-
Your next favorite book
is waiting.
Jonah and his younger brother, Simon, are on their own.
Jonah and his younger brother, Simon, are on their own. They set out to find what's left of their family, carrying between them ten dollars, a backpack full of dirty clothes, a notebook, and a stack of letters from their brother, who is serving a tour in Vietnam. And soon into their journey, they have a ride. With a man and a beautiful girl who may be in love with Jonah. Or Simon. Or both of them.
The man is crazy. The girl is desperate. This violent ride is only just beginning. And it will leave the brothers taking cover from hard truths about loyalty, love, and survival that crash into their lives.
One more thing: The brothers have a gun. They're going to need
"Falling Objects is a mystical, lyrical, sometimes violent, and ultimately hopeful story of what it means to be a brother... . For teens looking for something to sink their teeth into, Smith offers a challenging read. Powerful imagery and symbolism are threaded throughout the narrative...the intensity will suit serious readers who don't mind a little blood and gore." - School Library Journal
"16-year-old Jonah and his brother, Simon, two years younger, embark on a brutal but mesmerizing road trip that steers an unswerving course toward tragedy... . [O]lder teens will be riveted." - Kirkus Reviews
"Smith's Vietnam-era road trip tells the tense, violent and cathartic story of teenage brothers Jonah and Simon, 16 and 14, on the run after their mother abandons them in their New Mexico home." - Publishers Weekly
"A relentless, bleak thriller that nails the claustrophobic sense of being totally out of control, and moving fast." - Booklist
"The setting is vivid, the plot (including a thrilling showdown) is suspenseful, and the characters are complex and intriguing, particularly in their interactions with one another. It's a wilderness survival adventure wherein the characters have to survive each other as much as the harsh, unforgiving landscape." - The Horn Book
This information about In the Path of Falling Objects was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Andrew Smith is the author of Winger, Grasshopper Jungle, The Alex Crow, 100 Sideways Miles, and Rabbit & Robot, among others. Exile from Eden: Or, After the Hole, the long-awaited sequel to Grasshopper Jungle, is coming from Simon & Schuster on September 24, 2019.
If you liked In the Path of Falling Objects, try these:
by Sarah Wynn-Williams
Published 2026
An explosive memoir charting one woman's career at the heart of one of the most influential companies on the planet, Careless People gives you a front-row seat to Facebook, the decisions that have shaped world events in recent decades, and the people who made them.
by Moudhy Al-Rashid
Published 2026
Humanity's earliest efforts at recording and drawing meaning from history reveal how lives millennia ago were not so different from our own.
by Mustafa Suleyman
Published 2025
An urgent warning of the unprecedented risks that AI and other fast-developing technologies pose to global order, and how we might contain them while we have the chance—from a co-founder of the pioneering artificial intelligence company DeepMind
Theo of Golden by Allen Levi
One spring morning, a stranger arrives in the small southern city of Golden. No one knows where he has come from…or why…
Your guide toexceptional books
BookBrowse seeks out and recommends the best in contemporary fiction and nonfiction—books that not only engage and entertain but also deepen our understanding of ourselves and the world around us.
