Welcome to Flashback Friday!
Reviewed by Dan
TITLE: Falling Off The Face Of The Earth
AUTHOR: J. F. Smith
PUBLISHER: Self Published
LENGTH: 424 Pages
BLURB:
After his big-shot life in New York tragically falls apart, James Montgomery returns to his small hometown in south Georgia a defeated and broken man. All he has left is his mother to help him heal and regain his confidence before he’s ready to get back out and re-conquer the world.
But being big-city gay in a small southern town has its own challenges. In addition to coming to grips with what happened in New York, his hometown of Lawder throws its own curveballs at him. James is confronted with a bitter enemy from his school days, and frustratingly can’t seem to avoid the guy. His mother suddenly wants to expand the family. The one guy James takes a liking to and starts dating has a lot of hang-ups about being gay. And he watches almost helplessly as a new young bully starts to repeat the kind of abuse he suffered during his own school days.
Here where he grew up, the one place he should feel safe, James feels maddeningly off-balance. He starts to think that maybe going home was a bad idea after all. Maybe he’d be better off moving on and really starting over, completely from scratch. Maybe he should walk away from Lawder, just like he walked away from his life in New York.
But maybe, if he’d give it a chance, he’d re-think everything he ever thought he wanted out of life. And maybe what he thought was important, isn’t so important after all. Maybe he could have everything he never realized he wanted, if he just looked around himself for a moment.
REVIEW:
I would have to say that J. F. Smith is one of my favorite authors of all time in the m/m arena. I love his books and that is why I’ve decided to cover this one for a Flashback Friday review!
When the book opens we have a scene of a man on the Manhattan Bridge. Standing there looking down on the river. No one notices him, even when he hurls his phone into the river below. For any of you who, like me, have spent any length of time in New York City, this scene plays so true. In NYC or any large city, people become immune to such sights. It is easier to look past a stranger’s pain that it is to acknowledge it.
Something bad has happened in New York. James’ lover, Ian, has committed suicide just after the release of his new movie. A movie that will make him a huge star. All Ian wanted was James. He didn’t care for the limelight. Too late James discovers he was putting Ian’s career before their personal relationship. James discovers a suicide note addressed to him after finding Ian dead in a hotel room, which gives him a final choice…to acknowledge his and Ian’s love to the world, or to hide it and let the world remember him only as the star. James chooses to hide his relationship, and his world falls apart over night. All James can do is to run home to the little Georgia town where he grew up, and his mother to escape.
Next we flash to Lawder, Georgia. James is back with his tail between his legs, but isn’t up to telling anyone the truth and full story of why he came back. James’ mother, Bea, owns Montgomery Landscaping, a major player in the landscaping business in Lawder. She has owned it since his father abandoned them when James was a child, and she has turned it into a very profitable, well run business. The crew is more like family and most nights have dinner at Bea’s house. Imagine James’ surprise, when the foreman, Kevin, that Bea has been raving about enters the kitchen and turns out to be Brick, the same guy who was James’ bully in middle school…the first one that called him a faggot…and the one that also called him Jimmy Queer Bait! How can James move past his hatred for the guy, without causing his mother’s company to lose their best employee?
I love this author’s ability to build a story around a diverse cast of characters, and to make us come to love them as he goes along. I’ve read this book several times, and each time it sparks the same feelings. I have moments when I truly hate James’ whiney “got to get away” character, especially when he is hurting those around him. James know that small town Georgia isn’t where he wants to be for life, but what if he is wrong? I love the character of Cory, the fourteen year old son of the local Chief of Police. Cory’s story, with the acting out and bullying that he does as a result of some internal turmoil, is excellently written.
Along the way through this book, we have a homophobic, in the closet, gay cop; we have a straight ex-bully; we have a huge loveable bear of a chief of police who is usually highly inappropriate, and who has some of the best dialog lines in the book; we have an adorable little sister; we have a crotch sniffing dog; we have a next door neighbor who is a stripper; and we have a very confused main character.
Does James come around to realize just what he has in Lawder? Can he and Brick become friends and work past the hurt of the past? What happens when the outside world tries to call James back?
I loved this story. It was the second book I read by the author. The first, “The Last Day of Summer” will be my Flashback Friday review next week. That book happens after this book and there are cross references, so I’m glad I found this book to fill in some background. I very highly recommend this book. It is long, but very well written and keeps you moving forward. Most of the sex is in the background, so if you’re looking for a thinly veiled porn novel, move along, because this won’t be for you. If you’re looking for the story of a man and his developing relationship with a large cast of characters, in what feels like a true life story, then this book is for you.
RATING: 
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