Dead Lions: Slough House Thriller 2
- Brand: Unbranded
Description
Slough House Book 7: Wiped from service records and reeling from recent losses, the slow horses worry they've been pushed into the cold.
He gripped the spot, his hand brushing first the corner of an oblivious briefcase, then an umbrella’s slick damp nastiness. Rubbing his thumb on its numberpad, he registered the tiny nipple on the middle button that allowed you to orient your fingers in the dark. But even then, he’d never had a gold-standard Moscow hood shimmy past without clocking him for what he was. For me, the plot overstretched reality and tripped over its too convenient coincidences into the farcical realm. This is a superior, intelligent and a darkly comic novel located in the world of spooks and espionage.If this nation is to submit to tyranny or deception from enemies, it won't be for want of their ingenuity, bravery and stubbornness. Unfortunately like some modern paperbacks the pages came out almost immediately so I'm not keeping for a 2nd read or to share.
Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. My dad once told me that the origin of the word ‘petard’ was ‘break wind’ in old French, so I looked it up, and it’s true. Bow is one of their own – and Lamb will not rest until Bow’s demise is fully explained, dragging all his team back into unsanctioned active duty. Slow Horses is based on the novel of the same name by Mick Herron, which is part of the author's Slough House series.Former field agent Richard Bough, aka Dickie Bow, recognizes and follows a man who tortured him during the Cold War, only to die on a rail replacement bus from an apparent heart attack. The spy world is described as a “mirror game”, a protest as a “rainbow coalition of the pissed off”. Running out of petrol, Curly announces he still plans to behead Ahmed and die resisting arrest, but Zeppo takes over after pulling a handgun he secretly took from Black's corpse. Meanwhile Min Harper and Louisa Guy have been commandeered by Spider Webb at Regent's Park as security for a supposed Russian oligarch. The Service, like everyone else was hamstrung by rules and regulations: sack the useless, and they take you to tribunal for discriminating against useless people.
Min covertly follows them back to a commercial address at Edgware Road but is confronted by Piotr, who puts a gun to his head.But I went ahead and finished all seven novels in the Slough House series before backtracking to review this one.
Thankfully, the story does not end here, and there are at least another six Slough House books to go. Two other members of Slough House, Min Harper and Louisa Guy, meet in a pub after work and lament their failed careers. Chris Reilly as Nick Duffy (series 1–3), head of MI5's internal affairs and tactical unit nicknamed the "Dogs". Ho and newcomer Shirley Dander retrieve CCTV footage from the bus and train, showing that the man Bough was following discreetly poisoned him and then took a further train to Stroud in The Cotswolds. There are hints along the way, so there’s no sudden surprise revelation, just a peeling back of information which I find very satisfying.His work has won the CWA Gold Dagger for Best Crime Novel, the Steel Dagger for Best Thriller, and the Ellery Queen Readers Award, and been nominated for the Macavity, Barry, Shamus, and Theakstons Novel of the Year Awards. River visits his grandfather, who reveals Hobden was blacklisted when his name appeared on a leaked donor list of the British Patriotic Party, and blamed MI5 for his troubles. Dander and Longridge break into Donovan's house unauthorised and learn about "stage two" of his plan, which is to get hold of MI5's Grey Books, a record of conspiracy theories.
- Fruugo ID: 258392218-563234582
- EAN: 764486781913
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