The Spies Left Out in the Cold

Slough House by Mick Herron

Slough House – the crumbling office building to which failed spies, the ‘slow horses’, are banished – has been wiped from secret service records.

Reeling from recent losses in their ranks, the slow horses are worried they’ve been pushed further into the cold, and fatal accidents keep happening.

With a new populist movement taking a grip on London’s streets, the aftermath of a blunder by the Russian secret service that left a British citizen dead, and the old order ensuring that everything’s for sale to the highest bidder, the world’s an uncomfortable place for those deemed surplus to requirements. The wise move would be to find a safe place and wait for the troubles to pass.

But the slow horses aren’t famed for making wise decisions.

Number 7 in the series and it is another cracking contribution to the collection. The writing is as pacy and engaging as ever and the plotting continues to stimulate. Just great stuff again.

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Bad Actors by Mick Herron

In MI5 a scandal is brewing and there are bad actors everywhere.

A key member of a Downing Street think-tank has disappeared without a trace. Claude Whelan, one-time First Desk of MI5’s Regent’s Park, is tasked with tracking her down. But the trail leads straight back to Regent’s Park HQ itself, with its chief, Diana Taverner, as prime suspect. Meanwhile her Russian counterpart has unexpectedly shown up in London but has slipped under MI5’s radar.

Over at Slough House, the home for demoted and embittered spies, the slow horses are doing what they do best: adding a little bit of chaos to an already unstable situation.

In a world where lying, cheating and backstabbing is the norm, bad actors are bending the rules for their own gain. If the slow horses want to change the script, they’ll need to get their own act together before the final curtain.

The latest in the series is as entertaining as its predecessors and it keeps on going to the very end. All your favourite characters of course and the story is as gripping and fast paced as you would hope.

Can’t wait for the next one.

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Marriage Plots

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid

Aging and reclusive Hollywood movie icon Evelyn Hugo is finally ready to tell the truth about her glamorous and scandalous life. But when she chooses unknown magazine reporter Monique Grant for the job, no one is more astounded than Monique herself. Why her? Why now?

Monique is not exactly on top of the world. Her husband has left her, and her professional life is going nowhere. Regardless of why Evelyn has selected her to write her biography, Monique is determined to use this opportunity to jumpstart her career.

Summoned to Evelyn’s luxurious apartment, Monique listens in fascination as the actress tells her story. From making her way to Los Angeles in the 1950s to her decision to leave show business in the ’80s, and, of course, the seven husbands along the way, Evelyn unspools a tale of ruthless ambition, unexpected friendship, and a great forbidden love. Monique begins to feel a very real connection to the legendary star, but as Evelyn’s story near its conclusion, it becomes clear that her life intersects with Monique’s own in tragic and irreversible ways.

I’m not sure I was the target demographic for this book but I did enjoy a previous offering by Taylor Jenkins Reid so thought I would give it a go. It’s an entertaining pretext for a novel, if not remotely believable, and Evelyn is a compelling narrator. The Hollywood journey feels quite convincing and she really did get through those husbands. There is a big reveal at the end as the blurb indicates and I really didn’t fully see it coming. Overall though a pretty entertaining and enjoyable read.

⭐⭐⭐

Rating: 3 out of 5.

Crimes on the Battlefield

Two Storm Wood by Philip Gray

1919. On the battlefields of northern France, the guns of the Great War are silent. Special battalions now face the task of gathering up the dead for mass burial.

Amy Vanneck’s fiancé is one soldier lost amongst many. She heads to France, determined to discover what became of the man she loved.

Meanwhile, Captain Mackenzie cannot bring himself to go home until his fallen comrades are laid to rest. His task is upended when a gruesome discovery is made beneath the ruins of a German strongpoint.

It soon becomes clear that what Mackenzie has uncovered is a war crime of inhuman savagery. As the dark truth leaches out, both he and Amy are drawn into the hunt for a psychopath, one for whom the atrocity at Two Storm Wood is not an end, but a beginning.

It’s a really grim and dark thriller with a very twisty plot. Primarily set in the post-First World War battlefields there are inevitably a great many gruesome goings on and the mix of war and war crimes mean there is a lot happening in terms of the plot. It’s pretty gripping stuff and well worth a read.

(With thanks to Tim Westlake for the recommendation.)

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Wrong Side of the Tracks

Tokyo Express by Seicho Matsumoto

‘It was a puzzle with no solution. But he did not lose heart.’

In a rocky cove in the bay of Hakata, the bodies of a young and beautiful couple are discovered. Stood in the coast’s wind and cold, the police see nothing to investigate: the flush of the couple’s cheeks speaks clearly of cyanide, of a lovers’ suicide. But in the eyes of two men, Torigai Jutaro, a senior detective, and Kiichi Mihara, a young gun from Tokyo, something is not quite right. Together, they begin to pick at the knot of a unique and calculated crime…

This is a terrific thriller in which the interpretation of train timetables (and analysis of other public transport) is a key factor in understanding what has happened and in solving the central mystery. The directness of the translation means it is a straightforward read but the plot is entertainingly complicated. It’s a short but thoroughly gripping read and highly recommended.

(With thanks to Alex Usher for the suggestion.)

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Rating: 4 out of 5.