The woods were lovely, dark, and deep, and full of noisy bastards.
It’s out: the eighth Slough House book. The adaptation of the first is currently running on Apple+, starring Gary Oldman and Saskia Reeves. The former playing the appalling spymaster-of-the-broken Jackson Lamb while looking and sounding disturbingly like my old grandad, the latter playing his lieutenant and foil Catherine Standish, in a wholly unexpected and marvellous performance.
Interesting note so far: reviews of the previous book were often about how Jackson Lamb had taken centre stage as some kind of magical flatulent super-Bond and whether Herron had succumbed to Lamb’s acclaim and toxic charisma. And, of course, many writers seemed to assume that this was the shape of things to come because why would Herron write a new Slough House book without giving Gary Oldman lots to do? Herron is a clever writer. I bet you he didn’t read any of those reviews. I bet you he took a look at the last book and where the series was going and threw the machine into a different gear. Because what Herron is very good at is misdirection and destabilisation of the narrative.
It’s a riot so far. This is not the Slough House book to start with, but, for this reader, who discovered the series early and has read them all so far, it’s an immense pleasure.