Blackbox by Nick Walker

Blackbox by Nick Walker

Cross a road, take a train, or get on an airplane and you put your life in the hands of a stranger -- every bit as screwed up, every bit as fallible and as human as you are. Then the person turns out not to be a stranger at all, and suddenly it's much worse.

In America and Britain and the sky in between, an apparently disparate group of people is connected, whether intimately or by chance, to the tragic death of a stowaway on board flight AF266.

As the action veers across countries and time zones, the stowaway's real identity is revealed through stolen black box recordings, answering machine messages, sitcom outtakes, and court transcripts. Told in a shifting, circular narrative, the interwoven lives make up a jolting and layered puzzle that builds to a heart-stopping, chilling climax.

An intelligent and invigorating novel with a bizarre menu of dysfunctional characters, Blackbox is the story of an attempt to erase a life on tape.

Nick Walker began his career in corporate management and marketing after studying engineering at Cambridge. He is a member of the Society of Automotive Historians and the Vintage Sports-Car Club's Honorary Librarian. He is also the Honorary Archivist of SAE-UK (previously IBCAM). He has owned vehicles bodied by both Vanden Plas and Cross & Ellis, as well as acting as Chairman of the Alvis Owner Club. He is now retired and has produced a number of books and articles on automotive history in recent years.