Britain is on the brink of collapse: law and order has broken down; extremist vigilante gangs loyal to the Commander and the Brother roam the streets; food is scarce; the Government is helpless; no one is safe. Into this bleak and violent world comes Max Gregory, the head of a renowned US think tank, with a brief to analyse Britain's problems and to find solutions. Fired by the death of his brother (kicked to death by thugs before his eyes) and his concern for a country in which he grew up, Gregory takes up the challenge. But as he unravels the nature of Britain's unrest and the extent of American involvement in it, he becomes a prime target and, it seems, an inevitable victim.
For the American author of fantasy and science fiction see Michael Shea
Michael Sinclair MacAuslan Shea was press secretary to the Queen from 1978 to 1987. Earlier he had been a career diplomat and was also an author of political thrillers and non-fiction.
A rusty cold war relic originally published in 1982, the book starts out in a very mechanical way showing the evil right wingers fighting Commies in a Britain that has completely fallen apart. The protagonist's brother is killed by thugs seeking to kill him to justify the vengeance shtick. We then see what a cold fish he was until the love? interest, his new secretary, shows up and he then engages in severe sexual harassment to seduce her. I guess this was OK for 40's pulp, not good in the 80's and bad nowadays. This combined with the thin characterizations up till then made me lose interest and I couldn't finish it.
I picked this up thinking it was this Michael Shea, oops!