Opening with a terrorist atrocity claimed by ISIS, we think we're on what has become increasingly familiar fictional territory - but, ah, this is Mick Herron, so nothing is ever what it seems...

This whole series is fabulous but I think this is my favourite to date: a contemporary plot that involves terrorism, Brexit, a Nigel Farage-alike politician, a Muslim almost-mayor, the usual Machiavellian maneuverings amongst the security service apparatchiks - and Roddy Ho seems to be the target of an assassination squad.

With all the plot complexity and political astuteness of le Carré, what really makes this series so outstanding is Herron's brilliant writing and the ensemble of wonderful characters. J.K. Coe, the 'slow horse' introduced in the last book, takes more of a central role (*that* paint can scene - oh my!) and has become one of my favourites (" Shirley said, 'It's true, isn't it?' 'What is?' 'You get a lot perkier after killing someone.' ")

But Herron should win some kind of prize for Jackson Lamb who brings Dickensian characterisation slap-bang into the 21st century. No-one is sharper, snarkier, fouler, more protective or quicker that Lamb - and in this book we find out how he ended up in Slough House.

If someone had told me that a novel about terrorism, killings, death and fear could also be outrageously, genuinely laugh-out-loud funny, I'd never have believed them - but that's what Herron achieves. And he's one of the most biting, incisive political commentators writing today - another excellent entry in a must-read-now series.