Lay Your Armor Down
A Novel
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Lay Your Armor Down
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Narrated by:
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Mike McColl
About this listen
A "prophetic, propulsive" tale of one mysterious, messianic child with untold powers who draws three desperate souls into acts of mercy and mayhem. (Scott Blackburn)
An old woman, riddled with dementia, walks off into the woods in the middle of the night. A light in the wood draws her to a campfire with two strange, dangerous men, one young and one old, who are there plotting a crime of as-yet-indeterminate purpose. The two men have a job to do. They are hunting something precious but have only been told: you’ll know it when you see it. When they arrive at the place, an abandoned church cellar in the burned-out countryside, they find an answer they never could have predicted. Now, the job feels dubious, one that’ll surely bring them to ruin. Yet if they’re to go against orders, no step can be undone, and nothing can be taken back.
In spare, imagistic prose, Lay Your Armor Down reduces the epic to its most elemental. It charts the course of several broken people, all outrunning danger’s dark fingers, and all brought together for one last chance at redemption.
©2025 Michael Farris Smith (P)2025 Little, Brown & CompanyCritic reviews
"LAY YOUR ARMOR DOWN, is an exceptional exploration of the existential malaise that drives us to find our paths in a cruel and indifferent world. Not to be missed"—S.A. Cosby, bestselling author of ALL SINNERS BLEED
"It’s not a surprise that Michael Farris Smith is also the front man for a rock-n-roll bar band. His sentences stalk the stage, flamboyant and visceral and howling, the choral heights of call and response. He possesses a conductor’s mastery and a lead singer’s swagger, and Lay Your Armor Down demands that you pay attention."—Wright Thompson, NYT bestselling author of THE BARN and PAPPYLAND
"Lay Your Armor Down is a prophetic, propulsive tale that is sure to leave its lasting mark on the Southern gothic cannon. Smith is at his best in these pages, his signature prose rendering a work as dark and beautiful as a summer storm. This novel is a masterclass in storytelling, with characters that are uniquely unforgettable, and an ending that’s well worth the journey."—Scott Blackburn, author of IT DIES WITH YOU