Tag Archives: herron mick

London Rules – Mick Herron

London Rules – Mick Herron

I have been keeping ahead of the Apple TV series of Slow Horses, we have just watched series four, so I decided it was time to read (listen) book 5 London Rules.

Here’s the blurb …

London Rules might not be written down, but everyone knows rule one.

Cover your arse.

Regent’s Park’s First Desk, Claude Whelan, is learning this the hard way. Tasked with protecting a beleaguered prime minister, he’s facing attack from all directions himself: from the showboating MP who orchestrated the Brexit vote, and now has his sights set on Number Ten; from the showboat’s wife, a tabloid columnist, who’s crucifying Whelan in print; and especially from his own deputy, Lady Di Taverner, who’s alert for Claude’s every stumble.

Meanwhile, the country’s being rocked by an apparently random string of terror attacks, and someone’s trying to kill Roddy Ho.

Over at Slough House, the crew are struggling with personal problems: repressed grief, various addictions, retail paralysis, and the nagging suspicion that their newest colleague is a psychopath. But collectively, they’re about to rediscover their greatest strength – that of making a bad situation much, much worse.

It’s a good job Jackson Lamb knows the rules. Because those things aren’t going to break themselves.

I do hope the secret service is not like it is described in these novels (although it probably is). I do like how these books are written; there is funny bits, moving bits, adventure and excitement, not to mention double-dealing and back-stabbing, but the slow horses look after their own.

A review.

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Filed under 4, Audio, Fiction, Spy, Thriller

Spook Street – Mick Herron

Spook Street – Mick Herron

I listened to this one in preparation for the next TV series.

Here’s the blurb …

What happens when an old spook loses his mind? Does the Service have a retirement home for those who know too many secrets but don’t remember they’re secret? Or does someone take care of the senile spy for good? These are the questions River Cartwright must ask when his grandfather, a Cold War–era operative, starts to forget to wear pants and begins to suspect everyone in his life has been sent by the Service to watch him.

But River has other things to worry about. A bomb goes off in the middle of a busy shopping center and kills forty innocent civilians. The agents of Slough House have to figure out who is behind this act of terror before the situation escalates

Something happens very early in the novel, which made me think I might be done with the Slow Horses novels, but I pushed on, and it was fine. High body count, but would you expect anything else?

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Filed under 4, Audio, Crime, Fiction, Spy, Thriller

Real Tigers – Mick Herron

Real Tigers – Mick Herron

This was also in Mr H’s audible library and having read the first two, I decided to read this one (and then I will be ready when Apple releases the next season).

Here’s the blurb …

London’s Slough House is where disgraced MI5 operatives are reassigned to spend the rest of their spy careers pushing paper. But when one of these “slow horses” is kidnapped by a former soldier bent on revenge, the agents must breach the defenses of Regent’s Park to steal valuable intel in exchange for their comrade’s safety. The kidnapping is only the tip of the iceberg, however, as the agents uncover a larger web of intrigue that involves not only a group of private mercenaries but also the highest authorities in the Security Service. After years spent as the lowest on the totem pole, the slow horses suddenly find themselves caught in the midst of a conspiracy that threatens not only the future of Slough House, but of MI5 itself.

I think this is my favourite of the three; machinations within machinations and Lamb is grotesque, but occasionally funny. The other slow horses are kind and loyal (maybe not Roddy, but being in his head is hilarious).

This is a fast-paced, easy to read spy drama (slightly horrifying in that they always seem to be scheming against each other and not the enemy).

A review.

I have been outside my comfort zone with my reading lately – thriller (Geneva) and now this one, but I am currently reading Old God’s Time and listening to The Unknown Ajax, so there will be a return to normality soon.

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Filed under 3, Fiction, Spy