Spook Street

Mick Herron's Slough House series just get better with each novel. Spook Street is an excellent spy thriller by a master of the craft.

We begin with a suicide bombing, an old spy who may be succumbing to dementia, and a murder. But how are these things connected? That is the crux of Spook Street and given the old spy is grandfather to River Cartwright, one of the denizens of Slough House, it is inevitable that Jackson Lamb should become involved. There's also couple of new recruits for the slow horses - JK Coe, suffering from PTSD he plays imaginary piano and hides in his hoodie; and Lamb's new “P.A.” Moira Tregorian, Catherine Standish's replacement, although she's not quite sure why she's been sent to Slough House.

Herron draws the plot strands tight and this slick, efficient thriller speeds us on our way. River takes a trip to France and uncovers uncomfortable secrets. A killer stalks the streets of London, intent on erasing the past. The new broom at Regent's Park is finding life difficult, mainly because ambitious Diana Taverner is playing him like a fiddle. And the new head of the Dogs (the service's enforcers), Emma Flyte also finds things not going quite as planned.

The action when it comes is sharp and visceral. The one liners are just as sharp and the end is shocking for all concerned. Herron's prose is as kinetic as ever and Lamb is one of the finest creations in all of espionage literature.

A great addition to the Slough House series. Thoroughly recommended.

I'm sure there's a good plot in here somewhere but I couldn't get past the depressing work environment at the start of the book. I managed to ignore it in the first 3 books but this year it hits too close to home.

I love love love Jackson Lamb in all his innumerable faults. A definite top 5 of literary characters. The misfits of Slough House are like family now and I am just concerned I am rapidly running out of books.