Staring Death In The Face

Danny Smith is on a mission: to find Death - and have a word.

He's lost, nearly forty, without his partner, and surrounded by bin bags full of his clothes in his parents' spare room.

Mourning not only the loss of the most important person in his life, but also the only future he ever really planned, his thoughts turn to death. If he's going to start his life over, he may as well start at the end and work back. Find Death and become, if not friends, then at least on nodding terms. It's not a good plan, but it's the only one he's got.

Danny decides to stalk Death to Mexico. Home of The Day Of The Dead Festival, Santa Muerte the patron saint of drug dealers and the dispossessed, and a bloody cartel drug war that's been going since the 80s. Death seems to be big over there.

The trail will take him to ancient temples, vibrant bustling markets, white sands, with weird tourists, and a neon blur of excess. Can he find his love of life now the love of his life has gone?

"Dumped and desperate, Danny Smith goes hunting for death to understand life. This is the heart of Gonzo given an electric shock; writing about the Grim Reaper has no right to be so vividly alive." Mic Wright

'Danny Smith offers a delightfully weird yet funny and touching travelogue about a man seeking an audience with death. Smith has an uncanny knack for creating full and immersive worlds with sparse and economic language-a unique and thought-provoking book.' Peter Laws - author of The Frighteners: Why We Love Monsters, Ghosts, Death and Gore

PRAISE FOR DANNY'S PREVIOUS BOOK, PIER REVIEW:

"think Dave Allen wired on hard liquor"

"A wonderful slab of narrative non-fiction"