 57th birthday in a few days. Why? Throughout his multitude of reincarnations, he never lives to 57. Marvin is convinced he is being punished for executing Joan of Arc in 1431. His therapist thinks it is just a delusion. Convinced he has seen the current incarnation of Joan of Arc on a talk show, Marvin is going to Los Angeles in the hopes of finding forgiveness from a woman he has never met--at least in this lifetime.

On the way to LA, the pair pick up a stowaway, Casper. The plot continues to get curiouser and curiouser from there.

Deciding to read this book takes a leap of faith. There is no comparable book or movie to say it resembles. It was written by a relatively unknown writer and published by a small press. However, take this reviewer's advice and read this book. It is truly fantastic and totally different from any other book you will read this year! Kirkus Reviews gushed (for them) that it was "strangely satisfying". It is worth 5+ stars!

I received a free copy in wxchange for an honest review.

Smoke City was completely different from every book I have ever read!!! It was definitely gripping and difficult to relinquish—even for short periods of time. Once I became involved in the plot of Martin, in particular, I NEEDED to know the outcome of his destiny. Until all of the main characters had been introduced, it was a bit confusing at first, but the plot was so interesting that it was certainly worth the time and effort. This novel is a difficult one to categorize, however, because it blends a few different genres together and made its own new format. I was skeptical at first that this might be awkward, so I was pleasantly surprised that it totally worked! (I am trying not to spoil anythjng here, so you should just read it yourself to see what I mean!) Cool book!

I'm speechless. I came into this book expecting something interesting and thought-provoking based on the cover and the blurb, but what I got exceeded my already-high expectations in every single way. I cried and laughed and cried. If you read one book this year, make it Smoke City. It is a dizzy melting pot of genres and subgenres--history, fantasy, paranormal, and contemporary road trip. It had every potential to go off the rails. Instead, Rosson has nailed every single element and given us an unforgettable story that brims with humour, hope, and the small and large truths of our lives.

We are often told that we only get one life in this world, so make the best of it. Live without regrets. But what if we do get more than one life? And what if our regrets follow from one life to the other? These are questions that haunt Marvin Deitz.

Marvin is on the cusp of his 57th birthday. He's the owner of a small record store in Portland, and, apart from his eyepatch, looks like nothing more than a nondescript office clerk. He also happens to be the most recent reincarnated form of Geoffroy Thérage, the French executioner of Joan of Arc. Yeah, you read that right. He believes he's cursed to be reborn again and again, presumably until the end of time, as penance for the sins of his first life.

"The Three Parameters of the Curse:
1) I will die sometime between infancy and my fifty-sixth birthday. I have never, ever lived to my fifty- seventh birthday, in any of my lives.
2) I will always suffer some significant disfigurement or physiognomic alteration sometime between infancy and my first two decades of life. Generally pretty early on. The disfigurement will be something that, to some degree, alters and dictates the pathway of my existence. Loss of limb, birth defect, etc. Losing an eye, as I did in this life, is actually somewhat mundane.
3) When I die, I will without fail die a violent death. No going peacefully in my sleep for this guy."

Marvin retains all memories of his previous lives, all of which are fraught with pain and horror. His past actions haunt him--the prisoners he tortured and the innocent lives he ended. And the heaviest burden of them all: the burning of Joan. Life has become a blur of greys and all he wants is to wait for the next violent death to claim him.

Michael Vale was once a young rising rockstar of a painter. The next big thing in the art world. But he burned too bright, too fast, and got too arrogant. One mistake led to another and another, and before he knew it, his career and personal life were taking a nose-dive. He's neck deep in assault charges, bottles of alcohol, and no longer has the will to paint. Now he works as a cashier at a taco joint, dealing out hatred to himself and to others.

As these two men meet and journey their way to Los Angeles, we alternate between their viewpoints, each chapter short and digestible. We also get flashbacks to Vale's early life and Marvin's many lives, including that of Thérage. The latter provides a fascinating and bleak glimpse into the life of an executioner in the Middle Ages. Short, but told with so much pain, they make up some of the best parts of the story.

Vale and Marvin are a brilliant pair of contrasts and similarities. One mild-mannered and empathetic, the other perpetually brimming with energy and anger. Both wrapped up in regrets and bitterness. Both lost and fractured--shackled by the weight of their past and the off-handed cruelty of life.

You would think that in a story featuring the reincarnation of Joan of Arc's executioner, said reincarnation would be the main draw. And it was, at first. But there was something about Michael Vale and his self-destructive ways that I found equally fascinating. Vale is an unrepentant alcoholic, he's quick to anger, and would sooner pull a punch than talk his way out of a confrontation. Seemingly plucked straight out of a grimdark novel, he's someone you would give a wide berth at parties. Yet his story is one that invites sympathy and sorrow. Because it's so very human. It's mired in self-hatred and a lost love of life that so many of us can relate to. Marvin is the more likeable of the two, and his story is, if anything, even sadder--a string of , of hope dared and crushed. He is a complicated mesh of history and fiction that you won't be able to take your mind off of.

Their quest to find purpose and redemption is one that I was rooting for super hard.

The side characters that orbit these two are all very engaging and I chalk that up to the author's touch for colloquial dialogues. They flow perfectly and they shift effortlessly from funny to moving. Gems like this, for example:

"So what is it that's going to keep you afloat in Kodiak chew and ironic shirts when you're in Los Angeles? Huh, my new friend Casper?"
Casper peered down at his chest. "What do you mean, ironic shirts?"
Vale's eyebrows arched up. "I mean your shirt, man. The bald eagle holding the beer? Driving the truck? It's ridiculous."
"How is it ironic?"
"You mean it's not ironic?"
Casper shrugged. "I don't know. I like trucks. I like beer. Eagles are cool. I like it."

The setting plays as equally an important role as the characters. I think the best road trip books are the ones that take mundane places--a parking lot, a motel, a stretch of farmland--and infuse them with a sense of both the familiar and the strange. Rosson does just that. He has a knack for distilling the heart of a location, a person, a scene, and transcribing them into words. His descriptions of the cityscape and its people are apt and so, so beautiful.

Speaking of strange, the author apparently thought that having the reincarnation of a 14th century executioner for a protagonist wasn't weird enough, so he decided to add ghosts into the mix. In this version of America, smoke spirits (ghosts that resemble smoke, basically) have begun to appear in California and New Mexico. No one quite knows what they are, though plenty of theories are thrown around--everything from Russian scams to signs of the apocalypse. For most of the book, these ghosts exist in the background. It's not until near the end that they merge with the main plot, and the result is well worth the wait.

Smoke City is a story of how much power we give to our pasts. Of how the choices we make too often dictate how we see ourselves for years down the line, sometimes the rest of our lives. How we punish ourselves for our actions, tell ourselves we don't get to have happiness, that it's too late to fix things. How we get trapped in an endless cycle of self- recrimination. And when life beats us down, we tell ourselves we deserve it.
But we are more than the summation of our mistakes. The past can be wielded by its hilt, not the blade.

And it's never too late.

9.5/10

An unusual and interesting book , and one that is difficult to pin down, but definitely one that I enjoyed reading. Beginning with two very disparate story threads , it is a testament to the skill and imagination of the author that by the ending of the book, they have been woven together completely seamlessly,
The central character of the first story thread is Mike Vale, an alcoholic who thew away his marriage and incredibly successful art career, and is now reaching rock bottom, while in the other thread we follow Marvin Deitz, , record store owner, though not for much longer if his landlord has his way, who also just happens to be the reincarnation of the executioner responsible for the burning of Joan of Arc. As punishment for this crime he has been reincarnated over the centuries , suffering many horrific injuries and deaths, and now he feels like the time has come to redeem himself. When both men find themselves on the road to LA both stories wind together in a wonderful, if unexpected way.
It is difficult to pin down the genre of this book, there are some wonderful chapters of historical fiction as we lean about Marvin's original life in medieval France and an element of fantasy in the hints of a ghost story but ultimately this is a book about redemption and is largely driven by the two different but equally intriguing characters.

“Los Angeles, California. Home of Hollywood’s extravagant entertainment industry, where fortunes are made and dreams come true. But that’s not all that makes up Los Angeles. Not anymore. Ghosts— visions and specters— now haunt the city."

Imagine if you will....the year is 1431. & you are Geoffroy Thérage, the executioner who set Joan of Arc on fire. After that you live out the rest of your life believing that you will be condemned for that act. And then, few decades later, you die. But that is not the end. You are reborn.. again, and again, and again. For centuries. Always with a birt defect and always with perfect recollection of all your past lives. And never able to get absolution for the act you committed almost 600 years ago. Until now.

As he's making his way to L.A. to meet a person who's claiming to be Joan, he is picked up by Mike Vale. Once a promising painter, now just a drunk on his way to his ex-wife's funeral. With air travel banned due to "ghost" appearing & scaring people shitless, they are driving through California in search of absolution. Each for their own reasons. Faith has brought them together, and they're about to find out why.

WOW. Keith Rosson. All those great writers that have the ability to capture your attention, not just with a single page but just with their names written on the cover. You pick them up and you know you're about to read something good. Their writing can transport you to the pages, stir emotions inside of you in a way you didn't know a book can. You read and even if the work is fictional it's tangible, it becomes real & it's relatable. Cause we've all been there or know someone who has. It doesn't shy away from the realistic; from the gritty and the dirty. It's free flowing, it's a string of thoughts put on paper so easily, so fluidly. It's a current that will sweep you away & you won't mind. Cause it's something beautiful, something exquisite, something you only hear about, not something that happens to you, so when it does, you get caught up in its beauty. The brush of an artist, the word of a writer. Something magnificent, something to behold and something to get lost in.

Well Keith is one of those writers. Or at the very least he's in his way there. And this book, this book man. Read it, cause its worth getting lost in.

I got a free copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review. And I’ll admit, after the first couple chapters, I didn’t think I’d be giving it five stars, but I read on, and was won over the by the characters, subtle magic and tightly woven plots.

The end to this book left me feeling pretty good -- in fact, this one was one the rare occasions where the book ended almost exactly how I hoped it would. Something that started our grimy and depressing had a surprisingly happy ending.

But enough about the ending.

It took me a little while to engage with this. The protagonists were two middle aged men who were more or less a wreck, way more of a wreck than I am now, but as I read and thought about how they were the kind of wreck I could be if I wasn’t careful, I found common ground with the characters.

Meanwhile, the gritty, grimy realism was being seasoned with the paranormal. I was intrigued by the smokes and specters and the snippets of Marvin’s past lives. There were lots of threads in this novel, but they were also tightly knit together.

It’s a hard novel to describe ( if you want a better idea of the premise, read the back cover copy that comes with book). However, if I had to compare it to other books, I’d say it’s a strange blend of Breakfast of Champions, Cloud Atlas and American Gods.

It may have a slow build, but Smoke City is worth it in the end.

Although it started out slow, I loved the entire idea behind the book. Marvin and Mike were pretty interesting characters and you did want to know more and more about their past and future.

Wow where do I start trying to review this book, I loved it, I had no idea what genre I was reading or what was going to happen next.The characters were really interesting, different and hardly the typical lead characters that you might expect but they had a certain charm and were fascinatingly unpredictable .I have a feeling this may be a marmite book, you will either love it or just not understand its attraction at all, in a way I hope I am wrong but I love marmite and I loved this book.You do have to be able to keep an open mind and be prepared to be taken out of your comfort zone possibly to fully appreciate this book, if you are and can just go with the flow you should love this too, I really thought it was great, I don't think I can do it justice without putting in spoilers and I don't want to do that, all I can say is if you want some thing really different with main characters that you will not expect to like but you will end up caring about and the wackiest road trip ever pull up a seat and enjoy the ride. I would love to read more by this author he has a brilliant imagination and I enjoyed his writing style.I really hope others will love this book as much as I did.Thanks to the publishers and netgalley for an ARC.

A really good artsy book. Really enjoyable and highly recommended.

There is a lot I enjoyed about this book. I liked the artist plot line - especially the difficulty with galleries. I also really like the Joan of Arc plot line. I've already recommended it to friends whose interests line up well with the topics.

Smoke City is a wonderfully unusual book that is a bit hard to pin down or categorize. It has underlying themes of guilt, redemption, penance, forgiveness, and despair. It has a story that spans centuries, beginning with the childhood memories of the executioner who lit the flame in 1431 when he burned the Maid of Orleans - aka Joan of Arc - at the stake. Though that was his career, what could come of killing the embodiment of goodness and light on Earth? What possible penance could ever be enough? How he can he ever find forgiveness? For six hundred years, he has suffered the curse of his grievous sin and been reborn over and over again, never getting absolution.

It’s also a buddy road trip story following in the wake of Kerouac and Neal Cassidy travels, seeing America in a broken van picking up Hitchhikers and stowaways. Marvin Dietz is the hitchhiker, a record store owner in Portland whose obsession with seeking Joan’a forgiveness for his sins in his past life earn him a seat on his psychiatrist’s couch till he sees a porn star on daytime tv declare that she’s posssed by Joan of Arc’s spirit. His erstwhile partner in crime is drunken loser Mike Vale, once the world’s most promising young artist, now condemned to asking customers if they’d like fries with that and on a mission to make peace with his ex-wife or her spirit perhaps.

And, on top of this cavalcade of wounded spirits, we get apparitions or ghosts or smokes, appearing seemingly randomly along freeways and in vacant lots, scaring the crap out of people. Hollywood is now Smoke City.

Smoke City is crazy. Not at all like what you’d expect.