Shortlisted for the Last Laugh Award at the CrimeFest Awards 2017.
Shortlisted for the CWA Goldsboro Gold Dagger and Ian Fleming Steel Dagger 2016.
The latest instalment in the eventful days and sleepless nights of the denizens of Slough House is another sheer delight. Following on from 'Slow Horses', 'Dead Lions' and the peripheral 'Nobody Walks' this is another venture into the twilight world of second rate, failed spies isolated by their superiors in the backwaters of Slough House where they are assigned to insignificant duties in the hope they will resign without a fuss only to come across cases which help them regain their dignity and tradecraft. As intricate as Le Carre in its depiction of in-house rivalries and the subtlety of intelligence work but leavened with a healthy dose of humour, and in the figure of Jackson Lamb, head of the unit, a fatter than fat and flatulent boss with a Machiavellian disregard for rules. The novel begins, incongruously, with a rooftop battle between Batman and Spiderman but quickly moves on to rivalries within MI5 and the sad lives of some of the characters while Herron wonderfully blends the thriller element and the humane as he orchestrates a most complex but believable plot like a watchmaker. At times darkly hilarious, at others gripping and intense, this confirms Herron and his series as a future classic. Get on board now. ~ Maxim Jakubowski
Maxim Jakubowski's February 2016 Book of the Month.
| Primary Genre | Thriller and Suspense |
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