Spook Street: Slough House Thriller 4

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At Slough House, life is harder than ever. Brexit has taken its toll, members are dying in strange circumstances, and the office has been wiped from official records. They're beginning to get a bit paranoid. Stylistically, you can draw comparisons with the work of Raymond Chandler, though Herron keeps a tighter grasp on his narrative than Chandler ever did . . . Herron is a master of timing, word by word, sentence by sentence. His language creates its own world, with streaks of satire and loss that prevent it from becoming too comfortable.” JK Coe – One of the sharper minds running with the slow horses. Also probably a psychopath. Win some, lose some.

This first one rings true to me as a Chicagoan where, when it comes to driving, there are only two times of year – winter season and construction season. Terrific . . .it’s a real pleasure to watch the super-smart if damaged Slough House agents rising to the occasion.”All of these flawed father figures have broken the implicit pact that a father has with his children – to keep them safe and look out for them. The repercussions of those failures reverberate throughout the book. I adore the Slough House series. I first read Spook Street (Slough House #4) in January 2018. I am currently (October 2022) rereading the entire series and am getting even more out of it second time round. I'm conscious I raced through this when I first read it and then pressed straight on with London Rules (Slough House #5). Second time round I am savouring the experience more. The personnel are all failed spies (“joes” when they’re on an op and active in the field), but have been sidelined rather than terminated following some unforgivable mistake.

Although the fairy tales we tell our children have now been sanitized and given happy endings, the original tale tellers (and Herron) know it’s better to recognize that a parent makes a deal with the Pied Piper at their own peril. If you’re not careful, he just may return to spirit your children away. Catherine Standish is Lamb’s assistant, and a recovering alcoholic. She used to assist Charles Partner, who was First Desk at Regents Park until his suicide – something it’s rumoured Lamb might have had a hand in arranging. Partner had been selling secrets to the Russians. Droll, fast-paced, and with a cast of crazy characters, you wouldn’t want to work at Slough House but you certainly want to read about it.” I noted that this novel was not as snarkily funny as some of the other installments. I've thus given it a tiny downgrade to 4.5 stars from the previous unqualified rating of 5 stars. But its emotional depth merits rounding up so it's still a 5 star read.If you read one spy novel this year, read Real Tigers". Spectator.co.uk . Retrieved 18 December 2016. It’s the most autobiographical thing I’ve ever written,” Herron said. A house on his street blew up. And he was Sarah: clever, curious, and painfully thwarted.

A good boss provides opportunities for personal growth and development. I think we were all winners, on the day.’ ” Slow Horses was published by Constable in 2010, but the firm declined the opportunity to publish the next book in the series in the United Kingdom due to disappointing sales of its predecessor. Soho published the Slough House novels in the United States, and John Murray started republishing the series in the UK from 2015. [7] Standing by the Wall: The Collected Slough House Novellas (2022) - Includes all novellas in the Slough House series published as of 2022.Yes, yes,” Herron said. “Bye, sweetheart.” And to me: “It’s too wet to go walking. She’s gone to the shops.” We stared out at the slashing rain. It turns out that crime writers like Italian, especially risotto. Mostly, though, the talk was of agents and editors. When Herron first drafted “Slow Horses,” he planned to blow up Slough House. (He kills off characters all the time: “It’s not a thriller if it’s not thrilling.”) But then he decided he might want to stay a little longer in that house and reimagined the ending. The book came out in 2010; a couple of years later, he finished a sequel, “Dead Lions.” This winter, it’s Season 2 of the Apple series. At the time, however, he couldn’t find a publisher in his own country.

The bus had arrived at a scheduled stop ten minutes previously and had remained there since, engine off, though traffic flowed freely past. None of the passengers made any audible complaint. Either they were regulars and had expected the hiatus, or were new to buses and had lost the will to live. This ease of expression adds an extra dimension to what would in any case have been a skilful plot with extremely well-drawn characters. Spook Street is arguably even better than Real Tigers, Herron’s last Slough House novel, and cannot be too highly recommended. In the unlikely event you haven't tried the Slough House series I urge you to read one as soon as you can. Herron's irreverent Slough House series breathes new life into the spying and espionage genre. A superb thriller . . . Herron may be the most literate, and slyest, thriller writer in English today.”Herron is a fearless storyteller who's unafraid of casting anti-heroes as major players in the Slough House series. River though is one of the most likeable. And as anybody with elder care duties knows, it's a responsibility that requires many hands - such that even the dysfunctional string of slow horses gets involved. I’m sure we’ve all spent hours planning the best way of killing River,” Lamb said. “But our assassin came all the way from France, which sounds more like a job than a hobby. So let’s assume he was after Grandpa. Business before pleasure and all that.”