Concrete Boot — Kenneth Royce

A case of treason ‘which would make Burgess, MacLean and Philby appear like schoolboys sneaking to teacher’, a violent but extremely patriotic Soho gangster with an unhealthy interest in the workings of Heathrow airport and a notorious cat burglar fished out of the Thames, his feet tethered in concrete.Connecting them is Willie ‘Spider’ Scott, a man cursed with the ‘XYY’ chromosome which genetically predisposes him to a life of crime. Spider is trying to go straight, running the XYY Travel Agency, but it is his skills as a criminal rather than a travel agent which appear to be most in demand.Hounded by Special Branch and apparently abandoned by his friends in British Intelligence, Spider seems destined to be the fall-guy in a plot which involves a politically expedient assassination and a massive consignment of drugs. And it all begins with what should be the easiest job of his long criminal career, breaking in to an empty house.Spider Scott could be out of his depth; quite literally, under the surface of the Thames, wearing concrete boots.