Spook Street by Mick Herron is a must read for any reader who enjoys a thoroughly good read, believable plots, amazing characters albeit mostly flawed, dark humour and written by a professional wordsmith.
Spook Street is the 4th in the Slough House series but the first novel from Mick Herron I have read, I just couldn’t put it down. Fast paced, lots of action, capturing topical threats and politics.
Jackson Lamb, Head of Slough House is a force to be reckoned with but his team are full of misfits. However, as the depths of their characters and pasts are revealed you begin to wonder whose agenda is more important and who needs silenced. I won’t go into any further detail as I don’t want to spoil the readers enjoyment.
I have enjoyed Mick Herron’s Spook Street so much, I am now reading the first in the series, Slow Horses.
It is with pleasure that I highly recommend Spook Street and Mick Herron. Many thanks to Mick Herron, NetGalley and Penguin Random House for a copy of Spook Street for an honest and unbiased review for which I have written.

I love these books - how to make failed spies sound good! The prose is rivetting, amusing and well crafted. I could not put them down and read each one avidly.

Each novel in the series evolves a touch and for me this was the best yet. A bit of a bonanza for followers of the Cartwright family as more layers are peeled away under the watchful eye of Jackson Lamb. The Park continues like "House of Cards" and the fall out lands on Slough House and the slow horses, thinning numbers as it goes. No such thing as the past because it never goes away, it merely hides for a decade or two. All of which is very much grist to the Lamb mill as he wanders like Zeus around his own particular kingdom. A cracking story and very much a book you won't want to put down.

The fourth Jackson Lamb continues the series with another brilliant piece of writing from Mick Herron. The story as with the previous instalments of the doings of the the "slow horses", the inhabitants of Slough House, is gripping throughout, notwithstanding the comic elements associated with Jackson Lamb. The impression is wholly credible and the next book by Mick Herron is eagerly awaited.

Not my usual reading genre but its always nice to try something new!
Im not a James Bond fan and thankfully the protagonist Jackson Lamb is no James Bond!
The writing style is quite unique so it will be the kind of book that you will take to or not, not much middle ground for me anyway!
The series of books are entered around a group of outcast MI5 spooks who have been relegated to pen pushers and office workers due to botched carers. Reject spooks versus the real thing!
But looks can be deceiving and Jackson Lamb proves that he shouldn't be underestimated!
With humour throughout and some interesting characters it makes for a quick entertaining read

My thanks to NetGalley and John Murray Press for a copy of this book to review.
The word is Mick Herron is the new le Carré . Whilst I definitely agree Mick Herron is a very good writer and the ambience of his volumes evokes the days of Smiley I think John le Carré is still carrying the Olympic Torch. Mick Herron's strength to my mind is his fresh look at the underbelly of the security service. I suspect we have all met or worked with the types of characters who inhabit Slough House, not of course spooks, but those who carry grudges and fail always to really see who is really looking back in the mirror.
Lack of time is the sole reason why this review will be used for all the currently published Slough House series, from Slow Horses to London Rules. I try never to include spoilers in my reviews and there seem little point in repeating the blurb from a book's cover. So, I have concentrated in the authors style and transport of the books. The prose slides easily along and forms pictures in the mind and the plot turns the pages for you. Occasionally I had to re-read a chapter as I realised the story had evoked such a rich visions I had mentally wondered off. I did not find this an encumbrance for on the re-read I found more to enjoy. Had I had more of that illusive element Time, I would have enjoyed re-reading all the books immediately I turned the last page in London Rules. Put Mick Herron on your wish list, take a trip to your local bookshop and fill you carrier bag.

This novel opens with a bang – literally. Once again, we are in a very recognisable part of London, a huge shopping centre, busy with families, teenagers, shop assistants and security staff, all enjoying an impromptu flash mob when suddenly it doesn’t ‘feel so good’ and the attack ‘would ever after mark the date as one of unanswered phone calls and uncollected cars’.
Whilst the shopping centre massacre is broadcast around the world, where is the redoubtable Catherine Standish, the woman who reassures and calms the jittery occupants of Slough House? As we are taken once more into the sleazy domain of the ‘slow horses’, the MI5 rejects, it seems that Jackson Lamb has gone a step too far even for his resilient office manager – if anyone can ever ‘manage’ Jackson. Having learnt something extremely hurtful at the end of the previous novel, she has clearly decided that enough is enough and has been replaced by Moira Tregorian, a woman designed to irritate and appal in equal measures. Other than Moira, the usual suspects are back in their poky, grubby offices, joined by new recruit JK Coe, possibly one of the most uncommunicative people on the planet. As is Mick Herron’s usual modus operandi, we’ll learn tiny snippets of information about his back story from time to time, just as we do with all of the other ‘slow horses’ and this is one of the features that makes this series so intriguing.
Once promising trainee Slough House member River Cartwright is dealing with problems closer to home than a terror attack – or so he, and we, think for much of the novel. His beloved grandfather, once a highly revered member of the Intelligence Service, has dementia and River is worried that he’ll give away state secrets and be silenced once and for all by MI5. After River is shot in the head by his grandfather and after the latter disappears, Jackson Lamb, always one to guard his empire, becomes fully involved in the affair which is, of course, far less straightforward than at first appears.
Several new characters are introduced in this novel, not least Claude Whelan, First Desk at the Park and so obviously a target for the machiavellian ‘Lady Di’ Taverner, and the fabulous looking Emma Flyte, new Head Dog, in charge of the Service’s internal police squad. It’s clear that these women will not see eye to eye on very much at all and their exchanges amuse the reader almost as much as Jackson Lamb’s caustic comments. Another highly enjoyable story; lots of twists and turns, plenty of human interest and an ever-present dose of very dark humour, Jackson Lamb style. What’s not to love?
My thanks to NetGalley and John Murray (Publishers) for a copy of this book in exchange for a fair review.

If you haven't dipped a toe in the murky waters of Mick Herron's Slough House spy series, you're seriously missing out. No heroic derring do here, all done with a smirk and a single raised brow, these spies are broken and battered and bitter - but no less determined to do the jobs they trained for than any of their more exalted colleagues. Another brilliant read, I can't wait for the series to continue.

I have now read all five of the available Jackson Lamb series. This fourth book is, for some reason, the one I enjoyed the most. This plot once again is rooted in the past. There are some new characters and our familiar faces. The back story is very important and I enjoyed the way the author blends past and present. As with the whole series each book is an independent story, well worth reading. It is enriched by having read the earlier books but this is not necessary. Once again it is the interrelationships that are the focus for me. There is a lot of humour and some pathos. I highly recommend.

I have decided that spy stories are just not for me.

This is the fourth in Herron’s series of satirical spy thrillers based around the activities of the slow horses of Slough House. I’ve read all the previous novels int he series, though this is the first I’ve reviewed. It can be read as a standalone, though reading the series is so much better.

The novels centre around Slough House, a satellite station of MI5 where the Service’s misfits and disgraced members - so called Slow Horses - are sent to serve out their time until they retire or resign. Lording it all over them is Jackson Lamb, an overweight, flatulent bully of a man, albeit one who deep down cares for his underlings. The Slow Horses themselves are a selection of well-drawn characters, who the author imbues with individual character flaws and foibles. Each is loveable and repellent in his or her own way.

Each novel in the series takes on the same format: something happens, a plot or disaster, and against all the odds the Slow Horses become embroiled and have to save the day. In Spook Street it’s a suicide bombing in a shopping centre, a flash mob having been organised only for the organiser - the bomber - to blow themselves up amidst the crowd. In a seemingly unrelated event, the grandfather of River Cartwright - perhaps the most “normal” of the Slow Horses - a MI5 legend has an attempt made on his life and River takes it upon himself to find out why. Needless to say, these two plot threads link up and soon the Slow Horses find themselves in the middle of the investigation into the bombing. I won’t give away spoilers but needless to say that the bombing is not all it seems either and there’s a fiendish plot behind it all.

Supposedly there’s a distinction between “plot driven novels”, often dismissed as “genre” novels, and “character driven novels”, which are supposedly “literary”. This series of novels shows such a distinction to be meaningless. I’m sure most critics would class them as plot-driven, but to my mind the plots are always rather weak. Spook Street is no different, the plot is almost a MacGuffin, a device just to get the characters running around the place, chasing their tails. The fun is had in seeing the Slow Horses themselves, reading Jackson Lamb’s latest outrageous, non-PC statement. This isn’t a criticism at all, but an observation.

All in all this novel, as with the rest of the series, Spook Street is good fun and fresh take on the spy genre.

4 out of 5 stars

Yet another great read in the Mick heron series, which is best read in order, I can speak from experience as I got the order wrong (not a serious problem, but the historical storyline of the characters is much eaasier to follow. Lots of humour in all of these books, as well as serious storyline. A really enjoyable read.

This is the fourth book in the series. I found it humorous in places and action packed. The slow horses have a busy life which is a pleasure to read about.

Shows the intrigue and double standards that continue throughout our society. Fast paced and interesting.

Why can't there be more stars? Five doesn't seem adequate to mark the excellence of this book! If Real Tigers ended with an anxious moment, Spook Street will properly shock you. It delivers such a body blow as to bring tears to your eyes. Yes, I cried, and more than once, if I'm honest.

I feel a real connection with all our outcasts at Slough House and, whilst I revel in any action they get to be party to, I do fear for their safety. There's plenty of action here, tension rating is exceptionally high as well, and I know how swiftly they can slide into life threatening danger. This book, especially, pulls on the heart strings in a number of ways that sets it apart from the others in the series. I won't say what occurs but there is a gentle thawing for Jackson Lamb, too, that endears him (and his gruff ways) to the reader even more. The richness of this novel stems from the almost family like connection between the characters resident at Slough House. Yes, family but an honest, snarky and dysfunctional one, to be clear.

I so look forward to a deep dive into London Rules, the next book, but dread it as it is the latest in the series and a harsh stopping point until another book comes out. I don't know how I will go on without Jackson and his merry band standing by to amuse and engross me.

This is another book in the Jackson Lamb series that does not disappoint! I was lucky enough to recently read all 4 of the series via netgalley, until I spotted it on there I had never even heard of the series. I’m so glad that I’ve found it. I have loved each book more than the last and I think it’s due to the fantastic characters that the author has developed, especially reading them back to back... I’ve grown to really like them.

Spook street is another fast paced read which really kept me on my toes again, I even gasped out loud at one scene near the beginning as I couldn’t believe what had happened... only to realise as ever... it’s one of those twists! And I’m this books the twists just kept coming... there was one that I was so annoyed at myself for not guessing it before it was revealed... I’m usually way ahead!! Not with these books though, even having read the previous 3, I don’t seem to be able to predict what’s going to happen next!

I can’t wait to read number 5!

Even though I toiled through the first 60 pages of each Jackson Lamb thriller before giving up, I was unable to find them in any way gripping or amusing and liked neither the characters nor the plots. Unfortunately, I had requested all four books of this series at once and was kindly given free copies by netgalley in return for an honest review.

https://www.librarything.com/work/17969685

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!

This is the 4th book in the 'Slough House' series by author Mick Herron. Slough House is a dumping ground for British intelligence agents who have messed up a case. The "slow horses," are given menial tasks rather than be trusted on bigger cases.
After a shaky start to this series I am now rapidly working my way through these books and having lots of enjoyment doing it. The more I read of this series the more I like it. Another adventure for the rejected spies who are continuing to grow on me the more I read. This series is full of humour and decent plots. On to the next book in the series.
I would like to thank Net Galley and John Murray Press for supplying a copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.