A great follow up to the superbly original ‘Slow Horses’.

The introduction of a few new characters, with a few new great back stories. Unfortunately a few less characters as well, but all in the name of great story. Add to the mix a poetic opening and closing (If cats and mice can be poetic), the same dose of dark humour, and the fostering of the steadfast protagonists and we end up with another great read!

Thank you NetGalley and John Murray Press for a review copy.

Won’t be reading this so unable to provide any sort of review but would not recommend this author to anyone, sorry, just too dull!

Thank you to NetGalley, John Murray Press and Mike Herron ARC of Dead Lions in return for my honest review.

This is the second novel I have read by this author and I read it straight after the first one.  Again, it centres on Slough House, which is where all ‘failed’ agents go to carry out the more minor chores as they have already messed up on at least one job.  They all want to get back into the mainstream action so when an old spy is found dead away from his usual location they uncover long gone secrets relating to the Cold War.

I found it quirky and witty.  Recommended.

Washed-up and hung out to dry, ex-spies are sent to Slough House. The leader of this sorry gang is Lamb, a thoroughly unkempt, ill-mannered and obnoxious boss. But, with the help of his band of operatives, a little bit of luck and plenty of humour, he gets things done that MI5 can't. Loved it. Will read the series.

This is the 2nd book in the Slough House series by author Mick Herron.
I appear to be in the minority but I personally struggled to connect with this novel and found it hard work. Thankfully for the author there are plenty of people who disagree with me but an honest review is what I promised.
Slough House is where all failed MI5 spies go to carry out trivial chores because they have messed up on the job. One thing they all have in common, though, is they all want to be back in the action. When an old Cold War-era spy is found dead on a bus outside Oxford, far from his usual haunts. The despicable, irascible Jackson Lamb is convinced Dickie Bow was murdered. The agents uncover a shadowy tangle of ancient Cold War secrets that seem to lead back to a man named Alexander Popov, who is either a Soviet bogeyman or the most dangerous man in the world. 
I liked the idea of failed spies trying to resurrect their careers and there were some very promising characters in the book, but maybe a few too many to keep track of. I am not put off easily and will try another one in the series and who knows I may be converted.

I would like to thank Net Galley and John Murray Press for supplying a copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

London's Slough House is where washed-up MI5 spies go to while away what's left of their failed careers. But now the 'slow horses' have a chance at redemption. 
An old Cold War-era spy is found dead on a bus outside Oxford, far from his usual haunts. As the agents dig into their fallen comrade's circumstances, they uncover a shadowy tangle of ancient secrets that seems to lead back to a man named Alexander Popov, and a decades-old conspiracy with a brand-new target: London's newest, tallest skyscraper.
I found the plot to be very implausible & again found the characters to be lukewarm. I enjoyed ‘Slow Horses’ but found this even harder going but I did persevere even though I found myself skimming some pages, the plot did pick up , just a case of sticking with it

My honest review is for a special copy I voluntarily read

Sadly I was not able to really get into these, lauded though they have been.  The odd quirky character is fine but going OTT on the bizarre characters filling this ensemble detracted from what could have been a great plot, really contemporary.

Another quirky spy tale with the wonderful Jackson Lambe leading the cast of disparate souls. Is there a plot to bring down a Shardlike building in the city by Russian sleeper cells or something other. All is revealed in a barnstorming finale...good fun!

Great read, second in series lives up to the first.

Hi Karen,
My next review is:-
"Dead Lions:Jackson Lamb 2", written by Mick Herron and published in paperback by John Murray 8 Sept. 2016. 352 pages. ISBN-13: 978-1473641112

Jackson Lamb is the obnoxious protagonist of these books. He is constantly farting in mixed company and exhibiting so many other nasty personal habits that his flatulence seems the least of his problems , yet he is the one in charge at Slough House!

Suppose you are an agent in MI5, but you mess up a case, or you have an affair, or you  become alcoholic, or leave top secret files on a bus or you are otherwise no longer suitable to be an active agent so what happens? Then as a misfit you are transported from Regent's Park, where the MI5 Head Quarters is, and are sent across the river to Slough House where you will be allotted simple, but extremely repetitious and boring clerical tasks in the hope that you will get the message and voluntarily resign. However, a lot of the people in Slough House, who are described as "slow horses" need the money it pays to meet their mortgage commitments etc and so put up with the terrible conditions in the vain hope that sometime in the distant future they will get the opportunity to go back once more to active duty with MI5 at Regent's Park.

This amazing book which was the winner of the 2013 CWA Gold Dagger Award seems to stagger from event to event with no apparently real plot but building up the back stories of the characters which we first met in the previous book, until it speeds up when you get to the final chapter. It packs a lot of very dry humour into it's pages often of the sort that stops you from reading it in public on the underground as you may be embarrassed by breaking into laughter.

Although the story takes place at the present moment with references to terrorism and the far right the inhabitants of Slough House seem to live in the past as there are few references to modern technology and it reminded me of books that I read many years ago by such authors as John Le Carre which seem to be contemporary to this story.

I have read the authors first book (Slow Horses:Jackson Lamb 1) in this series and also his third (Real Tigers:Jackson Lamb 3) and enjoyed them tremendously as I did this one which ironed out the missing gaps in my knowledge of the Slough House stories.

I look forward to reading more from this very talented and unusual writer. Recommended.

Terry
(To be published in due course on eurocrime.co.uk)