The Janus Complex - Gibson, Graeme

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Résumé :
The Janus Complex - a Political Thriller set in 1960s Britain. It is the era of the beautiful people, flower power, free love and the Beatles...but not everything is beautiful. America is embroiled in a disastrous war in Vietnam and in race riots at home while in Britain, Northern Ireland is on the brink of civil war. When 21 year old Glaswegian,Jamie Raeburn, helps an American Naval Officer being brutally attacked in a dark City street, his actions change his life forever. Seriously injured, the Good Samaritan is rushed to Glasgow's Royal Infirmary where he meets and falls under the spell of Kate Maxwell, a beautiful, but married, English nurse. The couple embark on a torrid love affair which leads to heartache and despair because Kate holds a secret which will eventually tear them apart. Unable to share her secret she returns home to England alone. Disillusioned, Jamie follows, intent on finding her and winning her back but his quest ends prematurely when he meets Lucienne (Lucie) Kent and falls in love. But for Jamie, history repeats itself. Lucie Kent, like Kate Maxwell, has a dark and terrible secret which she tries, in vain, to keep from Jamie. When Lucie finally divulges the horror of it, Jamie is set on a deadly collision course with Max Kelman, a powerful Midlands gangster. In the explosive finale Jamie endeavours to release Lucie from Kelman's clutches but this is something he can't do alone. Enlisting the help of the American Officer and, through him, a Belfast cell of the Provisional IRA, he prepares to confront Kelman. The consequences are fatal for both. Jamie Raeburn has grown into a man but his journey has been painful. He has changed...but what, exactly, has he become?...

Biographie:
Graeme Gibson was born and brought up in Glasgow where he attended Knightswood Secondary School and, later, Glasgow University. He started his working life as an engineer in telecommunications, work which took him to The Midlands and Yorkshire and which provides background for his novels. After attending university as a mature student in the mid 1970's he joined the legal profession and practised both civil and criminal law in his native Glasgow.
His novels, The Janus Complex, Archangel and Redemption (the Dark Secrets Trilogy) are set mainly in Glasgow of the 1960's and 1970's and the political unrest that affected the whole of the United Kingdom at the time. Jamie Raeburn, his reluctant hero, becomes embroiled in political skulduggery and wrestles with his conscience throughout.
The books take those who know Glasgow back to the recent past and evoke memories of places, times and situations.