Freeman Smith's Blog
December 5, 2025
Book Review: Karin Rathert, Author of "Invitation to a Hanging" 5 Stars "
5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant. Hilarious. I highly recommend!
Reviewed in the United States on March 17, 2023
Society, Suspicious is a brilliant, ruckusy ride careening through the hellscape of American culture and politics. Jim Morrison is driving this bus—yes, he's alive and living in Tacoma jamming to Journey—and he's not always the most reliable narrator, but it's with this mind-bending that Freeman Smith's message can scissor its way through the tangle of rote thought and touch the heart of readers.
The structure is loose. You can read the book like a (un)traditional novel from start to finish or set it on its spine and let the pages flap open, and each bit is a delightful morsal.
I laughed out loud at "Only Thing Worse Than Being a Liar is to Go Out and Tell the Liar's Lies," where Sean Spicer and Sarah Huckabee Sanders preen and strut like blue-footed boobies around the oval office, "their eyes meet and lock and then double bolt lock." And then they meet for a delightful date night—he in an ill-fitting suit and she in a dress with Meadowlarks on the pattern, "Thirty-seven big smiling Meadowlark Lemon faces. She had gone full Minnie Pearl Globetrotter."
With crackling language set to a the soundtrack of the J. Geils Band, Pat Benatar, Primus, the Stixxx, Lou Reed, The Jesus and Mary Chain . . . . Freeman Smith introduces us to the cast of The Assault on Democracy, slips us a shot of laughter to give us the courage to look, and then pulls the curtain aside so we can see glimpse the horror of January 6, which is not a beginning or an end but simply a plot point.
I highly recommend Society, Suspicious.
Reviewed in the United States on March 17, 2023
Society, Suspicious is a brilliant, ruckusy ride careening through the hellscape of American culture and politics. Jim Morrison is driving this bus—yes, he's alive and living in Tacoma jamming to Journey—and he's not always the most reliable narrator, but it's with this mind-bending that Freeman Smith's message can scissor its way through the tangle of rote thought and touch the heart of readers.
The structure is loose. You can read the book like a (un)traditional novel from start to finish or set it on its spine and let the pages flap open, and each bit is a delightful morsal.
I laughed out loud at "Only Thing Worse Than Being a Liar is to Go Out and Tell the Liar's Lies," where Sean Spicer and Sarah Huckabee Sanders preen and strut like blue-footed boobies around the oval office, "their eyes meet and lock and then double bolt lock." And then they meet for a delightful date night—he in an ill-fitting suit and she in a dress with Meadowlarks on the pattern, "Thirty-seven big smiling Meadowlark Lemon faces. She had gone full Minnie Pearl Globetrotter."
With crackling language set to a the soundtrack of the J. Geils Band, Pat Benatar, Primus, the Stixxx, Lou Reed, The Jesus and Mary Chain . . . . Freeman Smith introduces us to the cast of The Assault on Democracy, slips us a shot of laughter to give us the courage to look, and then pulls the curtain aside so we can see glimpse the horror of January 6, which is not a beginning or an end but simply a plot point.
I highly recommend Society, Suspicious.
Book Review, David Shaw Author of "Forsaking Church" 5 Stars
5.0 out of 5 stars A Wild and Crazy Ride!
Reviewed in the United States on March 29, 2023
An amazing, surreal, funny romp through America by Freeman Smith, a man I'd like to meet just to see where the conversation goes. Wherever it would go, I'm assuming it would be a wild ride.
Taken in bite-sized morsels or as a whole, you're free to pick Society Suspicious up for a few minutes or have a big drink of its wisdom and humor. A big book, both in size and scope, Freeman takes us on a wild ride with his interestingly unreliable narrator who makes the reader, as much as anything, turn the mirror on one's own perspective about the last several years in the United States and in its own weird and wonderful way, helps us consider where we are heading together. This book was so much fun and like nothing I've read before. I'm looking forward to more from Freeman Smith.
Reviewed in the United States on March 29, 2023
An amazing, surreal, funny romp through America by Freeman Smith, a man I'd like to meet just to see where the conversation goes. Wherever it would go, I'm assuming it would be a wild ride.
Taken in bite-sized morsels or as a whole, you're free to pick Society Suspicious up for a few minutes or have a big drink of its wisdom and humor. A big book, both in size and scope, Freeman takes us on a wild ride with his interestingly unreliable narrator who makes the reader, as much as anything, turn the mirror on one's own perspective about the last several years in the United States and in its own weird and wonderful way, helps us consider where we are heading together. This book was so much fun and like nothing I've read before. I'm looking forward to more from Freeman Smith.
May 14, 2023
-D. Donovan, Senior Reviewer, Midwest Book Review 5 Stars
Society, Suspicious represents political satire at its best, blending a first-person observational style with experimental fiction in a manner designed to challenge reader perceptions and ideals.
Freeman Smith's saga opens with a bang: "I faked my death in Paris, which proved far easier than I had imagined. The one time in my life I devoted my mind and soul to planning. Real planning. France is not like America. A few hundred years older, maybe not wiser, but definitely too tired to deny or regulate a man’s personal freedoms."
A stolen citizenship card from a dying man leads the narrator into a life "...free of fame and chaos and forced narcissism." The self-professed "Mr. Mojo Rising" has been a busy man in America, playing the 'victim/hero' in a variety of scenarios that keeps testing his identity and fostering his participation in the nation's "collective narcissism."
The poet/rebel narrator crafts so many observations and dialogues that readers ride a roller coaster ride of irony and social inspection that moves from money to madness around the world, juxtaposing a jaunt through others' lives with a wry sense of embellishment and commentary that runs over disparate lives like a river of judgment.
Whether attacking affirmative action and prejudice, the love child of a seventeen-year-old's dalliance, or scenes from a play that offer serious messages, the strobe light roller-skating foray is certain to intrigue, offend, and give rise to all kinds of thoughts.
Whether he's embedding poetry, play scenes, or nonfiction into his saga, one thing is for certain: this experimental work will challenge some and intrigue others. Ultimately, its romp and realizations deserve attention and discussion in book groups interested in satirical experimental fiction firmly embedded in social inspection.
Society, Suspicious will do well in libraries that look for contemporary satire, experimental literary fiction, and stories that reverberate with contemporary angst.
Freeman Smith's saga opens with a bang: "I faked my death in Paris, which proved far easier than I had imagined. The one time in my life I devoted my mind and soul to planning. Real planning. France is not like America. A few hundred years older, maybe not wiser, but definitely too tired to deny or regulate a man’s personal freedoms."
A stolen citizenship card from a dying man leads the narrator into a life "...free of fame and chaos and forced narcissism." The self-professed "Mr. Mojo Rising" has been a busy man in America, playing the 'victim/hero' in a variety of scenarios that keeps testing his identity and fostering his participation in the nation's "collective narcissism."
The poet/rebel narrator crafts so many observations and dialogues that readers ride a roller coaster ride of irony and social inspection that moves from money to madness around the world, juxtaposing a jaunt through others' lives with a wry sense of embellishment and commentary that runs over disparate lives like a river of judgment.
Whether attacking affirmative action and prejudice, the love child of a seventeen-year-old's dalliance, or scenes from a play that offer serious messages, the strobe light roller-skating foray is certain to intrigue, offend, and give rise to all kinds of thoughts.
Whether he's embedding poetry, play scenes, or nonfiction into his saga, one thing is for certain: this experimental work will challenge some and intrigue others. Ultimately, its romp and realizations deserve attention and discussion in book groups interested in satirical experimental fiction firmly embedded in social inspection.
Society, Suspicious will do well in libraries that look for contemporary satire, experimental literary fiction, and stories that reverberate with contemporary angst.
BookView Review: 5 Stars
Smith’s eccentric and often brilliant novel is a roller coaster ride of cynicism and social commentary. Tired of playing the character in a variety of circumstances that not only test his identity but also foster his participation in the nation’s collective narcissism, Mr. Mojo Rising plans his escape in advance. The opportunity arises when he meets a homeless man taking his last breath. A variety of scenarios help stitch together the real story of the intriguing narrator, and though the experience becomes somewhat like stumbling into an endless series of small pockets of hexagonal chambers, filled with randomly ordered objects, this winding style actually enhances the intrigue of the tale, rather than distracting from it. Offering up an assortment of styles, including short stories, poems, play scenes, and pieces of nonfiction, Smith skillfully parodies the cynical tone of a political satire, harnessing it to pop culture tropes. Some entries, such as the story of an insurrectionist sentenced to six days in jail and two months of probation, or a half-frog, half-man predating on an intellectually challenged boy, reflect the gleeful insanity of experimental fiction, while others display exaggeration of political satire. Throughout, Smith’s keen observations and sharp dialogue keep the pages turning. A surreal work of socio-political commentary and insight.
Book Review: The Sociology Group 5 Stars
BOOK REVIEW: SOCIETY, SUSPICIOUS BY FREEMAN SMITH
by Nikitha M
While living books are those that engage readers into following the content included with a pretext of general curiosity, ‘Society, Suspicious’ carves its niche by factoring in as an alive book. Yes, you read that right. A literary piece that is not bound to the words on the paper or the screen but almost a conversation or a narration between a character from the 1980s or so reminiscing a life anecdote to the point where one cannot question its validity for it fetches no answer. All that is possible is to stop, read, think, and listen. Reaction? Optional.
Calling out American bigotries with politics for a start, the nature and psychology of the narrator seem to hang by a string at the edge of Sanity Alley. The identity, however, is apparent to the rock fans immediately of the latter half of the 20th century. The Lizard King. In a quite relative take on tiring off fame, the readers’ eyes tend to bulge out at the swap life from a dying alley man to this celebrity star. But the humour behind it follows when the author points out that France can be a wise, white-haired woman (without the intentional jab at the wig couture) compared to the juvenile America when it comes to leaving personal boundaries of its people, alone. Prendre note, Amérique.
Wanderlust of the soul, the soul of Jim Morrison, add two and two and it gives you the diverse palette of experiences, travels, theories, mysteries and episodes that the book is built on. While it can range from a buzz read to all our short-attention span friends that get distracted by a single buzz to our committed readers, the cover-to-cover sailors, the word ‘genre-bending’ is not lightly imposed on the book. The author intentionally curves the readers’ flow along a pretzel to ostracise the thinkers from the doers. Although the bridge with the most scenic view comes from the blend of these two, who live life on the edge.
In other words, or word, the book can just be classified as tattling, which is confessed to in the initial stages of the book itself. Does that make you laugh? Yes. Does that make you want to not read it? Definitely not. The formerly dead, music idol that extracts revenge from the “narcissistic America” leaves no stone unturned by making us question whether we, as a species, are political divided or people divided. Although the verdict passed in the book is of the latter, it does sound similar to did the trees shake or did the wind blow first. One can merely act as a fuel to the other. Prompting the so-called sovereign nation to bask in the light of the future, the author has avoided the stigma of political philosophy and taken to a political satire instead.
Characters like Lisa and Gan Genghis bring ironical humour yet questionable morale to the paralegal mind of the narrator creating a symposium in the readers’ mind about debatable decisions taken. A cornered mind is either the best fighter or the worst leader.
Another anecdote brings light to the rising concept of a “victim hero” that gains more empathy, compassion, and fame than the two individual words separately. While the role comes into play during a heist incident orchestrated by the narrator himself, the survival choices gain 10x support than the right choices, should he have chosen the latter. This brings a painful insight what we as a society are embodying today yet not one has the courage to embrace it publicly.
Hitting all the right marks, one cannot expect religion to be out of the debate now would they? “We could plan a murder, or start a religion” is a famous quote by the American player himself. By the end of it, one might wonder about the exact drawn lines between religion, cult and believe it or not, a government! The similarities are uncanny especially between the cult and government. Took us two World Wars to analyse it though. The poem under this shows the power of incitement into the latent culture, a foreshadowing of what is to come later in the book.
An interesting play follows in the chapter of ‘Jesus is a Competitor’. If the title does not ensnare one’s attention, what follows surely will. While the main debate is between the Buddha and Jesus, footnotes cannot go unnoticed on other participants like Gandhi and Hari Krishna but what brawls out more humour is the interventions of Michael Phelps and Muhammed creating a controversial whisp of ideals shrouded in blasphemy. Talk about a scandal in the 20th century show.
We. Me. Cue the kinaesthetic senses. Adding on to stream of judgement and rebalancing truth over idolatry emphasis among the others in the American fascism, the author leads to the question where the ‘we’ used in speeches, promises, political opinions is simply a reflection of ‘me’ in the rear. A heavy weighing question/accusation that one simply cannot ignore. Like the 6-day inmate story or the Roy Cohn’s Protégé, sarcasm and crude callout of the definition of the law surmises the reader’s cognitive response to such ephemeral instances that in fact, have long-lasting scars on the evolution spectrum in itself. How would one call upon this feral, primitive self-explanatory book out in the open? Another beautifully worded description in the book goes as follows – “Part mystery, part soul, part poetry, part truth, part angry, part preacher, part teacher, part mentor, part tormentor, part comedy, part journalism, part confession, part conspiracy”. Each of these parts have parcels of their own waiting to be unravelled.
While the chaos in the book is self-addressed between the various takes in narration, rivalries, showdowns, angst and depravity connotate from these observations enlisted where the poem of ‘&I Ask’ foreshadows again by reiterating the phrase “is everybody in?” three times, weighing in one of each word separately each time altering the weight of the question completely. This socio-political commentary giving conspiracy theorists a run for their money culminates on 01.06.2021 that can only be read further on to decode.
by Nikitha M
While living books are those that engage readers into following the content included with a pretext of general curiosity, ‘Society, Suspicious’ carves its niche by factoring in as an alive book. Yes, you read that right. A literary piece that is not bound to the words on the paper or the screen but almost a conversation or a narration between a character from the 1980s or so reminiscing a life anecdote to the point where one cannot question its validity for it fetches no answer. All that is possible is to stop, read, think, and listen. Reaction? Optional.
Calling out American bigotries with politics for a start, the nature and psychology of the narrator seem to hang by a string at the edge of Sanity Alley. The identity, however, is apparent to the rock fans immediately of the latter half of the 20th century. The Lizard King. In a quite relative take on tiring off fame, the readers’ eyes tend to bulge out at the swap life from a dying alley man to this celebrity star. But the humour behind it follows when the author points out that France can be a wise, white-haired woman (without the intentional jab at the wig couture) compared to the juvenile America when it comes to leaving personal boundaries of its people, alone. Prendre note, Amérique.
Wanderlust of the soul, the soul of Jim Morrison, add two and two and it gives you the diverse palette of experiences, travels, theories, mysteries and episodes that the book is built on. While it can range from a buzz read to all our short-attention span friends that get distracted by a single buzz to our committed readers, the cover-to-cover sailors, the word ‘genre-bending’ is not lightly imposed on the book. The author intentionally curves the readers’ flow along a pretzel to ostracise the thinkers from the doers. Although the bridge with the most scenic view comes from the blend of these two, who live life on the edge.
In other words, or word, the book can just be classified as tattling, which is confessed to in the initial stages of the book itself. Does that make you laugh? Yes. Does that make you want to not read it? Definitely not. The formerly dead, music idol that extracts revenge from the “narcissistic America” leaves no stone unturned by making us question whether we, as a species, are political divided or people divided. Although the verdict passed in the book is of the latter, it does sound similar to did the trees shake or did the wind blow first. One can merely act as a fuel to the other. Prompting the so-called sovereign nation to bask in the light of the future, the author has avoided the stigma of political philosophy and taken to a political satire instead.
Characters like Lisa and Gan Genghis bring ironical humour yet questionable morale to the paralegal mind of the narrator creating a symposium in the readers’ mind about debatable decisions taken. A cornered mind is either the best fighter or the worst leader.
Another anecdote brings light to the rising concept of a “victim hero” that gains more empathy, compassion, and fame than the two individual words separately. While the role comes into play during a heist incident orchestrated by the narrator himself, the survival choices gain 10x support than the right choices, should he have chosen the latter. This brings a painful insight what we as a society are embodying today yet not one has the courage to embrace it publicly.
Hitting all the right marks, one cannot expect religion to be out of the debate now would they? “We could plan a murder, or start a religion” is a famous quote by the American player himself. By the end of it, one might wonder about the exact drawn lines between religion, cult and believe it or not, a government! The similarities are uncanny especially between the cult and government. Took us two World Wars to analyse it though. The poem under this shows the power of incitement into the latent culture, a foreshadowing of what is to come later in the book.
An interesting play follows in the chapter of ‘Jesus is a Competitor’. If the title does not ensnare one’s attention, what follows surely will. While the main debate is between the Buddha and Jesus, footnotes cannot go unnoticed on other participants like Gandhi and Hari Krishna but what brawls out more humour is the interventions of Michael Phelps and Muhammed creating a controversial whisp of ideals shrouded in blasphemy. Talk about a scandal in the 20th century show.
We. Me. Cue the kinaesthetic senses. Adding on to stream of judgement and rebalancing truth over idolatry emphasis among the others in the American fascism, the author leads to the question where the ‘we’ used in speeches, promises, political opinions is simply a reflection of ‘me’ in the rear. A heavy weighing question/accusation that one simply cannot ignore. Like the 6-day inmate story or the Roy Cohn’s Protégé, sarcasm and crude callout of the definition of the law surmises the reader’s cognitive response to such ephemeral instances that in fact, have long-lasting scars on the evolution spectrum in itself. How would one call upon this feral, primitive self-explanatory book out in the open? Another beautifully worded description in the book goes as follows – “Part mystery, part soul, part poetry, part truth, part angry, part preacher, part teacher, part mentor, part tormentor, part comedy, part journalism, part confession, part conspiracy”. Each of these parts have parcels of their own waiting to be unravelled.
While the chaos in the book is self-addressed between the various takes in narration, rivalries, showdowns, angst and depravity connotate from these observations enlisted where the poem of ‘&I Ask’ foreshadows again by reiterating the phrase “is everybody in?” three times, weighing in one of each word separately each time altering the weight of the question completely. This socio-political commentary giving conspiracy theorists a run for their money culminates on 01.06.2021 that can only be read further on to decode.
The Book Commentary Review
5-Star Review by David Reyes:
Society, Suspicious: A Novel by Freeman Smith is a political satire that is seasoned with humor readers find nowhere. The story is told by a narcissistic poet, a music aficionado, and a man who faked his death and stole a citizenship card that allowed him to leave fame behind and live free. He has been a janitor, a junior high school counselor, a golf pro, a homeless man, and a private investigator. This narrator takes readers on a hilarious romp through America, exploring American narcissism incarnated by Trump and building a plot that outlines the characteristics of false patriotism:
“Own the narrative
Push the agenda
Point the finger
Frame the story
Cast the blame
Market the lie
Gloss it up
Brand it
Dig it?”
It is stylistic, a wonderful meld of poetry and fluid prose, writing that is lyrical and a first-person narrative voice that pulls readers into the different threads and streams of the narrative irresistibly. The evocative writing is enriched by biting humor and references to historical characters and events like Trump and the January 6. Readers follow a nuanced protagonist, a sick mind whose quest for revenge against America will lead him to start an insurrection.
While Society, Suspicious: A Novel is a hugely entertaining story, it examines what is sick in American history, offering wonderful social commentaries. It is an interesting parody of contemporary US cynicism and a brilliant exploration of narcissism that only a man like Trump can espouse. The novel offers a vivid portrait of Trump and his sense of victimhood, a trait that has galvanized his political activities and has been at the heart of his political philosophy. The poetry and the footnotes are, in themselves, a work of beauty and revelatory of the broken soul of America.
Society, Suspicious: A Novel by Freeman Smith is a political satire that is seasoned with humor readers find nowhere. The story is told by a narcissistic poet, a music aficionado, and a man who faked his death and stole a citizenship card that allowed him to leave fame behind and live free. He has been a janitor, a junior high school counselor, a golf pro, a homeless man, and a private investigator. This narrator takes readers on a hilarious romp through America, exploring American narcissism incarnated by Trump and building a plot that outlines the characteristics of false patriotism:
“Own the narrative
Push the agenda
Point the finger
Frame the story
Cast the blame
Market the lie
Gloss it up
Brand it
Dig it?”
It is stylistic, a wonderful meld of poetry and fluid prose, writing that is lyrical and a first-person narrative voice that pulls readers into the different threads and streams of the narrative irresistibly. The evocative writing is enriched by biting humor and references to historical characters and events like Trump and the January 6. Readers follow a nuanced protagonist, a sick mind whose quest for revenge against America will lead him to start an insurrection.
While Society, Suspicious: A Novel is a hugely entertaining story, it examines what is sick in American history, offering wonderful social commentaries. It is an interesting parody of contemporary US cynicism and a brilliant exploration of narcissism that only a man like Trump can espouse. The novel offers a vivid portrait of Trump and his sense of victimhood, a trait that has galvanized his political activities and has been at the heart of his political philosophy. The poetry and the footnotes are, in themselves, a work of beauty and revelatory of the broken soul of America.
