“fast-paced and unrelentingly violent...readers looking for a strange and savage tale can’t go wrong.” — Publishers Weekly

“Maintaining the dark tone of his excellent first novel, Franklin goes for the gothic in [this] weirdly fascinating tale” — Kirkus Reviews

“Franklin’s talent for the completely offbeat and outrageous illuminates a world that is at once vibrantly alive and completely human.” — Times-Picayune (New Orleans)

“An edgy, quirky, bawdy look at the days of cowboys and shootouts, Smonk is the real deal.” — David Milch, Creator of Deadwood

“I am amazed at Tom Franklin’s power” — Philip Roth

“[Smonk] mixes William Faulkner, Cormac McCarthy, and Deadwood’s David Milch, Franklin pulls off a unique Western saga.” — Entertainment Weekly

“A David Lynch and Quentin Tarantino codirection of Deadwood . . . a world where not one person knows an iota of goodness.” — San Francisco Chronicle Book Review

“Part western, part Southern gothic, yet wholly original, this is a beef jerky of a story […] full of flavor” — Tampa Tribune