1999
With the Millennium fast approaching, it was I suppose, inevitable that I would do a novel like this one.
It's essentially a 'what if' book - not trying to be prophetic in any way, just offering an alternative vision of a dystopian Manchester where the Tories have got in for a fourth term, where after yet another recession, homelessness has risen to epic proportions and where a dangerous hallucinogenic drug called Warp is available on every street corner.
The Leah Betts case was, I suppose, the inspiration for the opening premise. The son of ex-policeman, Will Ambrose, goes to a club to celebrate his birthday and winds up in a coma. Will's estranged wife calls him and asks him to come back to Manchester. He's appalled by what's happened to his son and also by the changes in the city. The police force, rife with corruption and Freemasonry, have been given sweeping new powers to harass and arrest anyone who they don't like the look of; and the growing army of the homeless - The Rag People, as they are now called, continually bear the brunt of their viciousness.
When Will goes undercover among the Rag People, in an attempt to find the manufacturers of Warp, he soon discovers that an even lower caste system exists. The Subs inhabit the twilight world of the Manchester sewers, where they obey feudal laws of their own and have turned cannibal in order to survive. This was probably the most fantastic element of any of my books and for sure, it was a pretty grim picture I painted, but reviews were favourable and I was extremely pleased with the end product.
But it quickly became apparent that Headline weren't interested in promoting the novel and when they passed on my next project, Love Bites, it was clearly time to dissolve the partnership that had produced eight novels.
FACT: As I like to visit the locations where my novels are set, I tried repeatedly to obtain permission to visit the Manchester Sewers. Finally, North West water informed me that I could go if I underwent three months basic training and had a course of very nasty injections. I could be wrong but I got the impression that they really didn't want me snooping around down there. However, the funniest point was when I asked an NWA official about rats in the sewers and he informed me with a straight face that he'd never seen so much as a single rat down there. I was totally convinced... not!
FACT: This is the first of my Headline novels that doesn't have a title that begins with S or B. (Not that this was a deliberate ploy... in fact, I only noticed recently!)