He Died with His Eyes Open

The census claim is confirmed and is not a close call: the UK first (London, 1984) precedes the American edition by three years — the US issue did not appear until Ballantine Books / Available Press, New York, 1987 (ISBN 0345342895) — so there is no genuine UK-vs-US precedence contest, and the US 1987 issue should never be catalogued as a first. This is the opening novel of the Factory series. Identity note for cataloguing: Derek Raymond is the pen name of the English novelist Robin Cook (1931-1994), adopted to avoid confusion with the American medical-thriller writer of the same name — the two authors are routinely conflated in listings. First-thus traps: the Ballantine/Available Press 1987 US issue, and the later Serpent's Tail and Melville House Factory reprints.