Emerald Decision

A British agent uncovers a secret nest of Nazi submarines, German agents mysteriously multiply in Ireland and a massive Nazi prachute drop is imminent somewhere in Britain. This is the background for Craig Thomas's exciting story of a secret action so lethal and unorthodox that all traces of it were instantly obliterated until a top American author after the war sought information for a new novel and during the course of his research uncovered the mystery of his father.

Emerald Decision is the second of two novels written by David Grant. Perhaps it wasn't published under the name Craig Thomas as it didn't include any of the recurring characters which he'd established in the first four books.

Or perhaps it's because there isn't an animal in the title.

In fact we get two books in one. Both stories unfold together and in some places cleverly mirror each other's action. In 1940 an Anglo-Irish spy called McBride is uncovering German U-Boats and agents in the South of Ireland. In 1980 his American son is doing research for his latest in a string of popular history books. Were the Germans preparing to invade Ireland? For both men there are those who would rather the truth remained uncovered.

This book remained out of print until 1987 when Collins started to publish Thomas' books starting with Winter Hawk. Their paperback imprint, Fontana, had previously published Emerald Decision so now a revised edition appeared with the name Craig Thomas prominently displayed. Changes inside mainly involved the changing of the date 'October 1980' to 'October 198-' and references to the 1985 Anglo-Irish agreement were inserted to make things more topical.