Slough House

THE INSTANT SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER. 'Slough House is the best yet' - TLS * 'Genuinely thrilling' - Daily Telegraph * 'Herron's best novel yet' - Sunday Express * 'Superb' - Irish Times * 'Brilliant' - Literary Review

'Kill us? They've never needed to kill us,' said Lamb. 'I mean, look at us. What would be the point?'

A year after a calamitous blunder by the Russian secret service left a British citizen dead from novichok poisoning, Diana Taverner is on the warpath. What seems a gutless response from the government has pushed the Service's First Desk into mounting her own counter-offensive - but she's had to make a deal with the devil first. And given that the devil in question is arch-manipulator Peter Judd, she could be about to lose control of everything she's fought for. Meanwhile, still reeling from recent losses, the slow horses are worried they've been pushed further into the cold.

Slough House has been wiped from Service records, and fatal accidents keep happening. No wonder Jackson Lamb's crew are feeling paranoid. But have they actually been targeted?With a new populist movement taking a grip on London's streets, and the old order ensuring that everything's for sale to the highest bidder, the world's an uncomfortable place for those deemed surplus to requirements.

The wise move would be to find a safe place and wait for the troubles to pass. But the slow horses aren't famed for making wise decisions.

'I think this might be the best Jackson Lamb outing yet' - Christopher Brookmyre * 'Herron has certainly devised the most completely realised espionage universe since that peopled by George Smiley' - The Times * 'This is a darker, scarier Herron. The gags are still there but the satire's more biting. The privatization of a secret service op and the manipulation of news is relevant and horribly credible' - Ann Cleeves * 'I'll tell you what, to have been lucky enough to play Smiley in one's career; and now go and play Jackson Lamb in Mick Herron's novels - the heir, in a way, to le Carre - is a terrific thing' - Gary Oldman * 'Mick Herron is one of the finest writers of his generation' - Steve Cavanagh * 'I enjoyed Slough House tremendously. Witty, clever and horribly on point. Lots to laugh about while being careful not to miss a word. This isn't a book to skim read' - Kit de Waal * '[Jackson Lamb] Herron's glorious creation propels the story to the bitter end where the non-stop barrage of jokes is fatally undercut by a final shocking twist' - Evening Standard * 'An excellent writer' - Sunday Times