DEAD MONEY by Ray Banks

Ray Banks is one of those authors that you really should look out for. I have already reviewed CALIFORNIA, also by him, for Eurocrime. DEAD MONEY is yet another awesomely nasty book......

Dead Money by Ray Banks. 2011. Blasted Heath. Epub £1.99. 180 pages ISBN 978-1-908688-04-0.

This epub is the second version of DEAD MONEY in circulation. The first was published by PointBlank Press, in the USA in 2004, under the name THE BIG BLIND.

Ray Banks is one of those excellent authors who aren’t afraid of writing a book that doesn’t necessarily have a soft and sappy ending. Such was the case with CALIFORNIA, my first experience of a book by him, and I was really looking forward to enjoying this particularly tasty-looking morsel. I wasn’t disappointed. He is fast becoming one of my firm favourites.

Hard-hitting and short but, thankfully, not at all sweet, DEAD MONEY smacks you in the gob right at the start and drags you along rather roughly, leaving you feeling somewhat bedraggled and fragile afterwards. It has the perfect amount of ‘ick factor’ and was the perfect accompaniment to my afternoon bus ride between classes in less than lovely areas of Edinburgh.

Alan Slater has a bit of a problem but refuses to let it get him down. His marriage is in tatters and his dog doesn’t like him but he has his best mate, Beale, and his job as a double-glazing salesman, so everything’s OK. Except his friend likes to gamble and has a bit of an attitude when he loses. Which tends to happen a lot, so Alan gets to look after his friend and keep him out of trouble – which also keeps him away from his wife. Things start to take a downward slide when he hits and kills a dog with his car one wet and rainy night. He dumps the dog, upsets his wife and then a poker game that goes badly wrong results in a request from Beale that he really shouldn’t say yes to. And it isn’t too long after this that his troubles really begin……

An awesome story with an awesome ending. Don’t let the short length of the stories by Ray Banks put you off trying them. If you like things black and nasty then you are going to love him!