Dead Lions

Dead Lions, the second of Mick Herron's Slough House series, is, if anything, even better than the first. Set some months after the events of the first book, we have a couple of new slow horses to be introduced to in the shape of Marcus Longridge and Shirley Dander as well as the familiar cast of losers and screw ups that already inhabit Slough House. As for head Slow Horse, Jackson Lamb, well, he's off investigating the mysterious death of an old colleague from his Cold War Berlin days, found dead on a bus in Oxfordshire.

Herron ups his game here, serving up a complex plot involving the ghosts of Cold War spooks past, sleeper cells, Russian oligarchs and a Stop The City demonstration in London. He keeps all the balls in the air brilliantly: River Cartwright sent undercover into the wilds of.....the Cotswolds; two Slow Horses seconded by “Spider” Webb of MI5's headquarters in Regents Park to look after a visiting Russian player; Lamb trying to find out why an old friend has gotten himself killed leaving a mysterious unsent text on his phone that says simply ‘cicadas'. What does it all mean?

That we don't find out until the very last few pages it testament to Herron's skill as a writer. The dialogue is witty, with Lamb being his usual obnoxious self, the action is deft and unfussy yet packs a punch. Lamb's gang of misfits get the job done, after a fashion, but Slough House is never going to get the credit. Return to Regents Park remains a pipe dream for them.

Honestly this was a joy to read, a page turner that keeps you guessing to the very end. Let's hope there's plenty more Slow Horse tales to come and surely someone in TV land must be looking to option these books? Recommended.