A most enjoyable and wonderfully disparaging take on government and the secret service in the UK. Classic Mick Herron - he never disappoints!

Another fantastic Herron novel. Maybe less plot-driven than some of the past ones, and I did miss one character who sat this out—but Herron's well aware of that hole—but it was funny, and exciting, and I very much enjoyed the ways the pandemic was built into the world it inhabits.

I could not wait to read this Iatest book in Slow Horses series and wasn't disappointed! Mick Herron is a genius and goes from strength to strength. The character sand plots are unique and compelling. Always full of shocks and surprises. Please keep writing this series!

It’s hard to believe that this is the eighth novel in the Slough House series and that I have been reading them pretty much since the beginning back in 2010. If you haven’t read the other seven (and the three novellas), there is no point in reading this one, it really can’t standalone (not a criticism, you’ll miss out on far too much back story).

Everything fans have come to expect is here: a tussle between Regents Park and someone in government (this time a thinly veiled version of Dominic Cummings) which Slough House becomes embroiled in and then extricated from by its compelling yet totally revolting leader Jackson Lamb.

Bad Actors has a three-part structure (the first setting the scene, the second a necessary flashback section, and the third is the denouement) and a plot I was very much enjoying due to the paranoia that Herron carefully conjures up which also had a Russian element which gave it a very up-to-minute flavour. The first two sections really rattled along but the third part, despite the fact it was very action heavy, really put the brakes on it.

This section is pretty much a blow-by-blow account (almost literally in some parts given that there are several fights) of how the novel is brought to its conclusion and really needs some drastic tightening. Oddly, I found myself skimming through the action bits to get to where there is more verbal sparring between Lamb and Diana Taverner. It did cross my mind whether Herron is now writing with the small screen in mind, given that the first novel has now been adapted for TV…

However, this is a small criticism. Despite it’s creaking structure and peeling plaster in the novel, Slough House is in rude health.

As funny, coarse, well written and sublimely entertaining as the first seven books in the series. The slow horses led by the ineffable Jackson Lamb ride again into the sunset creating chaos at every step along the way.

The plot is complex yet topical. The book is a wonderful read.