Dead Money

Double-glazing salesman Alan Slater is in trouble. He hasn't had a good sales lead in months. His wife rightly suspects him of playing around. His best mate Les Beale has turned into a bigoted, boozed-up headcase. And that's the least of it.

When a rigged poker game has fatal consequences, Alan finds himself not only responsible for the clean-up, but also for Beale's escalating debt to a man who won't take “broke” for an answer.

As Beale's life spirals out of control, he becomes ever more desperately reliant on Alan to save his skin. But Alan isn't about to be dragged into the gutter by anyone, least of all his bad-beat, dead money former mate.

After all, there's no such thing as a compassionate double-glazing salesman.

Praise for Dead Money

"Brimming with pitch-black humour and written with a claustrophobic mania to rival the finest noir exponents, it's compelling and finely honed stuff." – The Big Issue

"There's not a beat missed or a word wasted in this beautifully bleak, absolutely pitch-black humorous look at a man in a deadly downward spiral." – Musings of an All Purpose Monkey

"a tight and pacy read, the prose stripped to the bone and the dialogue pitch-perfect. Fans of Colin Bateman and Elmore Leonard will find it hits their sweet spot. Cohen brother lovers; one for you too." – Loitering With Intent

"rings so true in character and atmosphere that you’ll be unsticking your sole from the carpet as you press the button two stops after you were supposed to get off" –Bookrambler

"dark, nasty, funny, and painfully human" – Spinetingler Magazine

"Dead Money is on the money, mainline Ray Banks, and sets expectations high for what the future brings for Banks' newest publisher, Blasted Heath" – Grift Magazine

"a great story. It's tight as hell and it's so deliberate that it's a complete joy to read... I loved Dead Money" – Dead End Follies

"a pitch perfect novel" – Crime Fiction Lover

"an intensive masterclazz in how to write ... People have been telling me to read Ray Banks for a long time. Now I understand why." – Helen FitzGerald

"Banks writes in a clean style, looped with inky black humor, and the plot goes at a lightning pace, heaping dread upon dread." – On The Book Beat

"Dead Money is a quick read and a thoroughly enjoyable one, a Guy Ritchie film in prose, minus a lot of the showing off." – Kate of Mind

Praise for Ray Banks:

"Ray Banks writes with harshness, humour and elegance, and his punchy dialogue teems with vigorous authenticity." – The Times

"Banks is one of the freshest voices in hard-boiled crime fiction today." – Library Journal

"Banks has an ear for the vernacular as sharp as, but a shade or two bluer than, that of George V. Higgins. Let the squeamish stick with Tony Soprano; this is the real tough stuff." – Kirkus

"Banks has a Cain-esque ability (James M., not Abel's brother) to take well-drawn, realistic characters whose moral compass is wobbling, and let them slash and burn their way to ruin." – Spinetingler Magazine

About the author:

Ray Banks is the author of the Cal Innes Quartet (Saturday's Child, Donkey Punch, No More Heroes, Beast Of Burden) and the novellas, Gun and California. A very different version of Dead Money was previously published under the title The Big Blind. He lives in Edinburgh.