Dead Lions by Mick Herron

The notorious Jackson Lamb, head of Slough House and its retinue of failed spies, has left the building. An unheard of event, he never works in the field, but an old working partner has turned up dead on a bus in Oxford, and Lamb sees this as a trail the old spy was leaving for him to follow. Playing by London Rules, Lamb is cautious in who he trusts. Dickie Bow was a clever streetwalker, known for his excellent tracking skills and sniffing things out. His impeccable sense of purpose has Lamb doing things he has not done for years, so convinced is he that Dickie’s death is not random or meaningless.

Meanwhile Spider Webb has asked for two of the Slow Horses to protect a Russian oligarch who is meeting Webb in London. Webb is convinced that a dialogue with this man will win him friends both in the MI5 precinct and at Whitehall. River leaves to follow Lamb and the trail left by Bow. He comes across an Oxford airfield used during World War Two and now seeing action again. River tracks the assailants but realises that he is being followed, and finds himself amidst a series of explosions.

The small town by the airfield is not all that it seems, and as the visit by the wealthy oligarch draws near, some of the town’s occupants are activated. Back in London, Richard Ho the tech expert at Slough House is uncovering a web of deceit, and all of this is linked to the Stop the City campaign currently placing London in gridlock.

This complex novel, full of wonderful characters, and a tightly controlled plot had me listening again to make sure all the threads were secured. I loved it, and now on Number three, expect my evenings will be well spent for months to come.

Dead Lions won the 2013 CWA gold dagger! (unsurprisingly).

Themes: Secret service, Crime, Intelligence organisations.

Fran Knight