This is my second book by John Lymington. I have a third, "The Giant Stumbles" but I will not bother. His books are just bad.
I believe it would help if I was an Englishman of the 1960s but perhaps not. In full disclosure I am an American whom has lived in England for 15 years and I do appreciate that the themes of his writing are/were appealing to a segment the English populace. I doubt his brand of SF had any success on the American side of the pond in the 1960s.

This book is the typical neighborhood gossip, trash that titillated the bored 1960s English housewife. The man rides the train to work. His childless wife, which shares his little semi-detached house, is unhappy, running away and suspects he is gay. The Neighbor wives want affairs and if the man says no then he must be gay. Just throw in an a world wide disaster and you get a John Lymington SF book. ( )

The last twenty pages are science fiction, they rest is soap opera. ( )