Joe Country by Mick Herron

 

A new face at Slough House causes problems for the Slow Horses and a plea from Min Harper's ex-wife has Louisa facing danger.

Joe Country by Mick Herron is book 6 in the Slough House/Slow Horses series. The opening prologue has such an ominous ending, one that makes you aware from the outset that lives will be lost. I didn't want to put the book down until I'd finished, desperate to know who would survive the latest adventure. 

There is a lot going on from the very start; River's grandfather dies, Catherine appears to have fallen off the wagon and Slough House has a new face in the form of disgraced spy Alec "Lech" Wicinski. Lech isn't a team player, not that any of the slow horses really are, but this causes friction from the beginning. Most of the friction is between Lech and Roddy Ho who continues with his comedic and delusional belief that he's something akin to James Bond and Jackson Lamb's second-in-command. Ho is intrigued by Lech, wondering what transgression resulted in him ending up with the rest of the failures at Slough House, but any mention of Lech has been scrubbed from the network - and that makes Ho even more interested. 

The funeral of David Cartwright, River's grandfather, sees the return of a few old faces and sets in motion the events that lead to the menacing events mentioned in the prologue. Louisa also receives an unexpected phone call from Min Harper's ex-wife asking for her help. As a result, Louisa takes a leave of absence from Slough House and sets her sights on tracking down Min's teenage son who has gone missing. Assuming it to be a simple case of tracking the boy to an old holiday haunt, Louisa finds herself in a far more dangerous situation than expected, and proceedings aren't helped by a snowstorm that is blanketing the country. 

I loved the pace and tension as Louisa's rescue mission became a cat-and-mouse chase through snow-covered countryside no one was familiar with, or equipped for. As I read I kept thinking back to the opening pages, wondering how events were going to unfold and the dreaded proceedings would come to pass.

Despite the constant bickering between the regular inhabitants of Slough House fans will know that they are loyal to each other when all hell breaks loose. They are well aware that if they don't support each other when times are tough there is no safety net to fall back on. All this leads to the team working together under extreme conditions, fighting for survival. Danger, harsh conditions, unfamiliar terrain and a secret that goes to the highest level keep you turning the page. Mick Herron tantalises throughout, withholding the answers you desperately want but fear reading, until the very end. I was left shocked and saddened.

Author Details

Mick Herron is the #1 Sunday Times bestselling author of the Slough House thrillers, which have won the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year award, two CWA Daggers, been published in twenty-five languages, and are the basis of a major TV series starring Gary Oldman as Jackson Lamb. He is also the author of the Zoë Boehm series, and the standalone novels Nobody Walks and The Secret Hours. Mick was born in Newcastle upon Tyne, and now lives in Oxford.