Brotherly Love by Edmund J Gubbins

This is a story about fear, of somebody out of his depth in a world made strange to him by events he could not fully comprehend. 

It is a novel about Ken Flood, living a mundane, steady life as an academic in Plymouth but is pulled by family loyalty along paths of experience which would be best left unexplored. Along the way there are chance encounters with people who through friendship are willing to help. 

Though scared to death, Ken somehow finds hidden depths behind his placid exterior and keeps going when to give up would be the easier option. The novel explores the conflicts which arise when an ordinary people is forced to choose between family loyalty and obligation to the wider public. 

Would you question what is being asked of you by a family member who you had always thought was honest or just help in any way you could? What happens if the activity you are being asked to undertake looks very dodgy, if not criminal? 

The problem is Ken's brother, who Ken now believes after some time on the run, appears to be on the other side. Are there sides in the game Ken is forced to play? Which side is good and which evil? Who are the buddies in black hats? It is soon obvious to Ken that there are no sides in this game  and friend and foe are not easily distinguished. The novel follows Ken's quest to answer these questions to its ultimate conclusion.

Ken Flood lives a quiet life with his wife and two daughters in Plymouth, working as a lecturer in the University. He minds his own business and is relatively happy with life. Until, that is, his brother Norman arrives unexpectedly one day asking for help. Norman puts forward a proposition to Ken but which appears to Ken to verge on an attempt pull him into the murky waters on the edges of crime. Ken has to decide quickly whether to help his brother out of brotherly love or let his brother face his unknown pursuers alone? Reluctantly Ken agrees to help and soon finds himself outside the law, being chased by people he does not know, trying to deliver a mysterious package given to him by his brother to a man he has never met in London.

Ken's decision to help his brother sends Ken into hiding pursued by people he does not know, unable to call anybody a friend, holding onto information his brother told him was important but which Ken had no idea of the contents. In a dramatic climax after fear filled weeks of running and hiding from enemies he could not identify, Ken comes to know the truth about his brother and how Ken has been fooled.

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