"Vern Smith's The Gimmick is about a hard-nosed cop, a bombshell in a belly shirt, and a bank machine card scam. It's a complex and intense story, and who can resist the brilliant opening?" - Philip Alexander, Front & Centre Magazine
"Smith's tale of not-so-small-time crooks with a knack for draining other people's bank accounts and the bumbling cops on their tails (one of whom is among the crook's victims) is a flat-out riot. Punchy dialogue moves the story. Humorous human characters bring it life. The plot is solid. Smith sets the bar high." - Matthew Firth, The Ottawa (X)press
"Picking up where his incendiary novelette The Gimmick left off, Vern Smith's new novel, Scratching the Flint, finds detectives Alex Johnson and Cecil Bolan straining against a deeply flawed legal system to bring down a ring of vintage car thieves. With his trademark no-nonsense prose and crackling wit, Smith takes readers back to pre-9/11 Toronto in this detective noir that somehow manages to be fun and thrilling and dead serious all at once. This is first-rate crime fiction." - Joey R. Poole, author of I Have Always Been Here Before
"Scratching the Flint is a scathing indictment of the way failed leadership and jaded foot soldiers lead to a brand of justice that, in the end, leads to very little justice at all."
- Blu Gilliand, Cemetery Dance
"Scratching the Flint is a powerhouse of a novel that will leave you thinking." -H.C. Newton, The Irresponsible Reader
"Do not be fooled by Vern Smith's expertly playful language or occasional comedic interludes. In Scratching the Flint, Smith takes a deadly serious dive into a dark and mesmerizing world of sadistic murderers, backstabbers, and thieves, navigated by his irrepressible but flawed detectives Alex Johnson and Cecil Bolan. Good luck putting it down once you start."
- Bryan Gruley, author of the Starvation Lake trilogy
"Readers who think Canadian Noir is an oxymoron will have their heads spun by Vern Smith's Scratching the Flint, a wry, unruly chase through the sorts of character-driven minefields sown by the likes of Quentin Tarantino." - Craig Faustus Buck, author of Go Down Hard
"Elmore Leonard with the volume cranked up to 11. I don't usually think it's instructive to compare other crime novels to Elmore but this is the closest thing I've seen to the late great American writer. This does Toronto like Leonard did Detroit. Profane, profound, hilarious. A real shocker of a finale too." - Thomas Trang, author of Dark Neon & Dirt
"As good as it gets when it comes to detective fictiona novel that evokes George V. Higgins in tone and style, but Vern Smith wields his own keen literary powers
Complex characters and a plot that ripples excitedly toward its own slightly off-center target. Smith is a no-holds-barred writer, one who knows that true literature holds society's feet to the fire. A not-to-be-missed detective story." - Matt Phillips, author of Redbone
