Dead Lions: Slough House Thriller 2

Product Information

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. There is one moment that nearly made me stop reading the book and give up: he doesn’t just drink in front of the recovering alcoholic Catherine; he doesn’t just offer her a drink; he pours and places a drink in front of her! Alongside this, Arkady Pashkin, a Russian oligarch, has been invited to talks by the slimy James “Spider” Webb in the Needle and he has seconded Harper and Guy to babysit him – a term that seems to mean both protect him and keep tabs on him – for those talks. Dickie heard occasional whispers on the Soho songlines, and these days even the useless were given a chance. I’m going to start by stating the obvious, for most people, that Slough House is where all the MI5 rejects go.

Samuel West as Peter Judd MP, a rising right-wing Conservative politician (series 1) and later Home Secretary (series 2–3). But the secondment is weird because (a) security is a job for the Dogs, not the Slow Horses, and (b) Webb hasn’t been forthright about this meeting with his boss, Diana Taverner. This next venture into the Slough House realm, which consists of misfits/failures/alcoholics of the MI5 calibre, was a busy one. In January 2024, it was renewed for a fifth series, which will be based on the fifth book in the series, London Rules. Readers will be pleased to learn there are two and a half further volumes of this series for their entertainment and enjoyment.Louisa Guy tracks Standish's movements to the cafe, notices that security camera cables had been cut, and finds something of Standish's in a nearby underpass. Sid, alive but in critical condition, is taken to hospital by MI5 security operatives who detain River. Molly Doran, the Park’s archivist, “a squat, suspicious shape: a woman in a wheelchair; quite round, with a messy cap of grey hair, and a face powdered to clownish white” who was able to greet Lamb with real warmth. The writing is witty, the observations of British culture are superb and the overall achievement very high. Larry frees Ahmed and attacks Curly with an axe but flees, which enables an injured Curly to recapture Hassan.

Dander and Longridge arm themselves and drive to the facility, hoping that by helping River and Guy they may be given their jobs back by Lamb. They are to have their chance when Dickie Bow, an old has-been cold war spy, is discovered dead on a Oxford bus. He deduces Katinsky is the spymaster behind the cicada program (passing himself off as a junior bureaucrat when defecting to avoid suspicion) and was the handler of a traitor in the service. Loitered by the bookies two doors down, remembering the last time he’d seen that face, and in whose company.I have to say, that of the new recruits – both of whom seemed to be scarily competent to be slow horses – I did like Marcus. Min covertly follows them back to a commercial address at Edgware Road but is confronted by Piotr, who puts a gun to his head. If you've already read Mick Herron's "Slow Horses" you probably can't wait to get stuck into this, the next in the series, featuring the ghastly Jackson Lamb and his band of MI5 throw-backs. One case in point is Catherine Standish, whom Lamb disparaged as his Miss Havisham, but Herron revealed her to be savvy and astute.

He gripped the spot, his hand brushing first the corner of an oblivious briefcase, then an umbrella’s slick damp nastiness.Monteith loses control of the situation, however, when Donovan goes rogue, kidnapping Chieftain operative Sturges and taking Standish and Sturges to a new safe house.