Rating: 5/5
Review:
Brilliant
I thought this was a brilliant book. It is exceptionally well written, it is
amusing and it is also a very good spy thriller.
Mick Herron has created Slough House, a backwater of MI5 to
which spooks with a blot on their record - the Slow Horses of the title - are
banished to perform tedious, menial duties.
Here we find a great cast of wholly believable characters presided over
by the brilliantly monstrous Jackson Lamb; cynical, world-weary, rude and with
appalling personal habits, he is apparently bone idle and burnt-out. Apparently.
He provides a magnificent centre around whom events unfold.
The plot is a twisty tale of a kidnapping and threatened
on-line beheading which reveals all sorts of layers of deceit and
deception. It is quite excellently done,
I think, with a sardonic, sometimes laugh-out-loud tone but with genuine
tension, character insight and fine storytelling. I think it is Herron's depiction of the minds
of his characters which makes this really special, from the slightly bewildered
spooks to the excellent portrayal of the mental state of the kidnap
victim. These and the story held me
absolutely gripped, and I found it a quite riveting read.
This is the first in what I expect to be an exceptionally
good series, and I can recommend it very warmly indeed.
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