They’re back! Jackson Lamb and his minions, the losers who once aspired to importance as top MI 5 operatives working out of Regent’s Park and are now the inhabitants of Slough House, are involved in a deadly game of spy versus spy with one of Lamb’s former Cold War adversaries.
Roderick Ho, the sociopathic geek, plays a major role in this story as well as Louisa Guy and Min Harper, the unlikely lovers and, of course, River Cartwright who wouldn’t have ended up at Slough House if it hadn’t been for the machinations of the ambitious and completely nasty Spider Webb. There are two new players, Shirley Dander and Marcus Longridge; Catherine Standish, the quiet, clever, almost invisible alcoholic is still staying off the drink and using her brains, and Jackson Lamb is as repulsive as ever.
The action moves to a quiet, picturesque English village where River Cartwright goes undercover and finds a little bit of romance and a lot of danger. Meanwhile, back in London the people of Slough House get involved in a potentially dangerous scenario of their own.
The dialogue is pure British wit and the suspense builds to the point where, if you are like me, the cats, dog, housework and husband will have to wait until you are ready to get out of bed and find your way back into the real world.
If we’re ever allowed out of this country again I wouldn’t mind going back to London and looking at it through my newly hard bitten, cynical gaze. End of.
Top marks, 5 out of 5.
Publisher: John Murray, a Hachette UK company.
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