The 80s are considered a light and vapid age. It was the age when a lot of musician, included pop musician, were involved in politics and movements Rock Against Racism, Red Wedge, A Conspiracy of Hope were the best way to involve people.
This trilogy is exciting, a brutal portrait of an era that was the best and the worst at the same time.
Read it.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine

1985 and whilst London hosts Live Aid, the city hides a lot of conflict. Suzi Scialfa is still reporting on music and news, she sees the formation of the Red Wedge, a group of artists with left wing views opposed to the Conservative government. Jon Davies is still trying to fight corruption and now his attention is drawn to abuse of power and the development of the London Docklands, particularly Wapping. Meanwhile unrest is growing in Tottenham after the death of a woman on the Broadwater Farm Estate. As Margaret Thatcher controls the country, London is close to explosion.
This is the second book in a proposed trilogy and it is brilliant. I love the way Thomas takes actual events and people and weaves a narrative around them where fact and fiction are so close. His group of characters are believable and operate on the fringes in different areas but all have beliefs in right and wrong. The knowledge of events and the understanding of motives is excellent and this takes me back to my youth with all the cultural references that are pitch perfect.

Red Menace by Joe Thomas...

The follow up to White Riot, and second part of a trilogy...

White Riot got me hooked from start to finish, however this is a bit slower and less imidiate than it was. Characters from part one are back and built on very well, but the plot is a bit slower to get going this time round.

I did enjoy it however and would recommend it to those who enjoyed White Riot.

Jon Davies and Suzi Scialfa have moved on since the inquest into the death of Colin Roach, but they're about to be drawn back into the struggle ­­­- Jon by his restless curiosity and Suzi by the reappearance of DC Patrick Noble.

This is the second book in the trilogy. White Riot being the first. I found this a difficult read. Not because of the subject but because it was hard to keep track of what was really happening. I didn’t find the characters memorable as there is very little description of them. It doesn’t seem to have a rhythm but flits from scene to scene. It’s not for me.

Not an "enjoyable" read by any stretch of the imagination. By which I mean the events are still so very recent and so horrifying that its hard to garner enjoyment from this extremely well researched and well written book. My only complaint is about my own lack of dye diligence. I should have read the blurb more carefully to find that this was the second in a trilogy. Now whilst it did not make this a great read I think I've missed out on the character formation from White Riot. Mea culpa.

Red Menace refers to Ken Livingstone, who wasn't the only person to be referred to in this manner at the time. Thankfully the events are not about the politics (or not wholly) nut rather the events surrounding the riots that seemed to happen anywhere and everywhere as Thatcher tried to turn us into capitalists and we lost a little of our souls as a consequence.

I'm late 50s so these events don't feel a long time ago. However I am also from the North of England and what went on in and around London was a long way from home and had little impact. What did impact were the deaths and beatings you heard about involving the police. The deaths were particularly difficult to understand. It was hardly surprising to anyone that riots occurred after things like that happened to ordinary, decent, people just trying to live their lives.

I think what I'm saying is that this book drags you right back into that era. People were angry, afraid, ready to fight, divided by wealth and power. And when I'd finished I wondered what was different now? Nothing save we have different minorities on the firing line. Joe Thomas manages very skilfully to weave fact and fiction with his characters. Its very clever. It's very believable and I now have to read the first in the trilogy because I know it'll be worth it.

Highly recommended. Thanks to Netgalley and Quercus Books for the advance review copy.

This novel follows on from, ‘White Riot,’ and is the second in a planned trilogy. As before, we have a mix of fictional and real-life characters. Those that existed include Thatcher and Paul Weller, while we have a return of those involved with the police, Patrick Noble and Parker, Councillor Jon Davies and photographer and music journalist Suzi Scialfa.

I remember the Eighties very well and it is a little odd to think of those times as historical, but the novel encompasses Live Aid, riots on the Broadwater Estate and the movement of newspapers from the Strand to Wapping. This was an era of violence and discontent, and the author takes us from the somewhat naïve enthusiasm for Live Aid, through the riots and onto the Wapping dispute in 1986. At this time, print unions attempted to block production being moved from the City of London out to Wapping which was pretty much a wasteland at the time. I do remember walking through the Strand and watching the print presses rolling. Of course, journalism has changed so much since that time, but it was an era when Thatcher was determined to wage war on the unions and win.

Broadwater Farm is fairly close to where I work and protests were held around the death of Cynthia Jarrett, whose son was arrested by the police for having a false tax disc. She later collapsed and died when the police searched her flat, with suggestions of police involvement in her death (at the very least, it is arguable that having a false tax disc was hardly serious enough to demonstrate a search of the property). Demonstrations led to the later murder of PC Keith Blakelock and injuries to another police officer. Bernie Grant, a controversial council leader was said to have said, ‘What the police got was a bloody good hiding,’ but claimed later to be misquoted. He is another real-life character who is mentioned in this novel.

This is a very evocative read for anyone who lived through that time. I enjoy the mix of music and football that the author weaves into the story and feel that his characters are believable and of the time when the novel was set. I certainly plan to read the last in the trilogy. I received a copy of this book from the publisher, via NetGalley, for review.

Red Menace (2024) is the second in the United Kingdom Trilogy and follows White Riot (2023).

If you haven't read White Riot then I recommend you do that before reading Red Menace. It's not essential but the experience is richer by having the knowledge of the events of the earlier volume. Both books feature the same set of characters and, like White Riot, Red Menace is an imersive, kaleidoscopic London novel told from multiple perspectives.

White Riot ended in 1983, in the aftermath of the death of Colin Roach inside Stoke Newington police station. Red Menace opens on the day of the Live Aid concert at Wembley Stadium on 13 July 1985.

This time out it's the Broadwater Farm riot on 6 October 1985 which saw two deaths, Cynthia Jarrett (the previous day) and PC Blakelock. We also relive the Wapping dispute when print unions tried to block distribution of The Sunday Times, along with other newspapers in Rupert Murdoch's News International group, after production was shifted to a new plant in Wapping in January 1986.

If you're old enough to have lived through the period then you will doubtless also be struck by the credible feeling of authenticity.

In amongst real characters like Margaret Thatcher and Paul Weller, we once again spend time with undercover cop Noble, photographer/journalist/activist Suzi Scialfa, and local councillor Jon Davies amongst others.

Once I'd got into the rhythm of the novel, and the various narratives, I was again immersed.

This is up there with David Peace's Red Riding Trilogy which, as you probably know, is very high praise.

I can't wait to read the final volume and am already pondering which real world events Joe Thomas will incorporate, and how the saga concludes for the lead characters.