Slough House by Mick Herron

 

Something strange is happening to the failed spooks of Slough House. Their existence has been wiped from MI5 databases, and they are being followed. Why would anyone want to surveil the MI5 rejects, and are the events linked? 

In Slough House by Mick Herron, book 7 in the Slough House/Slow Horses series, the residents of Slough House are still coming to terms with the events at the end of  Joe Country. The author gives a quick snapshot of each character to show how much the shocking events at the end of the previous book have impacted everyone.

It is the most deluded of the group, Roddy Ho, who notices that they've ceased to exist as far as Regent's Park, MI5 HQ, are concerned. Coinciding with some of them being followed, the slow horses begin to wonder what is happening. Jackson Lamb can always spot when Diana Taverner is meddling, and this time is no different, however things take a drastic turn when two ex-slow horses die unexpectedly, and an old face makes a shocking reappearance.

The book makes for unpleasant reading. We see how politics, lobbyists and the media manipulate what the general public sees and try to influence how we think. The hold that some of the media organisations seem to have over individuals in power is terrifying, particularly when some of the events and characters in the book bear a striking resemblance to real-life events and people. Mick Herron also uses the real events of the Salisbury poisonings as another thread in the story, showing how tit-for-tat retaliations can escalate.

Much of the book focuses on the political machinations of those who really hold the power in the country. This doesn't stop us from witnessing Jackson Lamb at his best, or is it his worst? There are even times when Lamb becomes physical. There are also some action scenes that will have you on the edge of your seat, terrified for the characters involved. And as for the ending - all I wanted to do was move straight to the next book in the series to find out what happens next. 

Author Details

Mick Herron is the #1 Sunday Times bestselling author of the Slough House thrillers, which have been published in over twenty-five languages and are the basis of the award-winning TV series Slow Horses, starring Gary Oldman as Jackson Lamb. Among his other novels are the Zoë Boehm series, also now adapted for TV starring Emma Thompson and Ruth Wilson, and the standalone novels The Secret Hours and Nobody Walks. Mick’s awards include the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year and the CWA Gold, Steel and Diamond Daggers. A fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, he was born in Newcastle upon Tyne, and now lives in Oxford.