‘The Poison Cloud’ by Hugh Owen tells of an impenetrable toxic fog which descends on London with devastating results. The smog completely cuts out the light of the sun, effectively cutting the capital off from the outside world and trapping within it a million or so Londoners for days on end. Law and order rapidly breaks down as people face starvation as well as suffocation. Hugh Owen imagines the chaos and horror of the benighted London with considerable power. His everyman hero, Collinson, is witness to a dying city, its streets choked with corpses and abandoned vehicles. He gets caught up in a riot and witnesses the grim reality of martial law as he begins a nightmare journey across the crippled city with his ailing girlfriend. It’s a gripping narrative which certainly deserves this long overdue reprint from its original publication in 1908.