Book Review: The Smoke in Our Eyes by James Grady

Grady, known for his spy thrillers, takes an unexpected turn and delivers a coming-of-age novel set in a small town in Montana in 1959.  

Ten-year-old Lucas has a dysfunctional family, to say the least, with an older sister in high school who knows more about the fatal car crash of a couple of students she hung out with than she is willing to admit. Lucas experiences his first crush with a new teacher, and his struggling eyesight forces him to seek help from a new girl in school who suffers from polio. Glasses are in his future.

The tumultuous time should invoke prosperity, but in this small town, it magnifies the truth. Rock and Roll music is growing in popularity, but adults want it to disappear. The plane crash with Buddy Holly and the Big Bopper still resonates with the youth. Add in a growing boy starting to understand reality and wanting to avoid it, but learning that even where he lives exists anger, racism, and fear. 

Grady takes the reader back in time to the late 1950s, and since he captures that time and place so well, it would make sense that this is not only a story he wanted to tell but is also semi-autobiographical. Like the Robert McCammon classic Boy’s Life, this story told from the eyes of youth will resonate for a long time.