Out Of The Dark
"Full of twists and turns, genre-playfulness and sharp observations, it all takes place in actually-existing concrete landscapes of marginalisation, disconnection and dereliction…rather more grungily quotidian and irreal-adjacent than anything in Ballard – closer, perhaps, to M. John Harrison or Ramsey Campbell." Mark Bould, Bristol University
'A twisted and darkly funny neo-noir that somehow channels the restless spirits of both David Lynch and Shane Meadows while remaining intensely literary. In Out of the Dark David Gaffney has produced a book with real propulsive energy, one that produces surprises on nearly every page.’
Stephen May, Costa prize shortlisted author of Life! Death! Prizes!
' Out Of the Dark is an ingenious, idiosyncratic and unnerving noir, in which Ballard meets Jim Thomson meets Mike Leigh in a high rise block next to a motorway in the Black Country. ' Luke Brown, editor, critic, and author of novels My Biggest Lie and Theft.
' David Gaffney has dealt the cards with fiendish dexterity, displaying a fresh, individual energy in its versatile mix of the playful and the serious, freely shuffling the actual with the imagined, that makes it pleasurable, compulsive reading. Here is a gift that keeps on giving till the last page. Buy it, read it, enjoy.' Basil Ransome-Davies for Shiny New Books
" Gaffney describes both the film and Quinn's life with incredible precision, blurring the line between reading and watching Just like a film noir, Gaffney deftly handles past and present, dropping both clues and red herrings along the way, all the while pulling us towards the answer" The Crack, Newcastle
OUT OF THE DARK
A young man has rented a flat at the top of a high rise block in Birmingham where he watches the same video over and over again, an old British film noir called Out Of The Dark. This film holds some important information for him, something which will help him deal with his recent tragic events. But what is he looking for in this corny black and white B flick? Who is the mysterious woman who is bedridden after falling down the stairs? And why does the man from the next block wants to buy up all the garages on the street?
Out Of The Dark is an unsettling story of grief, obsession and duplicity told using a puzzle box of stories within stories that twist and turn at every opportunity. It is also about film noir itself and as the young man dissects the recurring motifs of his favourite film genre he reveals more about himself than he does about the movie. The edges of the film and real life begin to blur. Is he being pulled into a similar whirlpool of deceit, corruption and violence?
Out now on Confingo
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