TERROR: ARMAGEDDON! APOCALYPSE, ABERDEEN
a novel by Scottish crime writer Lance Black
ISBN 978-09555450-1-6

Lance Black books contain a message; this message often starts with a question. In Direct Action I ask the question: ‘what do we do with truly evil criminals?’ Committed paedophiles who will re-offend or violent attackers and murderers who enjoy hurting people. Fortunately these people are rare but they do exist and society does need to address the issue.

I am firmly opposed to the death penalty (I found the execution of Saddam Hussein repugnant) but some people should never be released into the community.

In Terror, because of personal experiences, I examine the other side of the coin: ‘how do you defend yourself against the power of the State?’ Most people will never enter a jail as a visitor or as a convicted criminal, but if you are unlucky enough to be caught up in the criminal justice system then you are in big trouble; at best it’s a lottery. If you get a lenient judge you will be warned or given a suspended sentence, but if the judge sees himself as a hard man or if he or she is just having a bad day you will find yourself in jail. It is very much a lottery.

Despite all the talk of prison overcrowding and an overly lenient judiciary, reality is different. Judges are far too quick to send people to prison and they often send the wrong people to jail. An honest man will confess to his crime and get locked up. A dishonest man will lie and then a compassionate jury will free a guilty dangerous individual. I examine this and the fact that we are all prisoners of the State: fiscal prisoners. As government gets bigger and more bloated (50% of Scots work for the State) we have all become slaves to a Sisyphusian big brother State.

Our government raises and increases taxes on everything: fuel, income, profits, purchases and even death! Every year the Chancellor feels it is his right to steal from the workers to fund whatever project the Government favours. Of these the welfare state, the Trident nuclear missile system and our hegemonic imperialistic invasions of other countries are but a few of the most contentious. Paying people not to work and subsidising population growth are anathema to me.

Finally, I am forever vexed that the police and the courts spend millions of pounds prosecuting people growing cannabis (one case has been going on for over a year and concerns just £4 worth of cannabis). What a waste of time and money! I reject drugs and I detest smoking but wasting millions locking up cannabis dealers is surely more about ignorance than protecting the public. Terror is a crime thriller based in Aberdeen, Scotland and Puerto Banus, Spain, but it asks the question; ‘who is the criminal: the petty tax dodger or the Prime Minister who sanctions the dropping of bombs on civilians in Iraq and elsewhere?’ Why is it that we feel we have a god given right to kill innocents including children and yet the politicians and mandarins are never prosecuted the way a helpless member of the public might be?

You can read Direct Action and Terror simply as crime novels featuring great locations (Terror features Loch Lomond and Balmoral Castle) or you can engage in some of the greater philosophical questions that I try and raise.

Enjoy!

If you can’t find it please email me at: lance.black@yahoo.com