‘Donkey Punch hooks you with its emotional honesty, knocks the wind out of you with its relentless prose, and holds you in its inescapable clinch with a rippling-muscled plot. It’s a ringside seat at a boxing match between Jim Thompson and Charles Bukowski refereed by Chuck Palahniuk. Ray Banks is the UK Heavyweight champ of literary noir.’ – Allan Guthrie
‘British noir in all its splendour by a writer who has taken more than just an excursion on the dark side.’ – The Guardian
’Vivid and realistic, with an appealingly flawed hero and an interesting setting amid the underside of modern LA, this is a knockout.’ - Scotland on Sunday
’Smart, unpredictable and, above all, dangerous . . . confirms his status as one of the best crime writers working in the UK today,’ - crimescenescotland
‘A ferocious asskicker of a novel . . . Ray Banks writes with swagger, venomous drollery and a good hard eye for details that matter. The characters he creates hang in the mind, spilling beer, fumbling for smokes, wandering into crimes that simply happen without much advance planning. Donkey Punch presents a stunningly warped reflection of life as we know it in some neighborhoods.’ - Daniel Woodrell, author of The Death Of Sweet Mister
’A winning story that sparkles with wit and originality from first page to last,’ - Shots Mag
’Banks’ style is no nonsense...There isn’t a wasted word, and his dialogue is sharp and direct.’ - Independent Crime
With the barbed-wire leash of parole freshly clipped from his throat and his Private Investigation business an unpleasant memory, Cal Innes is looking forward to continuing his job as caretaker at Paulo’s Lads’ Club. But a prodigal boxer, Liam, needs someone to go with him to his first major amateur tournament in Los Angeles. That someone is Cal. Cal’s minding job swiftly turns into something dangerous, with rumours of a rigged competition. As Innes’s codeine habit and Liam’s temper grow out of control, the land of the free doesn’t seem quite so free and easy anymore.
Ray Banks was born in Kirkcaldy and now lives by the sea in Newcastle-upon-Tyne with his lovely wife, Anastasia. He went to school. He went to university for two years before he dropped out. After that, he spent his time as a double-glazing salesman, croupier (he left after the casino was ramraided by armed gunmen) and dole monkey. He thinks he’s a cult. He’s almost right.
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