This novel gives good genre: advance publicity for All Hat describes it as country noir, and the shoe – or cowboy boot – fits. Set in the rusted farmbelts of Niagara and Northern Lake Erie, All Hat features all the country trimmings, from laconic wranglers to dead-end bars. The book’s pulpish kidnapping plot and motley cast of thwarted dreamers give the novel a noir-like tone.

When the stallion Jumping Jack Flash wins the Queen Anne stakes at Woodbine race track, there at least six people whose lives are changed in an instant: property developer Sonny Stanton, a psycho rich kid whose ailing father owns the winning horse; Sonny’s henchdudes Dean and Paulie, who clean up after Sonny and his horses in more ways than one; ex-art teacher Etta Parr, whose farm is the target of a hostile takeover bid from Sonny; and – newly released from pokey – former ball player Ray Dokes, an old flame of Etta’s and a good guy who can’t seem to find a way to win.

After the victorious horse crosses the finish line, cocksure Dean beats a foreman with a shovel and steals the bad-tempered thoroughbred to sell for stud. When Ray discovers where Dean has stashed the Flash, he sees a way to solve everyone’s problems and do the right thing while wooing Etta again.

For such a location-driven work, All Hat has an uneasy sense of place. From the title on down, a huge number of the book’s details, moods, and cultural references are so deep-fried American that the Ontario setting feels mystifying. Ostensibly Canadian characters say “ain’t” and “this here” and generally shitkick up and down the landscape in ways more associated with Dixie cowboys. When an occasional can of Molson’s pops up, it feels intrusive, like something an authenticity-seeking Texan author might pick up from the Internet.

This is a very minor gripe in light of Smith’s talents. That’s the thing with wild rides – you don’t always know where you are, because you’re having too much fun to care.