The Marshall Effect - Anthony Joseph

Dr. Peter Marshall was a brilliant scientist at Cambridge University who made a startling scientific breakthrough which potentially could change England's economy and her role on the world stage. The discovery came just before Peter suffered a major tragedy and went off the rails, a trajectory resulting in him being sentenced to prison and losing everything. After his release, Peter disappeared from society, turning his back on family, friends and career to vanish into obscurity and anonymity. 

Peter acquired lethal skills in prison and used them to stop a poterntially ugly situation from becoming serious, causing him to leave London to avoid any complications. After leaving London, Peter's skills again came into play and completely changed his aimless existence and transformed his life. 

A former Cambridge colleague, Dr. George Martin, tried without success to unravel the mystery of Peter's scientific breakthrough despite receiving millions in Government funding. When senior civil servants learned of Dr. Martin's failure, they realized this could result in the immense waste of Government money and the ruin of several careers. To avoid disaster, The Special Branch of the Metropolitan Police was called in to find the missing scientist, a decision that aroused the interest of a nosy newspaper reporter.

Dogged determination by Special Branch and the reporter found the elusive Dr. Marshall in a small village at the same time as fickle fate started to drag him back into scientific research.

This book has memorable characters, sudden action and the rehabilitation of a societal reject through love, happenstance and the persistence of people who changed the life of the discoverer of The Marshall Effect.