The New Lords of Tomorrow

Britain. The not too distant future. Crime is on the rise. Law and order is little more than lip service. Gangs of youths roam the streets hell-bent on spreading terror. At the centre of this new crime wave is one young man. Simon Scott to his family. The Viper to his acolytes. From the age of eleven, Simon has run his own army of like-minded, well educated youths, primed and trained in the combined arts of violence, intimidation, extortion and drug trafficking. And their victims? The old, the infirm, the pensioned off and dispossessed. Yet all is not lost. One man has had enough. John Watson ? a retired electronics engineer and part-time inventor ? has rallied the troops. Together with a vigilante squad of elderly neighbours, an unlikely accomplice in the form of a victimised taxi driver, and an arsenal of home-made weaponry, Watson prepares for battle. Who will win out? The new lords of tomorrow or the old brigade? Set against a backdrop of organised crime, international drug distribution, political corruption and bureaucratic meltdown, this debut novel from Ivan Gooch performs a timely autopsy on the bleeding heart of Middle England.