The Riot Act

by Jon Stock, J.S. Monroe

When street-fighting anarchist Dutchie's New Age girlfriend is killed by a bomb blast in Oxford Street, he vows revenge. But how can our dreadlocked, drugged-up hero track down the terrorists responsible? And why is MI5 taking such an interest? And what does the foreign exchange racket have to do with it? And who the hell is Uncle Walter working for?
Class war meets Le Carre in Jon Stock's ferocious debut, a millennial thriller set in a terror-struck London on the edge of collapse.

224 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 1997

About the author

Jon Stock is a novelist who writes spy and psychological thrillers. The Sleep Room, his first non-fiction book, was published in the UK on 3 April 2025 (Little, Brown). It was published in the US on 22 July 2025 (Abrams).
After reading English at Cambridge, Jon became a freelance journalist, writing investigative and arts features for the Observer, Private Eye, the Telegraph and the Times. For two years, he was a foreign correspondent in New Delhi before returning to become Weekend editor of the Telegraph in 2005 and to write espionage novels. Dead Spy Running, part of the Daniel Marchant Spy Trilogy, was optioned by Warner Bros. with a screenplay written by Oscar-winner Stephen Gaghan.
In 2015, he became a full-time author, writing psychological thrillers as J.S. Monroe. Find Me has been translated into fourteen languages. Jon is currently a Royal Literary Fund Bridge Fellow and is a vice chair of the Marlborough Literature Festival in Wiltshire, where he lives with his wife, the photographer Hilary Stock. They have three adult children.

Reviews

[Tony · Rating 5 out of 5]

A highly, highly original character drives this dark, London thriller. It's shades of "La Femme Nikita" as a young class warrior is turned/blackmailed by a government agency into helping them find the people who are responsible for the bombings that are plaguing London (one of which killed his New Age girlfriend). In order to don his disguise as foreign exchange broker, he has to shave his dreadlocks, vacate his houseboat and move into a posh flat with a dishy "minder." There is constant tension, both sexual and criminal as the plot develops. I won't suggest the ending, but it is a corker, and entirely dark.

[Katie Olsen]

DNF. There’s always a war going on in my head - especially for such a short book like this one. Do I finish it even though I’m not enjoying it? Or do I not read it because there’s so many good books in the world to waste your time reading one that isn’t good. Maybe this book was better in 1997 when it came out, but in 2023 it feels very dated. It was also very British and because of that (slang, references I didn’t understand) lot of things went in one ear and out the other as I was reading. I also just didn’t particularly enjoy this style of writing. I got this as a blind date with a book and it was a bad date.

[Anne Fox · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyed this as it’s set in Docklands in late ‘90s. I worked there at that time so know how it looked and felt. Story is full of twists, characters that aren’t what they seem and set against the “yuppy” crowd.

[Dawn Marsanne · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very quick read.
Previously commented on the numerous typos which surprised me for a professionally published book.
The book is light on detail. The financial parts are not credible. Yes, financial trading is complex but the infiltration by the main character just didn't cut it for me.
Too many details glossed over.

[Emily Thomas · Rating 5 out of 5]

A page turner, with some unexpected twists - a great holiday read!