Rathbone, Julian

New York. 1980. March 1980. Pantheon Books. 1st American Edition. Very Small Stain Mark (Smaller Than A Dime) On Front Free Endpaper, Otherwise Very Good in Dustjacket. 0394509021. 256 pages. hardcover. Jacket illustration by Stanislaw Zagorski. keywords: Mystery England . FROM THE PUBLISHER - Julian Rathbone, whose many detective stories have been highly praised, and whose historical novel, JOSEPH, has just been nominated for Britain's prestigious Booker prize, turns in this book to a totally new genre. He has written a genuinely intriguing political thriller that deserves the comparisons to Sjowall and Wahloo that are bound to be made. Wolfgang Herm, wealthy and brilliant creator of multinational EUREAC, disappears on the eve of the fulfillment of a project that threatens one of the last patches of wilderness in the coastal fens of northern Europe. Argand, the honest police commissioner, investigates. Not one but two ransom demands are delivered; sudden death and assassination follow; and through the widening confusion that includes demonstrations, urban terrorism, and even a football riot, we glimpse, in the final denouement, an abyss of greed and corruption. With deadly conviction Julian Rathbone exposes some of the forces and contradictions which threaten Western society, and the puny resistance of the unorganized few who care - eco-freaks, drop-outs, and ordinary men and women of good will. The result is a taut, suspense-filled novel which will add to Rathbone's reputation as a writer who produces splendid entertainment, yet who demands to be taken seriously. inventory #28780 ISBN: 0394509021.