ALL OUR TOMORROWS

Gallic treachery and British moral collapse open the door for the Soviets to take over Her: Majesty's government. A ""What If?"" thriller from the author of The Stalking Angel (1988), etc. It's the not-too-awfully-distant future and the cultural and political excesses of the past half-century have at last broken down the remnants of British civilization. Trade unions do as they bloody well please; yobboes and other thugs roam the crumbling streets of a less and less United Kingdom; the upper classes whine and do nothing. Years of political spinelessness and corruption have resulted in a government incapable of action. As monarchy yields to anarchy, the Anglophobic president of France sees a splendid opportunity to stab Albion in the back for her centuries of perfidy: he cuts a deal with the Russians, agreeing to stand by and do nothing as the Soviets blackmail the limeys into begging for a Bolshevik takeover. Tire Royals make for Canada, and the Yanks bail out as the members of the new management team, in badly tailored suits, wade in and clean house. Any relief over the Leninist clampdown on crime, however, is quickly overshadowed by resentment over the equal clampdown on civil liberties and rule-by-union. Resistance to the Reds comes from a secret organization--set up in anticipation of just such an emergency by clever Harry Andrews, his secret army of ex-SAS types, and other valiant patriots. And the American cousins have not forgotten the ties of blood. If the good guys win, will things be as they once were? Nope. Heavy political burdens prove too much for the rather fragile plot vehicle here.