Slough House

Herron's Slough House saga just goes from strength to strength. Slough House picks up where the previous novel, Joe Country, left off. The denizens of Slough House, the “Slow Horses”, have been wiped from the Service database, all records gone. Service chief Diana Taverner has, unbeknownst to them, been using them as a training exercise in surveillance for new recruits, much to Slough House slob-in-residence Jackson Lamb's annoyance.

But other actors are in play too. Disgraced former MP Peter Judd is pulling strings behind the scenes, weaving a web that will ensnare Taverner, advance his populist agenda and perhaps, just perhaps, return him to front line politics, or at least his chosen stalking horse, leader of the Yellow Vests, man of the people “Flinty”. And someone has passed a file to the Russians who now think they have the names of a Service hit squad and have sent their own assassins to liquidate them in revenge for a Service hit on their own turf. But the file only lists past Slough House personnel......

A superb espionage thriller, full of sardonic wit, pointed satire and brutal action, Herron's Slow Horses once again stumble through another adventure despite their own ineptitude and personal demons. Jackson Lamb is, if anything, even more disheveled and disgusting, and when someone thought long dead reappears, it's River Cartwright, one of the longest serving Slow Horses, who questions his future.

The ending is a cliffhanger of sorts, which I assume will be resolved in the next book. I for one, can't wait.