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I greatly enjoyed the masterful John Le Carre's George Smiley books and Len Deighton's Bernard Samson novels . Reading recently that Mick Herron, author of a new spy series, was being described as "the John Le Carre of our generation," I though, Wow, I must give this a go. Happily I was not disappointed.
Mick Herron was born in 1963 in Newcastle Upon Tyne, one of six children. He studied English at Balliol, Oxford, got a job in a library after graduating , wrote poetry, and then turned to fiction. He lives in Oxford, and for many years commuted to London where he worked as a sub-editor until 2017. He lives with his headhunter partner Jo Howard, and they have two grown up girls. When he moved into Jo's flat, he kept his old flat on as base for writing. He published his first book in 2003, and began to write the multi award winning Slough House series in 2008 - the first book of which is Slow Horses (2010). Herron's hero ( or rather anti-hero) is Jackson Lamb, the self loathing "monster" in charge at Slough House. Jackson doesn't want to be liked. Herron said the Jackson character was inspired by Reginald Hill's Andy Dalziel. Constable published the first book in the series, but pulled out because of slow initial UK sales. Johnson Murray took over UK sales in 2015. The series was published in the USA by Soho.
Herron sets the British Secret Service in two UK London buildings - Regents's Park for the main force, the successful "high flyers", and Slough House in Finsbury, near the Barbican station for those who have screwed up, the "slow horses". Everyone at Regents Park looks down on those at Slough - the very name Slough House is a joke. "Jackson has been banished - where to ? - Slough ? - it might as well be. " David Cartwright was a distinguished second desk at MI5 / Regents Park. Diana Taverner took over when he retired. In "Slow Horses" we will meet David's grandson River. River was abandoned by his mother when 7, and brought up by his grandmother and grandfather. David affectionatley refers to his grandad as the O.B. (old bastard).
I read this book in March, 2023.
As I said in the Mick Herron write up, I really enjoyed the masterful John Le Carre's George Smiley books and Len Deighton's Bernard Samson novels , and had heard good things about the newish Slough House spy series. Regents Park is where MI5 is really based (the High Flyers) but those agents who screw up, but not enough to be dismissed, are banished to Slough House (the Slow Horses). There are two rules to play the spy game - Moscow Rules (watch your back) and London Rules (someone will always get the blame, make sure it's not you). Slough House itself is in Finsbury, near the Barbican tube station. The building looks uninhabited, and the front door has cobwebs and hasn't been opened in years. People share offices over several upper floors. Jackson Lamb is in charge. He is on the top floor with his secretary Catherine Standish. This is book one in the series, and it's a cracker.
The book opens by introducing us to various characters and so I will do the same. River Cartwright was abandoned by his mum when he was 7 and brought up by his grandmother and grandfather - the grandfather being the revered (within MI5) David Cartwright. River affectionately refers to his grandfather as the O.B.( old bastard). Later we will hear what River did or didn't do to get sent to Slough. Jackson Lamb in charge at Slough House, is a monster, delights in making enemies everywhere, is driven by self loathing, and seems to want to make everyone's life so miserable and tedious that they resign. He thinks this will save their lives as they are not up to the job. Lamb was responsible for his friend's death - Charles Partner, (in charge of MI5) was a traitor selling secrets, his death was sanctioned by River's grandfather. Jackson gave up his former life in disgust and was transferred to Slough. Sam Chapman (Bad Sam) said he wasn't frightened of anyone except fat guys with bad breath and ill fitting shirts because one of these might turn out to be Jackson Lamb. Jackson usually stomps about the place, but when he wants to he can move quickly without making a sound. He is an old school hardened pro - a true "joe" in the parlance of this book. A true "joe" will always outplay a "suit" as we are about to find out. Charles Partner's body was discovered by his secretary Catherine Standish , a recovering alcoholic and it hit her badly. It was rumoured that she knew about Partner's treachery but kept quiet. When she was transferred to Slough, Jackson got her to be his secretary, and feeling responsible tried to shield her from further trauma.
Roderick Ho is a webhead and skilled computer hacker with zero people skills. At work he searches web groups for possible terrorists, and back home he continues his scanning. Hacking into Regent's Park data files, he knows, with two exceptions, what all his colleagues did to screw up. The running joke is that he is always scanning to discover what he himself did wrong, but the answer will never occur to him - he did nothing wrong. He dislikes people, and they dislike him, and got him transferred. Ho shares an office with Jed Moody a former Dog i.e. Services internal security. Min Harper left a classified top secret file on a train - it was found and broadcast by the BBC. Louisa Gray trailed a black suspect into a shop full of black men, and lost the suspect. Wrongly accused of not being able to tell one black man from another, she was sent to Slough. Struan Loy is the office joker who sent an email saying Ingrid Tearney, his bosses' boss was an al-Qaeda plant. Kay White used to share the office with Catherine Standish, but chattered too much, and was sent down stairs. Sidone (Sid) Baker shares an office with River. Ho could never find out what she did wrong - the answer we later learn is nothing, she was transferred in to keep an eye on River.
Switching to personnel at Regents Park, we have Ingrid Tearney transferring in to take overall charge after the death of Charles Partner. She is in the States (DC) and off the scene for most of this story. Diana Taverner (Lady Di) remains at the second desk - she had hoped to take over and still has ambitions. Nick Duffy is top Dog, in charge of internal security, and James Webb , River's former friend "Spider" is in HR. Finally, and nothing to do with MI5, Robert Hobden is a former but now disgraced journalist who was thrown out of Fleet Street for his extreme right wing views, and shady associates.
We now come to the plot, the main story.
The book opens with a bang. River Cartwright is at King's Cross station, getting earpiece prompts from Spider, looking for a terrorist bomber - a mid European with white tee under a blue shirt. He homes in, shouts Go, Go Go ! to his back up, but it's the wrong suspect. Spider now says, no I said blue tee under a white shirt. "F you" says River, who now frantically looks for and finds a new suspect, and almost gets there in time, but not quite. And "that's that" as the book says. First we are told it's 32 dead, £ 30 mil of damage, and £2.5b of lost production, but later we learn it was an exercise, no one is dead, and these are paper losses. Later too we find out that River was set up by someone a lot cleverer than Spider (someone who also sent Sid Baker to Slough).
Eight months after getting to Slough, Jackson gives River his first real assignment - go through a journalist's rubbish looking for clues. Known for his far right views, the journalist is Robert Hobden of the British Patriotic Party. A man of habit, he has coffee at Max's at the same time every day, and searches the daily papers for the big story that will redeem his reputation. Sid Baker is there - she cleverly "borrows" his computer memory stick, copies it's contents to her laptop, and replaces it so that Hobden is none the wiser. All this is an op Lamb is doing as a favour to Diana Taverner, second desk at Regent's Park. He tells River to take a memory stick copy of Hobden's files to James Webb (Spider) at Regent's Park. They had been friends before Spider's "blue / white" trick - two friends up for the same promotion. River copies the memory stick before delivering it.
Up in Leeds, a 19 year old student is jumped, kidnapped,and is now tied up in a dark cellar. At Slough, everyone is in Ho's office looking at his big monitor. It shows live feed of an unknown hooded boy hostage - They are going to behead him ! We later learn the hostage is Hassan Ahmed, nephew of General Mahmud Gul, head of Pakistani Secret Service. At Max's, Hobden too sees the live feed, recognises it as his big story, and takes off. At first Muslim terrorists are suspected but when the boy's hood is removed and he is revealed as of Pakistani origin, the blame switches to far right terrorists. Perhaps the "Voice of Albion." Jackson says leave it to Regent's Park, but River decides to investigate Hobden as the only lead they have. However Hobden's files are dummies - they only contain pi to hundreds of decimal places. Why ? Earlier, Jed Moody (Slough security) had told Nick Duffy (R.Park security ) that Jackson was running some kind of op. Moody is summonsed by Di Taverner - who told you this ? Moody confesses he bugged Jackson's office. Why didn't security sweeps reveal the bug, asks Di? I do the sweeps, replies Moody. Di says she will take no further action if Moody does two favours for her, off the books.
River is sitting in a car outside Hobdens flat when the car door is opened, and Sid gets in. They keep watch together, as the night goes on they chat, and she tells River that she never messed up, but was sent to Slough to keep an eye on him. They see a dark clothed figure climb into Hobden's back garden. They follow. The intruder has his hands round Hobden's neck, and points a gun at River. There is a scuffle, Sid arrives and there is a shot. Sid has been hit in the head. Jackson's call for an ambulance triggers alerts at Regent Park. Dan Hobbs, one of Nick Duffy's team, is supposed to be securing the scene, but effortlessly Jackson rescues River to prevent him falling into Regent Park's hands. River tells Jackson that the intruder never spoke, but he thought he recognised him - it was Moody.
In the pub for after work drinks, Min and Louisa are getting on well, go back to Slough House, and kiss, but hear a noise coming from Jackson's office, and investigate. They find a dark clad man, there is a tussle, Min and the intruder fall down a flight of stairs, and only Min gets up. Jed Moody has broken his neck and is dead.
Hobden, who had run off, goes to Islington to the MP Peter Judd's house. He tells PJ that he has been attacked by a spook, someone is dead, that it's all an operation by Di Taverner, and he wants PJ to get it called off. He wants PJ to become prime minister, and move the party to the right.
Jackson visits Di, for whom he has been doing a favour, and tells her to cut her losses and abort her op. Instead she doubles up - she will implicate Jackson and Slough House instead. So it's Di versus Jackson. Di appears to hold all the cards but as I said at the beginning a good joe will always outplay a suit.
Di's operation goes horribly wrong and Alan Black, ex Slough, her plant within the kidnappers is discovered and beheaded. Now Hassan really is captured. It was Jackson and co who discovered the severed head, and got out quickly. They split up, and go off to round up the rest of their Slough House colleagues. They are to meet at Blake's grave. Eventually Jackson, River, Min and Louisa, Ho and Catherine are all that is left.
And so the story really takes off. It all builds to another exciting climax. Will Hassan get out alive? Will Jackson outwit Di who has Regents Park resources, but Jackson has River to help ? He had told the rest they were not up to the job, screw ups, and useless. Catherine explains what Jackson was doing, he wants them to find Hassan and prove him wrong. And so we have yet another climax, set in Epping Forest.
There is an excellent final chapter that gets the tone just right. Slough is still functioning, but with empty spaces. Ho is still at his computer, searching for what he did wrong, life for River will be more interesting in the future, Sid Baker never existed even at the hospital where she died, Di knows she has been outplayed by Jackson so she may as well make better use of him in the future, and Jackson wonders if perhaps he maybe jacked it all in too soon. What a terrific first book in any series - of course we must read on.
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| Mick Herron Heading | Author Index | Go to Home Page |
I read this book in September, 2023.
This is book two in the Slough House / Jackson Lamb spy stories series. The test of an author is if he /she has a good second book in him / her, and Mick Herron passes that test. This is such a clever, well crafted story, full of synergies, only appreciated at the end of the book. An obvious example is an imaginary cat in the opening, visiting Slough House, wandering round, and introducing us to everyone, but being thrown out of the window by Jackson, and then at the end, a real mouse wandering round the survivors, and Jackson wishing for a cat to get rid of mice. A second example is the casual mention of the destroyed Russian town ZT/53235 at the start, and then it's reappearance at the climax. Misdirection between the spies abounds. A lot is not as it seems, and some people have more than one name, more than one life.
Let's start by re-introducing the main characters. Dickie Bow is an old time, retired spy from the Spook Zoo (Berlin). Jackson Lamb knew Dickie there - Jackson is in charge at Slough House, a dumping ground for spies who have screwed up. His secretary is the very able and long suffering Catherine Standish, an ex-alcoholic. Lamb's colleagues include computer hacker Rodderick Ho, he of zero people skills, Louisa Guy and Min Harper ( in love, and planning to move in together), and River Cartwright, grandson of the spy legend David Cartwright. River was tricked by his ex best friend James (Spider) Webb into the King's Cross debacle, and exiled to Slough House. There are two new Slow Horses (inmates of Slough House) - Marcus Longridge (never messed up, but was a gambler) and Shirley Dander who had floored a colleague who was pestering her. Di Taverner, 2nd desk at Regent's Park, the MI5 headquarters has hinted she has a plant in Slough House, and so the newcommers get the blame. Worse, they think each other is the plant and so are over suspicious. Jackson eventually realises its just a false rumour, but he doesn't bother to tell Marcus nor Shirley. Ingrid Tearney has the first desk at Regent's Park, but she always seems to be abroad, leaving Di in charge. This time however, Roger Barrowby has been drafted in to do an audit, and nothing moves within Regents park without his scrutiny. Thus Spider Webb decides to work through Slough House and avoid this scrutiny. Internal security at Regents park are called the Dogs, and the head Dog is Nick Duffy, not very thorough at his job.
There is not much of a personal lives story . Min Harper and Louisa Guy are saving up to get a place where they can move in together, but sadly, this never happens as Min gets killed in this story, and Louisa plans revenge. River chats to his grandfather David Cartwright about current problems, and hears of the old days. And Roderick Ho is a sad case - he has written a programme that shows he works 100% of the time, on his alloted tasks. Catherine Standish points out only a robot could do that, not a human - a dead give away Ho had not appreciated. He fantasises about getting a girlfriend, spots someone in the street, find out who they are are, and their life history by hacking, discredits any boyfriend, but then never plucks up enough courage to speak to that girl.
There are two Main Plots - the Arkady Pashkin one and Jackson's Russian Sleeper Cell plot. Let's deal with the first one first. Justin Webb has been approached by the rich Russian Oligarch Arkady Pashkin whose profile appeared in the Daily Telegraph. Arkady owns the 4th biggest Russian oil company, says he wants to discuss trade deals with the UK, but plans political advancement and needs to build Western contacts. Justin sees personal advancement and plans to handle everything himself, but co-opts Min Harper and Louisa Guy from Slough to do security, meet and greet, etc. Arkady sends an advance party of his two bodyguards, Piotr and Kyril, and wants his meeting to be set up in secret in a flash new all glass City building, the Needle. Webb arranges this, a suite on the 77th floor, and for Arkady to avoid all checks, CCTV cameras, etc. Of course, nothing is as it seems, nor is Arkady who he claims to be. Min Harper chances upon Piotr and Kyril in the back of a passing cab, and follows them on his bike to seedy dosshouse hotel. They suprise Min who fears for his life, but they start laughing and all drink Vodka shots together. Min gets very drunk, but sees something or someone he shouldn't and ends up killed in a road traffic incident. The lady driver who ran him over when his bike veared into her path is checked out by Nick Duffy and appears genuine. So it's not murder, but an accident. However Nick has not been very thorough. Who is Arkady, and why does he want to get into the Needle in secret ? This then is plot one.
Plot Two, Jackson's Sleeper Cell starts slowly. Dickie Bow spots and follows a Russian spook in London, but there is a power outage, mayhem everywhere, and in the crowd something sharp jabs into Dickie. He follows his target on to a replacement bus service, but is dead by the time his target leaves the bus. Jackson knew Dickie Bow and takes an interest in the death of a fellow spook. He pretends to be Dickie's brother, and so gets to sit on the very bus seat where Dickie died to "commune with his spirit" - and there he finds Dickie's hidden phone. It has one message on it - "Cicadas." These burrow into the ground, lie dormant for years, and then emerge to cause trouble. In short, "spookspeak" for sleeper cells. Jackson remembered MI5 spending untold fruitless hours trying to find Alexander Popov, a supposed Russian agent. Eventually it concluded Popov was a sham, invented, never existed. Dickie had one claim to fame - he said he had been abducted and tortured in Berlin by Popov, the man who didn't exist. Jackson and everyone still think Popov was an invention, and no one will now investigate someone who doesn't exist. In reverse, perfect cover. River asks his grandfather if he knew Popov. David Cartwright lets slip a similar UK trick on the Russians. Unable to plant a spy in the Russian town of ZT/53235, MI5 planted evidence of spying. To be safe, the Russians set fire to and destroyed a whole town, and untold lives. Remember ZT/53235, it reappears in the climax.
Jackson puts Slough House into action - through CCTV tapes they identify a bald man as Dickie's killer, and trace his movements to the Cotswold town of Upshot. Jackson visits an old Russian contact living in London - Nikolai Katinsky. He later disappears. River is given cover as Jonathan Walker, author, and lives under cover in Upshot for 3 weeks looking for the Bald man's Upshot contact. He soon becomes friends with several locals, including Tommy Moult, an old man who sells seeds on the Saturday market, and especially the local pub barmaid Kelly Cropper. Surprisingly Kelly is part of a flying club with the use of a small Cesna plane. Kelly and River sleep together, but River has now made an Upshot enemy, Kelly's boyfriend, who takes River onto an army firing range and leaves him there. Moult rescues River enentually, and shows him the only secret on the old army base. It's the flying club plane hanger. River finds some fertilizer sacks stacked in the corner, and, as intended, jumps to conclusions and makes 2 + 2 = 5. There is a sleeper cell. Tommy Moult surprisingly knows Arkady Pashkin - so the two plots are connected. None of Tommy Moult, Nikolai Katinski, and even Alexander Popov are who they say they are. I think now, I have said more than enough. It all builds into a great story, a thrilling dangerous climax in the City of London, and the Needle, and finally a big reveal as to what the story was really about. A perfect ending.
All in all, a good read, and the promise of a cracking series.
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I read this book in January, 2024.
This is book three in the Jackson Lamb / Slough House spy stories series, and it's another great story. The British Secret Service seem to have lost sight of the real potential enemy - i.e. foreign powers or players intent on damaging the UK - and they spend all their time in inter department rivalries, with alpha characters fighting to bring down rivals and obtain personal advancement. In particular here, we have a new Home Secretary Peter Judd conspiring to be PM, Dame Ingrid Tearney, No 1 desk, wanting to demote the five No 2 desks, and Diana Taverner ("Lady Di"), No 2 desk Ops wanting to be No 1 Desk. Seemingly below all this are Jackson Lamb's "Slow Horses" of Slough House.
I will continue under 3 headings - Main Characters , Private Lives story and Main Plots
The main characters : The Slough House characters are :
Jackson Lamb, in charge, an apparent shambling mess of a man, not altogether an act, but here we have a real tiger.
Catherine Standish, Jackson's secretary, an ex alcoholic. She previously worked for/ was devoted to Peter Partner, then head of secret service - grateful that he kept on an alcoholic. At the end of this story, when Jackson tells her Partner was a traitor, and only kept her on as she was too defuddled to realise what he was doing, Catherine walks away, and apparently resigns.
Roderick Ho, ace computer whiz and hacker, but with zero people skills. He longs for a girlfriend, but is clueless.
Louisa Guy. The love of her life and fellow 'slow horse' Min Harper died in the previous book, and now she gets drunk and has mindless sex to dull the pain.
River Cartwright, grandson of Secret Service legend David Cartwright, was set up by Spider Webb in book 1, but Spider now lies in a vegetative state in hospital. River and Louisa now sort of work together.
Marcus Longbridge is a tall, black, action man but addicted to gambling. He is married to Cassie.
Shirley Dander is angry, and heavily into drugs. She and Marcus work together.
Personal lives story : There is not much in the way of a main running personal lives story. Now that Min Harper is dead, Ho is trying to woo Louisa Guy with zero chance of success. Elsewhere, Louisa in glad rags, is in a pub and tired of her escort's chat up lines - she says "sit there quietly, I'll have two more drinks, and if you're still here, I'll come home with you". She wants drunked sex to numb her bereavement pain. Ho is also cyber stalking Shirley, and, to prevent him shopping her, all he wants is that she goes out for a drink with him. She agrees, but takes Marcus along too. Ho, of zero people skills, doesn't know when he is being offensive, and calls Louisa a bitch. Shirley slaps his face hard, and as he falls to the ground, she tells him "So I take drugs - who doesn't ?" End of blackmail.
Main Plots : -The story opens with a "Fair Deals For Fathers" roof top demo, where "Spiderman" clad Paul Lowell sees a costume wearing compatriot "Batman" climb to join him, only for Batman to push Spiderman to his death, and disappear. Later we will learn that Batman is ex army Sean Donovan who wants Lowell's chief assistant job at the Black Arrow security company.
Catherine Standish leaves Slough House, and is hailed by Sean Donovan, someone from her alcohol soaked past. He is just out after 13 months in prison on a drunk driving charge when he killed Captain Alison Dunn who was engagaed to his friend Ben Traynor. Much later we will hear that Alison had sent a secret file to the then Home Secretary, and this got her killed, her driver Donovan's drink being spiked. Anyway, Catherine is now being followed and phoned her boss Jackson Lamb twice, but he didn't pick up. Catherine is grabbed from behind, bundled into a black van, and held prisoner in a deserted lonely farm house, but is being treated very well. Her captors are Donovan, Ben Traynor, and Craig Dunn (yes Alison Dunn's brother). Traynor puts handcuffs on her, takes her photo on her phone, and then uncuffs her, but asks, "who, at Slough House, would you trust with your life ?" She answers "River Cartwright". It's a strange captivity as she has en-suite access, and is left with a lovely meal, which includes a bottle of wine. Is the wine deliberate torture - she is an ex alcoholic - and how did they know about Slough House ?
Jackson tells the Slough House crew that Catherine appears to be missing, but excuses River whose has just received a phone message. River discovers it's from Catherine's phone, it says "Pedestrian Bridge now," and has a picture of a captured Catherine. River rushes out, meets a mystery man on the bridge, and is given 80 minutes to get a file in storage at the "Park." The mystery man was Sylvester Montieth, chief of the Black Arrow Security company. Jackson now has two missing persons. He sends Louisa to find Catherine, and Marcus and Shirley to find River. Meanwhile at Regent's Park Service HQ, the "Park", Dame Ingrid Tearney has a meeting with the five No 2 desks. She says that their new Home Secretary Peter Judd wants economies, a recruitment freeze, no assistant replacement for Lady Di, and there may be some redundancies.
Intent on saving Catherine's life, River arrives at the "Park", claiming to have an appointment with Lady Di. He spins her a yarn about his visits to his orphan "friend" vegetative Justin Webb, who had expressed a wish not to be medically kept alive. The Service might have to make the switch off life support decision. (At the end of the book, Webb is dead, had Lady Di so decided ?) After his meeting, River doesn't leave the Park, but creates a diversion, sneaks down to records, and tries to sweet talk the formidable, wheelchair bound Molly Doran. Unlike River, she follows correct precedure. River is arrested, handed to head dog Nick Duffy, and beaten in rough questioning. "Who were you stealing the file for ?" River tells Duffy about captive Catherine, but Duffy is not impressed and kicks River in the testicles.
Judd summons Dame Ingrid. He has heard about River's incursion before her. He had used a friendly "Tiger Team" to test out Park security, saying owner Montieth was an old friend from Eton days. The Park had failed the test. Dame Ingrid asks if Judd wants her resignation, but he says he wants the Service secret file on the PM. In a further show of strength, Judd wants Slough House closed down immediately. Actually, it had been Lady Di who had suggested the "Tiger Team" to Judd - as part of her ongoing attempts to be no 1 desk. But Montieth has now gone missing, and later his body is dumped in the street outside the posh restaurant where Judd is dining. The Tiger Team are not as tame as they pretended to be. Instead of Judd having something to hold over Tearney, she has regained the initiative and now has a botched operation to hold over Judd.
Dame Ingrid updates Jackson. Donovan had contacted her. He wants a "Grey Books" file apparently because he is a conspiracy fanatic who thinks "they" are trying to control the weather. The Service did keep Grey Books to keep track of various conspiracy theories (UFO's, Elvis still alive, moon landing is fake, etc), mostly to see who / what groups held such views. Dame Ingrid, thinking what Donovan wants is a harmless file, agrees, and so she will get Slough House / Jackson Lamb to get the file for Donovan. Jackson agrees, provided Dame Ingrid has River released without charge. And so Duffy reluctantly escorts River out of the Park, convinced this was his grandfather's influence. But its now personal between Duffy and River.
Jackson meets his team and puts them on active service footing again. He berates River for falling for a Tiger Team set up and walking into trouble. River had heard of the Grey Books files - they were also used as trash bins to bury / conceal inconvenient other files. Jackson sends Marcus and Shirley to find out where the Grey Books are kept, and River and Louisa to find out who the tiger team are. He also sets Ho to work on his computer, looking at the Black Arrow company. Ho discovers the address of a Black Arrow temporary rental property.
Jackson sacks Marcus and Shirley, the former for going AWOL and meeting buddies for a social catch up and gun range practice, and Shirley for taking drugs when on active service, telling her "your eyes are still spinning." Now knowing where the Grey Files are located River and Louisa meet Donovan and Traynor to help them extract their file. They don't know that Duffy is trailing Donovan. Meanwhile, in a desire to get unsacked, Marcus and Shirley go to help River and Louisa - but get held up when Marcus is pulled over for speeding. And also meanwhile, Ho is driving Jackson to the Black Arrow rental where Catherine may be held.
And so the story really takes off. Dame Ingrid has a change of plan on discovering what is really in the mystery file, and she puts Duffy on a war footing. We now have terrific climax building with Duffy and a mixed Black Arrow team, River, Louisa, Donovan and Tayner, and Marcus and Shirley all on site together. Louisa keeps telling Donovan that "we are not on the same side, our only interest is in rescuing Catherine." "But we are right now" replies Donovan.
I'll let you read the story for yourselves. Who will prevail among Judd / Tearney / Taverner, and what about Slough House / Jackson Lamb ? There is a lot more to the story, but I have said more than enough. But I should have mentioned Judd's secret, dirty deeds helper, Seb. At the very end, when Jackson goes his own way, Seb creeps up the stairs of a deserted Slough House towards a snoring Jackson Lamb. I think I understand the great "real tiger" ending, but I'll need to wait for the next book for confirmation of all the repercussions.
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I read this book in March, 2024.
This is book four in Mick Herron's terrific spy series with a difference - the heroes have nearly all messed up in some way, called "slow horses", and been exiled from spy HQ in Regent's Park, to a run down wreck of a building near the Barbican cruelly nicknamed "Slough House", there to be bored out of their skulls with meaningless tasks in the hope that they resign. Slough House is presided over by Jackson Lamb, and one of his crew is River Cartwright, grandson of the legendery David Cartwright. In this story River meets his father for the first time - not a happy experience.
I will continue under 3 headings - Main Characters , Private Lives story and Main Plots
The main characters : The Slough House characters are :
Jackson Lamb, in charge, an apparently disorganised mess of a man, but appearances can be deceptive.
Moira Tregorian, Jackson's new secretary, apparently replacing Catherine Standish, a great believer in correct paperwork, and everything in order, but 2 days into the job, she still hasn't met Jackson.
Catherine Standish, ex alcoholic, resigned, but Jackson never signed her release warrent, so still a slow horse.
Louisa Guy, still mourning Min Harper, but has now moved into a new flat and is no longer mindlessly promsicuous.
River Cartwright, dumped by his mum Isobel Dunstable on, and brought up by, his grandparents David and Rose Cartwright. Rose died a few years ago.
J K Coe, a new recruit, shares an office with River, been a slow horse for two days, formerly tortured and now uncommunicative and withdrawn, but has a brain and warrior skills and is thawing.
Roderick Ho, master computer hacker, but with zero people skills. Apparently he now has a girlfriend, Kim !
Shirley Dander has anger management problems.
Marcus Longridge, a hopeless penniless gambling addict, whose wife Cassie has just had her car reposessed. They have young children.
Other characters are :-
David Cartwright, River's grandfather, ex master legendery spook, but now 84 and suffering from dementia.
Claude Whelan, the new No 1 desk at the Park, replaces Ingrid Tearney. He is a new broom from outside the Park, i.e. from the data analysis division, but is no match for scheming No 2 desk Diana Taverner, nor any match for Jackson Lamb.
Molly Doran, of records, is a walking Park history book.
Emma Flyte is the new top Dog (internal security).
Bad Sam Chapman, was top dog years ago, but now runs a private detective agency, Elite Enquiries.
Frank Harknesss, an ex CIA American, proposed a UK version of Project Cuckoo where sleeper agents were to be trained for future planting within enemy ranks. Never given official backing, the operation was run as a secret David Cartwright project - Frank had blackmailed David. He indoctrinated childen and trained them to be future terrorists. Three of his trainees later adopted "Cold Body" identities which should all have been erased years ago, but three remained active :
Robert Winters, an identity used by Yves
Paul Wayne, an identity used by Patrice
Adam Lockhead, an identity used by Frank's son Bertrand, who looks a lot like River Cartwright for a surprising reason.
Personal lives story :
There is no big running personal lives story, but lots of little ones. One is that Roderick Ho now claims to have a girlfriend, Kim. It's a bit of a funny set up. Boasting of his dark arts computer hacking skills, he has met her four times, spending a fortune each time, but there has always been a good reason not to invite him back for coffee. Now she has spun a story about a friend dismissed by a rogue company to avoid paying her a substantial bonus. She has asked Ho if he could extract the money from the company, and place it on her friend's credit card. It all sounds a bit "fishy."
The main story is that River's grandad, who lives alone, now has bad dementia. Sometimes he does not know who River is. He thinks he is being spied on by enemy agents (the weasels) and keeps a loaded gun handy in a kitchen drawer. Might an innocent caller be mistaken for such an enemy and get shot ? River is also concerned that David might reveal some of the dark secrets from his former life - and if the Park heard of David's dementia might they play safe and send someone to "take care" of him.
Main Plots : - We start off with two apparently separate stories - the Westacres bomb outrage, and the killing at David Cartwright's. I too will mention them separately, but of course, it turns out that they are connected.
Westacres Plot:- Attracted by an advert on a hacked Facebook page, a flash mob converge on Westacres Retail Park with ghetto blasters - there is loud music, singing and dancing, a fun party, and then a man stands up and detonates a terrible explosion. There are 40 dead, and many injured. The new No 1 desk, Claude Whelan rehearses what he is to tell the hastily convened Cobra meeting. Lady Di, Diana Taverner's phone goes, and she excuses herself. She then gets Whelan to sign some urgent papers before his meeting. Through the use of CCTV the bomber is soon backtracked to his lair at Earl's Court, and, from his passport, identified as Robert Winters. After the Cobra meeting, Lady Di phones Whelan - we need to meet. She tells Claude unfortunately he has just mislead Cobra. The bomber Robert Winters is sort of one of our agents - some one using one of our "cold body" identities which should have been shut down, but three escaped closure. She tells Claude if the news breaks, we will all be in lockdown - and we need to be active to trace who is doing this. She says she has had the agent who told her of the cold body connection arrested and detained. Claude objects but Lady Di says he had signed the detaining warrent. Don't worry, she says, we are all on the same side - it's just politics. But No 2 desks should not be telling No 1 desks what to do. She says the three cold body names are Robert Winters (now dead at Westacres), Paul Wayne, and Adam Lockhead. At he same time as reading the Westacres story we have also been reading the "separate " David Cartwright one - and now we know the stories are related. We recognise the name Adam Lockhead as the David Cartwright intruder who looked like River Cartwright (and was Bertrand, American ex CIA agent Frank's son). A little later there is excitement at the park as Adam Lockhead has been detected at a London railway station. But also from the other story we know this is really River Cartwright returning from France on Adam Lockhead's passport. Emma and a helper are sent to pick up Adam / River. But sleeper two, Patrice, had also been alerted and told to fetch Adam Lockhead whom he has been told is sleeper three, Bertrand / Adam / River. Back at Slough House, Marcus, Shirley and Louisa watch a You Tube incident where Park top dog Emma's car was rammed and her companion abducted. More worryingly, they recognise the abductee as River Cartwright, and the abducter as the ninja opponent they met when Jackson sent them to fetch Sam Chapman.
David Cartwright Plot :- Although I am writing about the Westacres and Cartwright sub plots separately, they unfold simultaneously in the book, and of course are related. Louisa is still mourning Min, and is a little alarmed when River asks her out for a drink - until he adds he wants to talk about his grandfather, David Cartwright. David has dementia, sometimes doesn't know who River is, has a gun to repel spies and might start leaking security secrets - in which case might Regents Park do something to prevent this ? Jackson Lamb gets a phone call, heads straight to David Cartwrights, and meets new top dog Emma Flyte there. River lies dead on the bathroom floor, shot and his face badly beaten, and David is missing. Jackson allows news to spread that River is dead, shot by his own grandfather. But back at Slough House new slow horse J K Coe points out that Jackson's text to Ho had been a bit ambiguous, and he doesn't think River is really dead. We later learn that River had arrived home to find a dead body in the bathroom, which his grandfather said he had shot. "I knew it wasn't you - it was an imposter". River searches the dead man and finds a passport in the name of Adam Lockhead, and an old receipt for a cafe in France - "Le Ciel Bleu." Adam looked remarkably like River. To muddy the waters further, River shoots Adam again in the face, and, fearing Adam might have been sent by the Park, he gets his grandfather away to a place of safety. He takes him to Catherine Standish's flat. Jackson knew that it was't River on the floor, but recognised that River had taken off to try to find out what was going on, and played along. "Never break a joe's cover when he out in the field".
Catherine had resigned months ago (but Jackson had never signed the release warrent). River is desperate, and Catherine takes in David, and gives him a cup of tea. River tells her he is off to France. Next Jackson turns up, and reluctantly, Catherine lets him in. There is typical Jackson banter, and he wants a cup of tea. Before leaving Jackson asks her "were you planning in keeping David in your bedroom forever?" Thus Catherine and David end up back in Slough House.
River goes to France, travelling on Adam's passport - such is their likeness. He visits the Ciel Bleu cafe and asks if anyone knows his cousin who looks like him. A waitress says try "Les Arbres", a large house just outside the village. It housed a commune, but unfortuneaely they torched the place 3 days ago, and took off. River goes there anyway, has a gun pointed at him, and a shot rings out. Happily it's only a local, Victor, out shooting rabbits. Victor is friendly, speaks English, and takes him home out of the pouring rain. He knows little of the Les Arbres inhabitants, but suggests he try Natasha, a local former prostitute who visited Les Arbres. River speaks to Natasha who tells him her story. She fell in love with someone at Les Arbres - a Russian Yevgeny - and she became pregnant and had a boy, Patrice. He lived with his father in Les Arbres, and Natasha went off to Paris, but returned but was never allowed to see Patrice again. The man in charge at Les Arbres had been an American named Frank. (We later learn it was Frank Harkness, ex CIA ). River returns to London, still travelling on Adam's passport.
Meanwhile Slough House has been busy trying to find a David Cartwright connection with France. With persuasion (she lost a wager) Molly Doran of Park records tells them David used to visit the Poitier region of France unofficially to check up on a former agent Henry. His bodyguard bad Sam Chapman, a former top dog, went with him. And so Jackson sends Shirley and Marcus to pick up Sam. Sam, an ex spook, has an itchy feeling, and alerted, spots the same face in the crowd twice. He is being followed, and he takes off. The follower is an ex Les Arbres assassin trainee - none other than Natasha's son Patrice. And so Sam has two sets of people after him, Patrice and Shirley / Marcus, and they all know of each other.
I'll now say just a little bit more, and then let you read the story for yourselves. Les Arbres was an unofficial sleeper assassin training ground set up by a mad American Frank Harkness. Twenty odd years ago, he had got David Cartwright's beloved daughter Isobel pregnant, but agreed to leave her alone in return for the Les Arbres set up. Isobel never forgave her father, but David Cartwright had rescued not just Isobel, but her baby son too - and we know who this is. Our story concerns three boy trainees evil Yves (= Robert Winters of Westacres), Bertrand, Franks son (= Adam Lockhead, sent to kill David Cartwright) and the still on the loose Patrice using the name Paul Wayne. Patrice is a formidable warrior and clashes with Slough House twice and with Emma of the Park - broadcast on You Tube. It's a mess in the very end with two dead at Slough House, and River meeting his father for the first time. As I said, do read the story.
One parting comment. Claude Whelan, the new No 1 desk, visits Jackson Lamb at Slough House, the first such visit ever. Jackson has done his homework, using Ho and knows of Claude's hushed up kerb crawling cautions. He uses this to negotiate a better pension for his dead slow horse's family. Catherine approves, and is back. Her "replacement" Moira Tregorian retired early with an aversion for guns and dead bodies. I cannot see Claude Whelan making a success of being No 1 desk, but we will see as we read on.
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I read this book in October, 2024.
This is book 6 in the Slough House series written by Mick Herron and featuring Jackson Lamb. Previously the Slow Horses inhabitants of Slough House were depicted as more or less good secret agents but each with one fatal flaw / weakness. Now, apart from Jackson, they are all painted as useless incompetents who get everything wrong. Maybe it's for the comic effect?
I will continue under 3 headings - Main Characters , Private Lives story and Main Plots
The main characters : The Slough House characters are :
Jackson Lamb, ex field secret agent, i.e. a "Joe" is in charge at Slough House with his office on the top floor. He appears a slob of a man, fat and unfit, but appearances can be deceptive. He has a great redeeming feature - he will always protect a fellow Joe, and regards all at Slough House are Joes.
Catherine Standish, an ex alcoholic, is his long suffering secretary, and mother hen at Slough House. She used to work for and was in love with Charles Partner, now dead former No 1 desk and traitor.
Roddy Ho is a genius computer hacker with zero people skills. It's been a joke that his girlfriend is imaginery, but Kim Park is a stunning Korean beauty and is real.
Shirley Dander is calm, but waiting to explode - and is on a prolonged anger management course. She is now 62+ days off drugs, and counting. Her partner used to be Marcus, a gambling addict. He is now dead.
River Cartwright is the grandson of the legendery David Cartwright. He was set up to fail an initiation test, and so ended up in Slough House.
J K Coe has been at Slough for a year, but doesn't usually speak. He is ex psychological evaluation section and appears to have a photographic memory, but suffers from panic attacks.
Louise Gray is relatively sane, but still mourns her dead partner Min Harper.
Claude Whelan is in charge of the "proper "Secret Service headquartered at Regent's Park. He has the No 1 desk.
Diane Taverner, Lady Di, is No 2 desk, but craves the No 1 spot, and constantly schemes to get there.
Emma Flyte is in charge of internal police, ie the "dogs" - so she is "top dog."
Devon Welles, ex police, helps Emma on some assignments.
Molly Doran, legless and wheelchair bound, is the keeper of ancient secrets, the department paper database. She is being let go.
Other characters include :
Dennis Gimball, a Nigel Farage parody, is the charasmatic leader of a new political party. He is married to Dodie, an ace investigative reporter. Gimball wants to rejoin the PM's party and become it's new leader.
Zafar Jaffray, a Muslim mayorial candidate, is a friend of the PM. It's well known that his brother Karim was radicalised and apparently died as an ISIS terrorist.
Tyson Bowman, is Zafar's bag man.
The new terrorists (the SSD, Korean State Security Service) are Hoon (died early failing to kill Roddy Ho), Shin (the leader), An, Danny and Chris
Personal lives story :
River Cartwright is the grandson of the Secret Service legend, David Cartwright, who suffers from dementia, and is in a secure care home, the "Skylarks." River is unhappy with his dead end, non job at Slough House and plans to quit, but he is caught up in the present operation, and now realises he cannot leave. He is only safe, and protected from arrest, as one of Jackson Lamb's "Joes".
Jackson Lamb remains grossly unfit, chain smoking and living on a diet of junk food and alcohol. He is racked by fits of coughing bouts. Catherine Standish fears he will be the second boss to die on her. And yet, Jackson can move surprisingly quickly and silently when he has to.
Amazingly Roddy Ho does have a real girlfriend, Kim Park, a Korean beauty. She used to be simply scamming him for money but has fallen prey to the Korean SSD, and is now getting him to pass state secrets. Ho lives in a make believe word of his own, and thinks he is a mighty warrior and "babe magnet." When Shirley Dander shoves him out of the path of an assassin's car, he thinks she was just throwing herself at him. Arrested by the Secret Service, Ho thinks they are just there to protect a top operative - ie himself. He readily boasts of passing secret documents to Emma Flyte - her easiest interrogation.
Molly Doran is being let go and thinks Lady Di is behind it. She had been told there was no need to work her notice, but where else would she go. She tells Jackson she will probably kill herself. Jackson has other ideas.
Catherine Standish had been in love with her first boss, the traitor Charles Partner, but she now works for Jackson. Peeved at being told what to do by Lamb, Lady Di gets her revenge and tells Catherine who killed Partner - ie Jackson Lamb.
Shirley Dander has been drug free for 63+ days and counting, but doesn't plan to remain so. She may celebrate the end of her prolonged anger managenent course by taking the drug package she fingers in her pocket. And yes, at the very end, she does take the package and resets her counter to zero.
Main Plots : -
There is a lot of scheming, back biting, and office politics. The first of the "House Rules" of the title is "first protect your own backside". I'll sketch two sub plots and the main one.
Dennis Gimball has made a name for himself by attacking the PM and the secret service. Aware that Gimball is about to launch another attack, the PM asks Claude Whelan to help. Claude has evidence of Gimball's secret vice, i.e. that he delights in dressing up as a woman. Claude tells him if Gimball launches another attack, this evidence will be leaked to the Press. He will be a laughing stock, and finished. Dennis Gimball will make his big speecch but not attack the PM. He goes for a ciggie and is approached by a coloured tatooed man. Coe and River have been tailing Gimball to protect him as they suspect he may be an SSD target. Coe climbs some scaffolding to get a better view, but knocks over a paint pot which spirals down on the Gimball's head. Far from protecting him the Slow Horses have messsed up again, and killed him. They will try to blame the coloured tatooed man - he is Jason Bowman, Zafar Jaffray's bag man. Lady Di has a private word with Mrs Gimball, i.e. Dodie and tells her to go ahead with the PM attacking story.
Zafar Jaffray, a highly fancied mayorial candidate, is a Muslim friend of the PM's. It is well known that Zafar's brother Karim had been radicalised and reportedly died an ISIS terrorist, but Zafar has been screened by the secret service and is apparently clean. Zafar's helper Tyson Bowman has contacted a shady underground known supplier of fake IDs. It turns out Karim is still alive and Zafar, because of family loyalties, has agreed to help him return to the UK. Claude Whelan tells Zafar, that sadly his political career is over.
The main story starts with a series of apparently random terrorist attacks. Firstly a jeep drives into Abbotsfield, a Derbyshire village, men with guns get out, there is shooting, it's all over in 2 minutes, there are 12 dead, and the men drive away. Secondly there is an explosion when someone tosses a pipebomb into the pool of a zoo pelican enclosure causing mass animal slaughter. Thirdly a bomb is found on a train, but happily diffused in time. Whilst this is going on, Roddy Ho had been attacked twice - Catherine Standish had to persuade Jackson to do somthing. Shirley, Louise and River had also been unofficially tailing Ho, initially to see if his girlfriend Kim existed, but latterly to protect him. Shirley sees an assassin with a key (Kim's key) enter Ho's house. She rushes to intervene but doesn't have a key to get in. Luckily Jackson had been there. He squeezed bleach into the assassin's eyes, and punched him. The assassin falls out the window, and lands at Shirley's feet. "10 out of 10 for attendance", says Jackson, "but 0 out of 10 for protection". Police and Regents Park attend. Ho is taken away for questioning - what had he been up to - and Slough House is put in lockdown, guarded by top dog Emma Flyte. However Shirley goes out for some shopping, and Coe is not listening to jazz music on his earpiece but running news, and speaks for the first time - "we have a problem." Coe tells them of an ancient Regents Park planning paper on how you might destabilise a small nation state - shoot up a village, attack a water hole, and attack a train. What comes next, they ask him - "kill a major political figure". Jackson is excused to go to the toilet, and exits, newspaper in hand but on his return, Catherine accuses him of not flushing the toilet. Instead, hidden under his newspaper is Marcus's gun. Emma is handcuffed and tied to a chair. They think the prominent political figures might be Zafar Jaffray, and Dennis Gimball. Hence Coe and River go off to protect Gimball (and end up killing killing him, as mentioned above), and Louise and Shirley go off to protect Zafar. Shirley spots a van parked where it should not be, and rushes it with crowbar in hand. The assassins are in the van, and are about to shoot Shirley, when Shin shouts "abort, the jobs done, lets go". How can this be, asks Danny - Shin had been told of Gimball's death, so no need to attack Jaffray.
Devon Welles had joined Emma, and Jackson asks Devon to get him into Regents Park - which he does. The overall plot was to discredit the British Government by using their own overthrow plan against them. Jackson was more interested in how the terrorists knew of the "water hole, etc " secret paper in the first place. Now in Regents Park, Jackson goes down to consult the keeper of ancient secrets - Molly Doran. She agrees to help him to spite Lady Di who had decided to "let her go." We are now into the climax, which is the next step of the old plan - to subvert the media. Kim is still alive and tells them the terrorists had used a phrase about "a snake eating it's own tail." Jackson translates it for them. The terrorists first attack a village, and then attack it's resulting remembrance service. So soon information is shared, everyone is up to speed, and there will be full army and police protection at Westminster Abbey in readiness for the anticipated attack.
I've now said more than enough and will let you read the book for yourselves. Maybe two other things to mention. There are two remembrance services - Westminster Abbey, but also a small one at Abbotsfield Church. Also not all the slow horses have rushed to Westminster. In the end two of the Slow Horses are heros, and Jackson saves Slough House and Molly Doran's job by some clever bartering with Lady Di. Her prize - her heart's desire, the No 1 desk.
It's all a terrific story, full of non politically correct banter. Jackson Lamb is a great fictional creation. We also need to know what happens next to Catherine, River, Louise, Shirley, Coe, and even Ho. No 1 desks at Regent's Park don't seem to last very long. Will Lady Di be an exception ? In short, we must read on.
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