Ricky's Hand

From the Emmy Award-winning writer of Avenue 5, Veep and The Thick of It comes a funny, violent and thought-provoking horror story like nothing you’ve seen before.

Ricky Smart is a nobody, a Miami Beach paparazzo who scrapes a living snapping celebs. One day Ricky wakes up and realises there’s something wrong with his hand. It’s not his hand. In fact, it’s someone else’s hand. How does he know it’s not his? Because it looks different, feels different and – perhaps the biggest clue – has a four-letter word tattooed across the knuckles.

But hey, it's still a hand, and it works just fine, so that's ok. Except a week later, his other hand changes. And a few days after that, Ricky gets a new arm…

Ricky is losing his mind as well as his body parts, but he has to pay rent and those seedy photos aren't going to take themselves. The world needs candid shots of pop sensation and local girl Scala Jaq, almost as much as Ricky's bank account does. Yet Scala has a secret of her own, a secret that leads them to an unlikely partnership, the strangest support group ever, and revelations that threaten existence as they know it.

It's up to the celebrity and her tormentor to work out what to do with a world of misfits, explosions, and other people's bad tattoos. Because when you've looked for redemption in all the right places, you might need to try the wrong ones.

David Quantick is an Emmy Award-winning television writer for such shows as Avenue 5, Veep, The Thick of It and The Day Today and the writer of the 2022 movie Book of Love starring Sam Claflin and Veronica Echegui. He is the author of All My Colors, Night Train, Sparks, The Mule, and two writing manuals: How To Write Everything and How To Be A Writer. He is based in Hastings. Find him at www.davidquantick.com or @quantick on Twitter.