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Donkey Punch (novel)

Donkey Punch AuthorRay BanksOriginal titleDonkey PunchCountryScotlandLanguageEnglishSeriesCal Innes novelsSubjectCrimeGenreFictionPublisherBirlinn Ltd1 April 2007Media typePaperbackPages248ISBN1-904598-85-4OCLC176777039LC Class2010293778Preceded bySaturday's Child (2006) Followed byNo More Heroes (2008)
Donkey Punch (also referred to as Donkey Punch: A Cal Innes book and Sucker Punch) is a crime novel by Scottish author Ray Banks. It was first published in the United Kingdom by Edinburgh-based company Birlinn Ltd in 2007, and again by the same publisher in 2008. In the United States it was published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt in 2009, titled Sucker Punch, and was reprinted in 2011.

Donkey Punch is part of a series following protagonist Cal Innes, a former convict and private investigator. Innes agrees to accompany a novice boxer from England to a fight in Los Angeles, California. While there, Innes must investigate the subsequent kidnapping of the boxer, while battling his own internal struggles and avoiding trouble with the Los Angeles Police Department.

The Skinny said, "Donkey Punch is as terse and macho as Saturday's Child, although his hardboiled writing style has become more poised and confident." Scotland on Sunday said, "Vivid and realistic, with an appealingly flawed hero and an interesting setting amid the underside of modern LA, this is a knockout." The Plain Dealer said, "Banks' tough-guy prose is irresistible." Associated Press said of the author's writing style, "Innes, for all his faults and problems, is an engaging character with a sharp sense of humor and a ton of turmoil in his life. And Banks, a member of the so-called 'Brit grit' movement, has an easy, breezy style that keeps you flipping the pages."

Plot
The book follows protagonist Cal Innes, a private investigator and former convict whose parole after being released from HM Prison Manchester is finished. He is employed as a caretaker of a boxing gym called the Lads' Club managed by Paulo Gray in Manchester. Innes has allegiance to an influential criminal figure named Morris Tiernan, also known as Uncle. Innes agrees to a request from Uncle to accompany a novice 17-year-old boxer named Liam Wooley to a significant boxing match in Los Angeles.

Once there, Innes becomes acquainted over drinks with a former boxer named Nelson Byrne. The job, originally intended to be looking after Wooley, becomes a sinister operation as Innes learns there may be impropriety related to the fight. Innes deals with his dependence on codeine and alcohol along with Wooley's anger management problems. Innes finds himself in a difficult situation in an unfamiliar city, suffers a gunshot wound and his charge Wooley is involuntarily subdued with medication and kidnapped. Innes becomes the suspect in a murder investigation by the Los Angeles Police Department, finds and rescues Wooley and learns that his supposed friend Byrne was the culprit. After being exonerated by the police, Innes escorts Wooley back to England.

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