Blackwood

 Hello and welcome to the Blogtour for Michael Farris Smith's latest novel, Blackwood. This is an eerie, creepy tale with a large helping of the Southern Gothic about it.

It is 1976, and a family of drifters (only referred to as Man, Woman and Boy) turn up in the small town of Red Bluff where there car breaks down. At the same time Colbert returns to town as a junk yard sculptor looking to take up the offer of free workspace in exchange for maintenance.

Red Bluff seems reminiscent of any small town America horror film setting, complete with the invasive Kudzu vine that surrounds the town and covers and smothers all it can.

Soon enough two children go missing and Red Bluff goes from being quiet to being full of TV and press reporters, as invasive as the Kudzu in their own way. There is a lot of dark bleakness in this novel but that doesn't stop it being a stunning piece of fiction. I would advise everybody to get hold of this if you can

5*

Thanks as always to Anne Cater for inviting me onto this tour and apologies to all for being a day late but it's strange times out there in the world.

Please, if you find time, have a look at the other blogger's pieces on this tour.