Monday, 15 January 2018

Mick Herron - The List


Rating: 4/5

Review:
An enjoyable diversion



This is a brief story from Mick Herron which takes about an hour to read.  It's not in the same league as his full-length Slough House books, but it's an enjoyable diversion.

In The List, an old agent dies and it emerges that he was up to something a little shady.  His old handler, threatened with destruction by Diana Taverner, attempts to find out what is behind it.  On the way we meet some old friends including J.K. Coe, newly recruited to the Service and Jackson Lamb in a cameo role.  It's a neat, twisty tale, although slightly unsatisfying in that even this small dose of Lamb seems oddly diluted – he answers a knock with "Who the hell's that?", for example.  "Hell?" The Lamb we know and love would have used a considerably more forceful term than that, surely.  Nonetheless, I enjoyed this for what it is.

Mick Herron doesn't write bad books and Slough House addicts like me will certainly want to read The List.  It's a decent read but don’t expect too much.

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