I enjoyed Nobody Walks. It’s not in the stellar class of most of the Slough House series, but it’s a very good thriller which fleshes out some familiar characters – most notably Dame Ingrid Tearney and J.K. Coe.

Nobody Walks by Mick Herron | Waterstones

Spook Street is one of the darker novels and what little comic relief there is, is provided by Roddy Ho getting a girlfriend, a plot thread which is pulled in the follow up novel, London Rules. It also lays the ground for the events of Joe Country, and at the same time introduces a series villain, ex-CIA operative Frank Harkness. This novel is a series highlight for me, and went on to win the CWA Ian Fleming Steel Dagger Award as well as being shortlisted for the CWA Gold Dagger Award, The British Book Awards and The Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award. Enter Tom Bethany, ex-spy, widower, bereaved father of an estranged son, searching for the reason that son jumped to his death, a circumstance being used by head spy Dame Ingrid Tearney to no end of nefarious purposes. almost 4 ☆ That was how the young saw things. If that, then this. If this, then the next thing. Life, to the inexperienced, happened in straight lines.Tom, though, had been ex-Service before he severed all ties and, at his son’s flat, something sets off an alarm bell for him. He is soon convinced that Liam was murdered, and is determined to find out who is responsible. But his questions are upsetting quite a few people, and equipping himself with the necessary announces his return the crime bosses whose long incarceration he effected during his “joe” days. The story is cynical without much to liven it up, except, of course, the brutality of its anti-hero. It’s a bit grim, but a good read, and there are even a few passing references to some Slough House characters, which is fun for fans like me.

Mick Herron - Wikipedia Mick Herron - Wikipedia

Herron has frequently been compared to le Carré, but I’ve often felt that that was just lazy thinking because although they’re both fine writers and take espionage as their subject, the style and approach of the Slough House novels is very different from le Carré. Here, Herron produces a thoughtful, serious and penetrating character study of Bettany which is more reminiscent of le Carré. Herron also builds a fine, tense plot peopled with well drawn characters and which refuses to give easy, neat answers.Forget about solving all these crimes; the signal triumph here is (spoiler) the heroine’s survival.