It is Christmas Eve, 1931, and Maisie and her side-kick Billy are walking through a London street when their peace is shattered by a suicide bomber. The dead man turns out to be a down-and-out veteran soldier, a victim of the depression that has made work hard to find.
Fortunately Maisie only suffers a bump on the head, as in no time she is requested to help by the War Office. It seems she has been named by a psychopath with a grudge and the scientific capability to kill large numbers of people with poison gas.
As with the other titles in the series, Winspear has a fair amount to say about the terrible damage done to young men who fought in the First Wold War – this time her main concern is the lack of help for veterans in need of rehabilitation. We get a look at some of the ‘hush-hush’ work done by the War Office and there’s also a back story concerning Billy’s wife who has suffered a mental breakdown due to the loss of her baby from diphtheria.
Among the Mad delves into some of the darker aspects of Britain’s care for the mentally vulnerable, but it also delivers plenty of pace with lots of dashing about the countryside and a classic whodunit storyline, with an ending that is hard to guess.
Posted by JAM
Catalogue Link: Among the Mad
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