LoveReading Says
This new story in the Jackson Lamb Thriller Series of awkward back room spies, just fills my slightly warped little heart with joy. Slough House is full of exiled spooks, led by the indomitable Jackson Lamb who somehow manages to keep the slow horses moving. Here, the team are hunting down a man who could just break them. One particular sentence had me snorting, and reading it out to a friend, who also snorted. But, if I told each of my friends in order, about every clever sentence I came across in Joe Country, I would probably run out of friends to be able to tell. This is a series that makes me shout with laughter, cringe as things go from slightly to spectacularly wrong, and wince as the barbs shoot home. Mick Herron started with Slow Horses, and each book has been as skilfully written as the first, earning him amongst other accolades two Crime Writers’ Association Daggers. Joe Country is the the sixth in the series, it’s amusing with cracking writing and a storyline that kept me wide-eyed until the early hours. Loved, loved, absolutely loved it, and I’ve chosen Joe Country as one of my Liz Picks of the Month.
Liz Robinson
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Joe Country Synopsis
'We're spies,' said Lamb. 'All kinds of outlandish shit goes on.'
In Slough House memories are stirring, all of them bad. Catherine Standish is buying booze again, Louisa Guy is raking over the ashes of lost love, and new recruit Lech Wicinski, whose sins make him outcast even among the slow horses, is determined to discover who destroyed his career, even if he tears his life apart in the process.
And with winter taking its grip Jackson Lamb would sooner be left brooding in peace, but even he can't ignore the dried blood on his carpets. So when the man responsible breaks cover at last, Lamb sends the slow horses out to even the score.
This time, they're heading into joe country.
And they're not all coming home.
About This Edition
Mick Herron Press Reviews
A complex, accomplished novel by the best thriller writer in Britain today - Daily Express, Books of the Year
If you haven't yet immersed yourself in the world of Slough House, the arena for Herron's jaded and thoroughly imperfect spies, you've a treat in store . . . Combining espionage, ennui and deadpan humour, they set a new bar for spy fiction - FT, Books of the Year
Herron's running jokes with language are part of the fun, and his corpulent, politically incorrect and scatalogically creative eminence noir Jackson Lamb is the icing on the cake - The Times
Mick Herron's Slough House spy thrillers are by now, one of the least well-kept secrets in espionage fiction. Everyone with even half an eye on the genre knows he is somewhere near the top . . . Herron is a fine, often glorious sentence-by-sentence writer, and fiercely funny with his dialogue . . . a hugely satisfying addition to the series - Literary Review
Well observed, angry and deeply sad, Joe Country is fundamentally about injustice . . . It is a rare novelist who can make such unrelenting misery so funny - TLS
Herron's morbidly witty backdrop hosts incisive storytelling with a rich mix of engaging characters - Financial Times
A delight - an ingeniously plotted thriller, delivered in bone dry, sublimely sardonic style - Sunday Mirror
Every bit as captivating as its predecessors . . . like a pin-sharp sitcom that happens to include murder and high politics, they purr along on the gracelessness and ineptitude of the self-deluding Slow Horses, the unmatchable Lamb, and the crackling writing that has made all six in the series unmissable - Big Issue
Herron is superior to the vast majority of thriller writers at their best, and there's no shortage here of reliable treats ranging from messy, inept gunfights to brutally sarcastic dialogue - Sunday Times
Mick Herron is fast becoming the go-to author for British espionage . . . Aficionados can expect Herron's trademark snappy dialogue, memorably flawed characters and sharp political observation - Guardian
This series is bitingly intelligent, light of touch and frequently hilarious - Observer
The best thriller writer in Britain today - Daily Express
Herron does not seek to be John le Carre - his is a wryer, more ironic style; faster, more down to earth, with rapid prose that grabs you by the throat. If you haven't read him yet, do so now - Daily Mail
About Mick Herron
Mick Herron's first Jackson Lamb novel, Slow Horses, was described as the 'most enjoyable British spy novel in years' by the Mail on Sunday and picked as one of the best twenty spy novels of all time by the Daily Telegraph. The second, Dead Lions, won the 2013 CWA Goldsboro Gold Dagger. The third, Real Tigers, was shortlisted for both the CWA Goldsboro Gold Dagger and the CWA Ian Fleming Steel Dagger, and the Sunday Express wrote that it 'revitalised the spy thriller genre'.
Author photo © Tim Barrow
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