Brotherly LoveI

This is an experiement in that I have posted this new novel on

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as an ebook. Let me know if it is

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Brotherly Love

A Novel

by

Edmund J Gubbins

This is a story about fear, of somebody out of his depth in a world made strange to him by events he cannot fully comprehend. It is a novel about Ken Flood being pulled by family loyalties along paths of experience which would be best left unexplored.

Ken Flood lives a quiet life with his wife, Doreen, and two daughters in Plymouth, working as a lecturer in the University. He minds his own business and is relatively happy with life. Until, that is, his brother Norman arrives unexpectedly one day asking for help.

Norman works for the government or so Ken assumes. He only visits a few times a year usually to sail the yatch they jointly own. Ken’s daughters, Pauline and Tracy are devoted to their uncle.

Norman puts forward a proposition to Ken which will help him avoid those pursuing him. What his brother asks appears to Ken to verge on an attempt pull him into the murky waters on the edges of crime. Ken has to decide quickly whether to help his brother out of brotherly love or let his brother face his unknown pursuers alone.

Reluctantly Ken agrees to help and soon finds himself outside the law, being chased by people he does not know, trying to deliver a mysterious package, given to him by his brother, to a man he has never met in London.

Ken's decision to help his brother sends him into hiding, pursued by people he does not know, unable to call anybody a friend, holding onto information his brother told him was important but which Ken had no idea of the contents. In a dramatic climax after fear filled weeks of running and hiding from enemies he could not identify, Ken comes to know the truth about his brother and how Ken has been fooled.

Along the way there are chance encounters with people who through friendship are willing to help.

Tessa who he has helped gain her yatch masters certificate, spirits him away from his pursuers to the Channel Islands.

Mary Hubbert who was his research assistant in Plymouth before moving to London, helps him hide in London.

Though scared to death, Ken somehow finds hidden depths behind his placid exterior and keeps going, when to give up would be the easier option. He finds his way to Cunningham, the government security official who his brother has told him to contact. He is confused when he finds that Cunngham has him locked away in a safe house.

He then gets in touch with Commander Sturgess supposedly Norman’s enemy, who has him taken to a secret location over a nude dancing club. Mary is tortured to attempt to get Ken to tell all.

Sturgess convinces Ken that Cunningham is a traitor and that he, Ken, must help nail him. Ken gets picked up by Cunnigham’s men and leads Sturgess to Cunningham’s hide out. There, believing he has been sacrificed, Ken in desperation almost kills Cunningham. Sturgess arrives just in time.

All seems over. Ken however talks his family into going sailing. On picking up the yatcht in Charlestown, Ken’s family find Norman hiding on board despite the boat being watched. Norman wants them to sail out into the Channel to meet a ship on which he is to escape. As Norman climbs aboard the ship, a helicopter arrives and Norman is shot from the ladder.

Ken and his family are airlifted to Plymouth after his yacht is siezed. Sturgess is waiting for him with a Mr. Prescott, Norman’s recent boss. Ken is accused of aiding a traitor to escape. In the middle of the argument to the smiles of Sturgess. Norman walks in and accuses Prescott of setting up an escape route for enemies of the country.

Ken vows never to help Sturgess again.

The novel explores the conflicts which arise when an ordinary person is forced to choose between family loyalty and obligation to the wider public. Would you question what is being asked of you by a family member who you had always thought was honest or just help in any way you could? What happens if the activity you are being asked to undertake looks very dodgy, if not criminal? The problem is Ken's brother, who Ken now believes after some time on the run, appears to be on the other side. Are there sides in the game Ken is forced to play? Which side is good and which evil? Who are the baddies in black hats? It is soon obvious to Ken that there are no sides in this game and friend and foe are not easily distinguished. The novel follows Ken's quest to answer these questions to its ultimate conclusion.