If shed taken care, Emma Flyte would still be alive. Learn more. January 4, 2021 The Slough House series is centered on the misanthropic Jackson Lamb and his menagerie of failed spies. You're listening to a sample of the Audible audio edition. Unlike some, I enjoyed the political context, being no fan of said politician and his band of third rate sycophants. As the slow horses try to work out whats going on, they find themselves caught up in events outside their control and in the cross hairs of a ruthless enemy who doesnt care about collateral damage . East-facing, but sheltered from morning dazzle by an imposing view of the iconic Barbican Centre, and offered further protection by being on Aldersgate Street, in the London borough of Finsbury, renowned for its temperate climate. After viewing product detail pages, look here to find an easy way to navigate back to pages you are interested in. To qualify for Slough House an agent has to commit a screwup of sufficient magnitude that they are deported from MI5 headquarters at Regency Park. The Salisbury Novichok poisonings, Russian secret service interference on British soil, has not gone down well in political or intelligence circles, so much so that First Desk arch-manipulator Diana Taverner loses touch with her better instincts as she seeks revenge, making a deal with the devil that results in the Kazan episode. For us, the return of Lamb and his slow horses spies cast aside by MI6 is reason enough to spend a few hours in their company. More interesting is the introduction of Desmond Flint and his Yellow Vest movement and the way that Judd is latching onto them. There was a problem loading your book clubs. For there has been foreign agents spreading havoc, not least poisoning civilians, in a way that actually happened. . This is one of my favourite series although I have never before managed to read spy thrillers. This coupled with the biting satire and basic humanity of Herrons writing are what have kept me coming back. : He won the Crime Writers' Association 2013 Gold Dagger award for Dead Lions . Treat those you despise with humanity, especially if the reason you despise them is that they have none. Sandy *TheworldcouldendwhileIwasreadingndIwouldnto. This book, the last of the series, was the best. Hes a world-bringer, the creator of a still-growing fictional universe with its own gravity, lingo, and surface tension. Like a spy in the night, writer Mick Herron's success has been stealthy. They don't just go home, do they? He shows great style in melding drama and humor in the ongoing saga of Slough House. What seems a gutless response from the government has pushed the Service's First Desk into mounting her own counter-offensive - but she's had to make a deal . Series list: Slough House (11 Books) by Mick Herron. But this book also shows a side of Lamb we dont often get to see a man who despite all his insults and abuse of his staff is the most loyal and protective boss anyone could want. Despite giving every indication of wanting his team of slow horses to fail spectacularly, he never gives up on a Joe (spy), and its this trait which makes him such a popular character. However, they cant afford to ignore the assassination, on UK soil, of a Russian defector. More of Mick Herron Jackson Lamb is a fabulously grotesque and also weirdly sympathetic creation, so I became addicted to the series. All that remains is to dive in & find out what fresh hell Jackson Lamb (AKA Mick Herron) & his crew stumble into this time. My carefully organized reading list just took a direct hit. So we wait, impatiently, for number 8 , Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 19, 2021. My reason for four stars is the "blankety blank" cliffhanger ending. There is a lot going on in this book with two main plot lines why Slough House has been deleted from the Services records and the fallout from Lady Dis decision to sock it to Russias GRU. Of course the author still has a bad case of TDS and continues to drop more attacks on Trump but at least this time the plot is moving forward so well his obsession with American politics over his own country is less as jarring. The only slight nagging doubt is whether it will maintain the sky high quality standards. Great spy read! It is easy to devour with a fabulous mix of humour, action, relevance to current times and a wonderfully ghastly villain resembling a well-known politician. No wonder Jackson Lambs crew is feeling paranoid. He is the author of six books in the Slough House series as well as a mystery series set in Oxford featuring Sarah Tucker and/or P.I. So I just read it all in one somewhat elongated gulp. Length: 9 hrs and 48 mins. Reviewed in the United States on February 12, 2023. Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in: You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. Addiction loves challenge, because challenge provides an excuse to fail. Bu the slow horses arent famed for making wise decisions. She is the sensible mother figure of the group. He is the author of the Slough House espionage series, four Oxford mysteries, and several standalone novels. Hope Herron writes many more. But it was pointless to think such things; the clocks had gone forward since then, and only ever went so far back. Lamb really is an appalling character and I can easily understand those who don't like him but he is bloody funny too! A governmental think-tank, whose remit is to curb the independence of the intelligence service, has lost one of its key members, and Claude Whelanone-time head of MI5's Regents Parkis tasked with tracking her down. After all, what DOES happen to the detritus of the service? But River, himself an agent at Slough House, has other things to worry about. First published February 4, 2021 Book details & editions About the author Mick Herron 48 books2,083 followers Mick Herron was born in Newcastle and has a degree in English from Balliol College, Oxford. I imagine most everyone who reads it has already devoured the previous six books. Trainers were in the basement. : Full content visible, double tap to read brief content. My reason for four stars is the "blankety blank" cliffhanger ending. The question of whether he was a double agent must be resolved, and its answer may undo an entire careers worth of spy secrets. If shes going to make the Service fit for purpose, she might have to make deals with a familiar old devil. But in relaying his suspicions to John Bachelor, who babysits retired spies like Solly for MI5, he sets in motion a train of events that will alter lives. , ISBN-13 : Quantity: 1. It happened now, as he tucked his phone in his pocket. If Herron has whacked him then I think its a really interesting decision because on one level, his story arc had mostly come to an end anyway (the OB is dead, we know who his dad was and hes dead too) and it does show that no one in Slough House is safe from whacking. . Herrons deft plotting and taut writing make his books the best spy thrillers being published today. . These are the paranoid concerns of David Cartwright, a Cold Warera operative and one-time head of MI5 who is sliding into dementia, and questions his grandson, River, must answer now that the spy who raised him has started to forget to wear pants. But are they actually targets? Please try again. Used Condition: Used; Good Soft cover. Dead Lions is second in the series. Try again. In fact, listening to this has made me even more curious to see the tv series. But this book also shows a side of Lamb we dont often get to see a man who despite all his insults and abuse of his staff is the most loyal and protective boss anyone could want. There is an urgency to the plot as they find themselves with targets on their backs. Access codes and supplements are not guaranteed with used items. Its always sad to reach the end so quickly, we can only hope that Mick never gets bored. Sublime dialogue, frictionless plotting., [Herron is the] le Carr of the future . (LogOut/ , Sticky notes All rights reserved. Learn more. Herron grounds his novels around notable real-life events for satirical purposes, and this time he concocts a story around Brexit, the Yellow Vest protests and the Russian Novichok assassinations. What would be the point?. As ever, Jackson Lamb heads the team. There is a sense of pieces being moved ready for further developments, most notably in the change in dynamic between Judd and Lady Di, and its not clear what the return of Sid will mean long term but the devastating ending and the question it leaves means I am very keen to read the next book. Required fields are marked *. What happens when an old spook loses his mind? The Slow Horses, as its inmates are known, think they are being followed. is a British novelist and short story writer who was born in Newcastle and studied English at Oxford. Frontal aspect, first reaction: its not the best-looking property on the market. Reviewed in the United States on February 12, 2023. Slough House - the crumbling office building to which failed spies, the 'slow horses', are banished - has been wiped from secret service records. How did you come up with this MI5 silo of castoffs and misfits? Tolmachoff Farms, 5726 N. 75th Ave., Glendale. Reprinted by permission. A year after a calamitous blunder by the Russian secret service left a British citizen dead from Novichok poisoning, Diana Taverner is on the warpath. The gags are still there but the satire's more biting. These ebooks can only be redeemed by recipients in the US. Pick up a copy of. While two agents are dispatched on that babysitting job, an old Cold War-era spy named Dickie Bow is found dead, ostensibly of a heart attack, far from his usual haunts. Slough House by Mick Herron. If you're a seller, Fulfillment by Amazon can help you grow your business. He never gifts them glory, barely grants them a tolerable existence and never hesitates to kill one or two of them off if the plot requires it. Cantor would have found out the hard way that you never feed a cat just once. And while the main thing about trainers was they had to feel right, not look good, still: they had to look good. 03/22/2021. This is a darker, scarier Herron. Read it, you'll see what I mean. : Louisa Guy, another member of the team who has been there from the beginning, is probably the safest pair of hands at Slough House. Does someone take care of the senile spy for good? And yes, the book does end on a cliffhanger. , and dipped into a sporting goods store, its neon logo a pale imitation of itself in the watery light, its tiled floor slick with grime. The slow horses have been pushed further into the cold, Slough House has been erased from official records, and its members are dying in unusual circumstances, at an unusual clip. , in these post-You-Know-What times. Slough House - Mick Herron A year after a calamitous blunder by the Russian secret service left a British citizen dead from novichok poisoning, Diana Taverner is on the warpath. I think MHs politics are clear enough, as with so many authors, and why not? The pace was much better and the focus was mostly on the slow horses and not so much on Diana and the politics which is how I prefer it. (LogOut/ Old spooks carry the memory of tradecraft in their bones, and when Solomon Solly Dortmund sees an envelope being passed from one pair of hands to another in a Marylebone caf, he knows hes witnessed more than an innocent encounter. Your recently viewed items and featured recommendations, By purchasing this title, you agree to Audible's, Update your device or payment method, cancel individual pre-orders or your subscription at. : s the agents dig into their fallen comrades circumstances, they uncover a shadowy tangle of ancient Cold War secrets. The gags are still there but the satire's. Something went wrong. View More. Change), You are commenting using your Twitter account. He is the author of six books in the Slough House series as well as a mystery series set in Oxford featuring Sarah Tucker and/or P.I. Additional gift options are available when buying one eBook at a time. Also on the nit-picky line, Im not sure that the use of new character Reese Nesmith III really added a huge amount other than to give Lamb the chance to make some trademark un-PC comments about dwarfism. His humor and wit crept into the dialogue at frequent and unexpected moments. Slough House - Soho Press | Bold Literary Voices | Award-Winning International Crime Fiction | Groundbreaking Young Adult Fiction . At Slough House, Brexit has taken a toll. Reviewed in the United States on December 30, 2022. And does Jackson Lamb know more than hes telling? Always up or down. I would pine for it. Espionage. It also analyzed reviews to verify trustworthiness. Instead, our system considers things like how recent a review is and if the reviewer bought the item on Amazon. not long ago. , and dipped into a sporting goods store, its neon logo a pale imitation of itself in the watery light, its tiled floor slick with grime. Reject it? If I was being nit-picky, then Id question why Lady Di didnt do her due diligence before getting back in withJudd given how careful she usually is, but equally Herron does make clear they had history together and the nature of the revelation does hold a lot of delicious possibilities for future books given how ensnared Lady Di now is. But keeping a secret among spies is a fools errand, and now John has made himself eminently blackmailable. Pretty much everything extreme one can imagine happens, and it is a wild ride start to finish. 'Slough House' is my seventh visit with the British Security Service screwups who have been exiled from the shining high-tech HQ to the grimy dilapidation of Slough House where they live lives of demoralising drudgery, doing nugatory work for the irascible Jackson Lamb. His work has won the CWA Gold Dagger for Best Crime Novel, the Steel Dagger for Best Thriller, and the Ellery Queen Readers Award, and been nominated for the Macavity, Barry, Shamus, and Theakstons Novel of the Year Awards. Herrons deft plotting and taut writing make his books the best spy thrillers being published today. Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app. Please try again. Bring your club to Amazon Book Clubs, start a new book club and invite your friends to join, or find a club thats right for you for free. As the agents dig into their fallen comrades circumstances, they uncover a shadowy tangle of ancient Cold War secrets. British author Herron's superb seventh Slough House novel (after 2019's Joe Country) opens with an unidentified woman's assassination whose significance gradually becomes clear in this darkly satiric update on the "slow horses," spies who have each made a colossal mistake and have been assigned to MI5's Slough House . The ones that looked good were, anyway. A magical look into the Secret Service and a fictional but likely scenario. And while the main thing about trainers was they had to feel right, not look good, still: they had to look good. I love this series. State secrets dating back to the fall of the Berlin Wall. Whats her counterpart, Moscows First Desk, doing in London? I was very disappointed in the ending of this novel. Make room on your shelf beside LeCarre and Deighton. Reviewed in the United States on August 7, 2022. Its refusal to budge suited River, for the moment. 9,604 ratings by Goodreads. Im kinda curious to see if River makes it or not. And does Jackson Lamb know more than hes telling? But the trail leads straight back to the Park itself, with Diana Taverner as chief suspect. Tom and Chiara race against time to elude Vatican assassins in a murderous quest for a lost holy book and missing child. Maybe they just got too dependent on the bottlenot unusual in this line of work. The way Herron skewers Boris Johnson through Judd (especially through his speeches) is just beautifully done but he also does well at showing the artifice and the naked desire for power, whatever it takes. His humor and wit crept into the dialogue at frequent and unexpected moments. Now that the O. Slough House is the seventh book in the Slough House/Jackson Lamb series by award-winning British author, Mick Herron. I think MHs politics are clear enough, as with so many authors, and why not? A drop, in spook parlance, is the passing on of secret information. There are yellow-vest protestors on the street, and former Home Secretary Peter Judd, an . : This time out, MI5s disgraced spies are being hunted by Russian assassins and theres no one they can trust to help them. 4.8 (59 ratings) Try for $0.00. Help others learn more about this product by uploading a video! Number two spy at Regent's Park HQ, 'Lady Di' Taverner, has a new boss. Joy is unbridled when each new book is announced. Zo Boehm. Convert currency A yellow bollard exhorted her to take care. From the Slough House series , Vol. (LogOut/ There was an error retrieving your Wish Lists. The main series development is the return of Sid Baker, which was first teased in LONDON RULES but finally Herron reveals that yes, she did survive SLOW HORSES and has spent the last few years recuperating in a Service facility in the Lake District. Gary Oldman as Jackson Lamb? : It is a place of desperation and despair where all inhabitants strive to return to "The Park," but no one ever has. Reviewed in the United States on February 21, 2023. In his best and most ambitious novel yet, Mick Herron, the le Carr of the future (BBC), offers an unsparing look at the corrupt web of media, global finance, spycraft, and politics that power our modern world. View all copies of this ISBN edition: Buy New Learn more about this copy. shley Khan turning up the heat, the slow horses are doing what they do best, and adding a little bit of chaos to an already unstable situation . But are they actually targets? Hed grown up in his grandparents house, having been abandoned there by a mother whose horizons hadnt, at the time, included future property rights. Reviewed in the United States on February 11, 2021. Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web. Maybe they got in the way of an ambitious colleague and had the rug yanked out from under them. This entry was posted in Book Love and tagged books, MI5, Mick Herron, Slough House, spy thriller on February 12, 2021 by sandradan1. This one seemed like the best so far, but maybe it was the wait for it to come out, or just that I'm getting to know the characters better. Mick Herron's story of British espionage and political intrigue kept me reading well past bedtime. Lie still. Sorry, there was a problem loading this page. For details, please see the Terms & Conditions associated with these promotions. The first novel, Slow Horses, was published in 2010.Some years later, it was hailed by the Daily Telegraph as . . This book, the last of the series, was the best. But they have they actually been targeted? . Do you believe that this item violates a copyright? It may be the last book, but I don't know. Get a special admission price of $18 on opening night. Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required. Something is brewing at the Park, and Diana Taverner, First Desk, and enemy of Lamb from way back, is probably behind it. Slow Horses (Deluxe Edition) (Slough House). The gags are still there but the satire's more biting. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); 2021 Crime Fiction Lover. Not admiring duplicity in all its shades is fine with me. Dieter Hess, an aged spy, is dead, and John Bachelor, his MI5 handler, is in deep, deep trouble. By: Mick Herron. Author Mick Herron is just 58, and the crime publishing imprint Baskerville has secured the rights to three more upcoming titles from Herron - one standalone and two more Slough House books. Additional gift options are available when buying one eBook at a time. Witty, clever and horribly on point. Follow I Read, Therefore I Blog on WordPress.com. Get help and learn more about the design. Of course the author still has a bad case of TDS and continues to drop more attacks on Trump but at least this time the plot is moving forward so well his obsession with American politics over his own country is less as jarring. Mick Herrons six Slough House novels have been shortlisted for eight CWA Daggers, winning twice, and shortlisted for the Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year three times. Drama, sadness, playfulness and great humour. No wonder Jackson Lambs crew are feeling paranoid. Taverner is forced to accept funds from disgraced politician Peter Judd a thinly disguised Boris Johnson in order to subcontract a tit-for-tat response. "A well-plotted, intricate, and diverting thriller" -- Library Journal, Reviewed in the United States on January 21, 2023. So we wait, impatiently, for number 8 , Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 19, 2021. Lots to laugh about while being careful not to miss a word. Hed been seven. Sublime dialogue, frictionless plotting., [Herron is the] le Carr of the future . Bring your club to Amazon Book Clubs, start a new book club and invite your friends to join, or find a club thats right for you for free. All rights reserved. But if you've read any others, and liked them, you'll like this one. These promotions will be applied to this item: Some promotions may be combined; others are not eligible to be combined with other offers. In 2008, inspired by world events, Mick began writing the Slough House series, featuring MI5 agents who have been exiled from the mainstream for various offences. 'Cover your arse' is the first rule to live by for Jackson Lamb's team of spies in London Rules, fifth in the Slough House thriller series by Mick Herron.