Herron was born in Newcastle upon Tyne, England, and educated at Balliol College, Oxford, where he earned a degree in English. [1] [2] [3] Career [ edit ] Location of the fictional Slough House (Aldersgate Street, London) Louisa Guy was sent to Slough House after she lost a tail involved in gun smuggling. She is one of the most competent agents and appears in every book. She and Min Harper had a brief but intense affair which ended in tragic circumstances.

Herron's short stories have been regularly published in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine and some are collected in the book, All the Livelong Day, published in 2013. All espionage aficionados are—or soon will be—reading Herron. But it’s high time, too, that readers of literary fiction embrace him in the way they have John le Carré.”

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This is irresistible writing suggesting a lovechild of le Carre and Joseph Heller's Catch-22: ironclad storytelling and off-kilter humour * Financial Times, Books of the Year * When former spook Solomon Dortmund sees an envelope passing between hands in a Marylebone cafe, he knows he's witnessed something important. When he relays those suspicions to a man who babysits retired spies, however, he sets off a chain of life-changing events. Slow Horses' Renewed Through Season 4 at Apple TV+". The Hollywood Reporter. 1 June 2022 . Retrieved 17 June 2022. So it's Lamb they call to identify the body and hewill do whatever he thinks necessary, to protect an agent in peril . . Snappy dialog, crafty twists . . .I’ve enjoyed each of the books in this series and always find them hard to put down.”

Shirley Dander and Marcus Longridge are the odd couple, though they’re not even a couple. She was in comms at The Park before she laid out a co-worker, and also has addiction issues. He used to break down doors and carry a gun before his gambling problems compromised him. Sheer fun. Herron is spy fiction’s great humorist, mixing absurd situations with sparklingly funny dialogue and elegant, witty prose.”Without Lamb’s knowledge, Louisa Guy and Min Harper are seconded by The Park on a baby sitting job. A Russian oligarch is visiting London and elements of The Park want to turn him because a potential future Russian president who owes British Intelligence would be a massive coupe. At the same time, Lamb is out in Oxford looking into the suspicious death of a retired agent. The only clue he finds is an undelivered text – Cicadas. So, what connects the oligarch with an old rumour of Russian sleeper agents? Herron won the prestigious CWA Gold Dagger for this novel, though for my money his debut is a better book. A superb thriller . . . Herron may be the most literate, and slyest, thriller writer in English today.”

The element of surprise is a constant in the novel, but not for one moment is it anything other than totally convincing. Equally so is the cynical portrayal of the Intelligence Services. Whilst they are always concerned with ensuring the safety of the country, they insist on doing this in such a way that blame will never be attached to them if things go wrong. If mistakes have been made in the past they must remain in the past. In addition, there is always the desire for career advancement, which requires an innate capacity for placing blame elsewhere.

You do realize,” Herron told the execs slowly, “that in the book I’m writing right now I kill him off?” I made the choice of reading one book out of sequence because it was convenient. Mistake! Try to read the series as written At Slough House, life is harder than ever. Brexit has taken its toll, members are dying in strange circumstances, and the office has been wiped from official records. They're beginning to get a bit paranoid. Aged spy Dieter Hess is dead, and his death has revealed he had a secret second bank account. His MI5 handler, John Bachelor, will have to figure out whether he was a double agent – and whether his secrets remained safe. I’m a radical feminist, as you know,” Lamb might have said, stubbing out his cigarette. “But the hot flashes always get these old girls in the end.”