I was completely gripped by the plot. It’s vintage Herron, with even more overt political satire this time. The Dominic Cummings-alike is absolutely plain, there are exchanges like: "The PM has one eye on this," "I think the PM has both eyes on the nearest pair of tits" etc. The descriptions of shady political dealing and “reshaping the narrative” - i.e. lying – are terrifyingly plausible and the corridors of government are peopled by those "...whose ingrained sense of privilege rendered him impervious to damage." It’s cynical, angry and bang on the mark.
Lamb himself is still brilliant and magnificently repellent, although not quite as linguistically gross as he sometimes is and therefore slightly less funny – but he still made me laugh out loud several times. Lady Di is superb (I almost warmed to her!), Roddy Ho is on very fine self-deluding form, there are some terrific action set-pieces, Claude Whelan becomes a rather more interesting character...and so on.
In short, it’s great. Don’t start here; I strongly recommend that you begin with Slow Horses and read the entire series. If you’ve already done that, you’ll love this. I did.
Although Bad Actors meanders a bit, it is still almost as compelling a read as Slow Horses. Mind you, that’s not surprising: on Amazon, Mick Herron is described as “The John Le Carré of our generation” and it’s all to do with bad actors and slow horses. Who would have thought le Carré might be associated with "any generation"! In terms of acclaimed spy novels, Herron’s Slough House series has definitely made him Top Of The Pops in terms of anti-Bond writers. For Len Deighton devotees that ends a long and victorious reign at number one.
ReplyDeleteRaw noir espionage of the Slough House quality is rare, whether or not with occasional splashes of sardonic hilarity. Gary Oldman’s performance in Slow Horses has given the Slough House series the leg up the charts it deserved. Will Jackson Lamb become the next Bond? It would be a rich paradox if he became an established anti-Bond brand ambassador. Maybe Lamb should change his name to Happy Jack or Pinball Wizard or even Harry Jack. After all, Harry worked for Palmer as might Edward Burlington for Bill Fairclough in another noir but factual spy series, The Burlington Files.
Of course, espionage aficionados should know that both The Slough House and Burlington Files series were rejected by risk averse publishers who didn't think espionage existed unless it was fictional and created by Ian Fleming or David Cornwell. However, they probably didn’t know that Fairclough once drummed with Keith Moon in their generation in the seventies.