The Death You Deserve A Novel

For struggling author Billy Dye, ghost writing the memoirs of Manchester gangster Malcolm Priest seems like a great way to make a quick buck, but when Priest tires of the wry writer he hires a vicious hitman to take him out. When the assassin--named Rawhead--turns out to be a schoolfriend he hasn't seen in years, Billy's life is spared and the killer vows to protect him. As the tension mounts and the bodies pile up, Billy discovers that his friend is a terrifying psychopath who will stop at nothing to defend him. And when Rawhead takes an interest in Billy's career, no one--not even in the publishing world--is safe. Violent, fast-paced and hilarious, the novel builds to a stunning climax that will jolt the most jaded suspense reader and leave them breathless.

Born in Manchester, David Bowker has worked as a journalist for Elle, International Musician, The Guardian, The Mail On Sunday, Arena and had a regular column in New Woman and The Times. He has published four novels and in 1999 was voted 'Manchester Writer of the Year' by City Life magazine. This is his American debut.

"A deftly drawn masterpiece-well written, with a contemporary twist."
--City Life

"As it happens I knew these streets for nearly twenty years, and this tough, fabulous, smart-mouth novel captures them perfectly. The Sopranos meets The Jackal in a part of England Agatha Christie knew absolutely nothing about. This is hard, funny, and scary--try it."
--Lee Child, New York Times bestselling author of Without Fail and Running Blind

"This is a very funny book... I loved it."
--The Independent on Sunday

"Grotesque, original and murderously funny, it conforms to no existing crime template. We are sailing uncharted waters and there are sharks all around...Bowker tells his bloody tale with wit, invention and a raw energy that boils off the page. It is the kind of go that traditionally invigorates the pulps, but Bowker distills it here into a rare vintage that does wonders for his chosen genre."
--Literary Review, December 2002

"I have a confession to make; I wanted to kill Billy Dye too. It's not that I didn't like him--far from it--it's just that, like Malcolm Priest, I thought Dye was just a little bit too cocky. Funny, yes, but cocky enough to survive even a hail of bullets- so, of course, I was itching to see if he would...A novel that is wickedly funny. In fact, I'm putting [The Death You Deserve] aside for a few weeks and then plan to read it again before passing it around to some of my most deserving friends."
--Punch