5 stars

In this novel, we meet Mike Vale who was once a world-famous artist whose works sold for millions of dollars. Some years later he has become an alcoholic who hasn’t painted in years. We also meet Marvin Dietz who is in the process of being evicted by his suspected mob-connected landlord. His therapist is worried about him and he is delusional and imagines that he is the reincarnation of Geoffroy Therage. Geoffroy is the man who met Joan of Arc only once – on the day he executed her in France.

Mike is on his way to Los Angeles to attend his ex-wife’s funeral when he picks up Marvin. Marvin wants to journey there to meet a woman who calls herself Joan of Arc. He finds Mike’s picking him up as a portent.

As they drive through California on their way to LA, the landscape is being populated with “smokes” ghost-like apparitions that have begun to appear all over the Southwestern US.

This is a story about friendship and two men looking for redemption. The reader is sent on an empathic journey as they make their way to Los Angeles.

Keith Rosson draws pictures with words. His use of the English language is beautiful. The reader was in the car with Mike and Marvin – literally. I liked the characters in all their tortured glory. They were heroes in their own way. This book was so differently written that at first I had trouble thinking about what exactly to write about it. But it is wonderful, engaging and uniquely interesting. I was drawn to it. This book is very different from the other book of his that I’ve read, Mercy of the Tide.

I want to thank NetGalley and Meerkat Press, LLC for forwarding to me a copy of this most remarkable book to read and enjoy.