Wednesday, 9 November 2016

Mick Herron - Spook Street


Rating: 5/5

Review:
A great addition to a fantastic series



Mick Herron has created a fantastic series of spy thrillers in the Slough House series and this, the fourth, is well up to the brilliant standard of its predecessors.

Not a great deal more need be said, really, but this is another rather twisty tale of the washed-up spooks of Slough House, dragged into the aftermath of a terrorist outrage and lots of consequent internal Intelligence politics and nefarious dealings, some going back decades.  The plot is good, although perhaps slightly less plausible than previous books – but who cares?  It's still a gripping, superbly told tale with the magnificent Jackson Lamb at its heart and Herron manages to make this both hilarious and chilling – sometimes simultaneously.  Lamb and his ragbag of rejects are again superbly drawn, damaged characters, about whom we somehow care, Lamb himself remains his cynically obnoxious self and I laughed out loud regularly, as I always do when reading Mick Herron's books.  Lamb is one of the great creations of modern fiction.

If you haven't yet read the Slough House series I would recommend reading the others in order first (Slow Horses,  Dead Lions, Real Tigers), but this can be read on its own.  If you have read the others you'll need no encouragement from me; this is an excellent addition to what is becoming a classic series and is very warmly recommended.

(I received an ARC via Netgalley.)

No comments:

Post a Comment