Danny Birch

Danny Birch is a phenomenon.

In a world where more and more people are capable of producing higher and higher quality work to a specific formula, Danny doesn't do any of that.

They say that an expert hits the target in the bullseye nearly all of the time. They say that a genius is somebody who hits a target nobody else can even see.

Danny is clearly hitting targets but God knows where they are. QED.

When we first saw his debut novel 'Clipped' we said "Danny, this is an amazing book, great characters, thrillingly told, but the tenses slide around all over the place, and the spelling ..... , and the grammar ......" We even offered him a fiver for any punctuation mark anybody could find in its rightful place. We haven't handed over any money yet.

"Danny," we said, "can we at least put the grammar into some sort of consistent structure, even if it still isn't in any structure previously recognisable to English-speaking man?"

"No, I don't think so," he replied. "I like it just the way it is."

And so do lots of people. He has sold a stack of books. The only way we can rationalise this is that he is the writer of the Facebook generation, of the Twitter generation, of people who couldn't care a stuff about literary conventions or grammar or spelling or anything hidebound. They want the truth as they recognise it and honest emotion. Danny delivers both of those in every sentence. If you want to know what leading-edge writers will look like in fifteen years' time, they will look like this. If you are a professional author, read Danny and weep. He is fifteen years ahead of you.

Some readers' comments on 'Clipped':

"Daniel Birch captures the essence of your typical lads falling into trouble in a brilliantly funny book. The writer clearly knows his gangster movies (and eighties music!) and uses this to write a fast paced book that keeps you guessing to the last minute as to who will double cross who. Definite recommendation."

.... and ....

"A gripping tale fixating the reader from start to finish. This book was meant for the big screen. It encompasses scenes of believable criminal activity in particular capturing the essence of Hull life in one of the biggest council estates in Europe. The twist is the catalyst. It brings typical estate life closer to gangster reality and is more believable than any gangster book I have ever read."

.... or ....

"Terrific Book. Daniel Birch has certainly taken his time and has created a masterpiece. If you enjoy a great story, if you like gruesome killing scenes, if you like crime novels, this book is for you. You won't be disappointed. 5 stars doesn't even come close. This book needs 20 at the least."

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'Get Some'

For me at least, and I think it spreads far wider than me judging by the fan club he marches around with, Danny Birch is a phenomenon.

He writes in a style I have never seen before but which I expect to see copied regularly in the future.

He is a sort of Nick Hornby of the Facebook / Twitter generation, a gifted buddy-novelist with a sure-fire grasp of storyline and character and an uncanny way of whispering his words intimately into your ear in a way that keeps you chuckling with the humour and pleasure of it all.

Like Nick, he also opens up new literary markets, appealing to people who would rarely pick up a book of whatever shape, size or content. We sometimes joke about 'Danny's Army' but not too disrespectfully because Danny's Army comes mostly from the, er, British Army, the initial context for his new gangster thriller 'Get Some'.

At the heart of the book there is a close boyhood friendship between the orphan Tommy, who joins the army and several related rackets, and the lawyer Joey. Tommy is betrayed by his former criminal and army colleague, Trigg, captured by an Iraqi dissident group and tortured. In the meantime, Joey makes the acquaintance of the icy local gangster Mr. Valakuna. Queue a very nasty shoot-out when Tommy escapes his captors and teams up with his mate Joey.

If the book stopped there, it would be a sharply told, wrily observed, punchy street gangster novel. However, this time around Danny goes a step further. He develops two exceedingly attractive and sympathetic female characters - Emma, Tommy's pregnant girlfriend, and her friend Sarah - both of whom add warmth and anxiety into the narrative. He also tells the story from several different points of view, a trick which is exceptionally difficult to pull off while keeping the reader fully engaged and yet which he achieves apparently naturally and effortlessly.

Some day soon Danny will be one of Britain's top novelists, and 'Get Some' shows why.

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'Clipped'

In this tale perched pacily between Elmore Leonard’s Florida, USA, and a Quentin Tarantino version of Kingston-Upon-Hull, UK (currently the setting for a lot of good new crime fiction), two brothers plot a harmless robbery to net 200,000 and pay a few bills, which they carry out pitch-perfectly.

Unfortunately, their hit brings them to the attention of Hans Diezan, Hull crime boss and an obsessive killer who has terrorised Bosnia, serial hit for the Mafia, and probably had some US extraordinary rendition top-up training, given his penchant for keeping his victims on life-support while he tortures them into extra-extra time.

Diezan has a plan of his own – to recruit some kamikazes on a dead-if-you-do-dead-if-you-don’t mission to wrap up a drugs turf war with Turkish insurgents, and Alex and Sonny look to be just the right sort of saps to succumb to his persuasive ways.

This is a book which speeds you along compulsively, dips you into the deepest stench of organized crime, buries you in stomach-churning details you would rather not know about, and is definitely not one to give your auntie for Christmas, especially if she is a stickler for grammar, syntax, spelling or punctuation which is sprayed around with more splatter than bullets from an AK45.

Great read – slick writing – careful and loving characterisation, even for the walk-on parts - raw atmospherics - scripted for the cinema with a rocking 80s sound track. Tarantino, heads up!