Dead Lions
Dead Lions
Jackson Lamb Thriller 2
by Mick Herron
Hachette Australia
John Murray
Mystery & Thrillers
Pub Date 13 Feb 2018
Review
I have just added Mick Herron to my go-to list for spy-fi, alongside Deighton and Le’Carre. I was incredibly impressed by Dead Lions - so much so that I immediately plan to read the next book in the series. First the intro to Slough house and its residents was supremely clever, giving insight to the nature of the characters present in a nontraditional way. The closure was equally impressive .
Jackson Lamb is much like George Smiley - except for being far more slovenly and smelly.(Timothy Spall with worse teeth and gas) He is good at his job and knows where all the bodies are buried. He isn’t an action figure, but he is smart and knows how to get information. Everyone who can’t be fired from the service is sent to Slough House. All of the misfits, including those who have made big mistakes are given to Jackson Lamb. For the most part their work is tedious and boring but sometimes …
When Dickie Bow, a skilled streetwalker (someone good at shadowing or following) is murdered in a way that is suspect, Lamb is curious enough to leave his office and start looking into it. Why does it appear that an old-school soviet op is going on?
The slow horses have their work cut out for them and it is quite fun to watch them run. Dead Lions is an excellent spy story with a memorable cast of misfit characters who definitely have the right stuff.
5 / 5
I received a copy of Dead Lions from the publisher and Netgalley.com in exchange for an honest review.
— Crittermom
Description
Winner of the 2013 CWA Gold Dagger Award
A BBC Front Row best crime novel of the year
A Times crime and thriller book of the year
'The finest new crime series this millennium' Mail on Sunday
Dickie Bow is not an obvious target for assassination.
But once a spook, always a spook. And Dickie was a talented streetwalker back in the day, before he turned up dead on a bus. A shadow. Good at following people, bringing home their secrets.
Dickie was in Berlin with Jackson Lamb. Now Lamb's got his phone, and on it the last secret Dickie ever told, and reason to believe an old-time Moscow-style op is being run in the Service's back-yard.
In the Intelligence Service purgatory that is Slough House, Jackson Lamb's crew of back-office no-hopers is about to go live . . .
