This is another stand-alone thriller/spy novel from Mick Herron. Former spy Tom Bettany left England years ago and has been living rough and under the grid. He is working at a meat processing plant in France when he receives word that his son has died in an accidental fall. He returns to England, and immediately begins to suspect that his son's death was not accidental, but was in fact murder, perhaps connected to some of his activities during his spying days, when his work sent more than a few bad guys away. Bettany begins asking questions, and soon begins rubbing a lot of people the wrong way.

This was a decent stand-alone, but to my mind it was not up to the standards of the Slow Horses series. It definitely lacked the humor that pervades that series, and the likeability factor that most of the
Slow Horses spies seem to possess. And a lot of people who read this did not like the rather abrupt ending.

3 stars ( )

Excellent thriller! You are left guessing til the last words. Surprising interludes of humor and insight also. ( )

Mick Herron is best known for the excellent Slow Horses series of novels that follow the exploits of Jackson Lamb and the assortment of failed spies, consigned to a form of internal exile in Slough House, a crumbling outpost of the intelligence service near the Barbican.

This novel inhabits the same milieu, with walk on appearances by some of the more peripheral characters from the Slow Horses books, although there is only one oblique reference to Jackson Lamb himself. The novel follows Tom Bettany, a former member of the Intelligence services who has retired and moved on. He now works in an abattoir in Marseille, and has set aside almost every vestige of his former life. He has a mobile phone, but it is an old one (far from smart) and he is not always able to keep it charged. One morning he does recharge it and finds he has a voicemail message, telling him of the death of his son, from whom he had been estranged for several years.

He returns to London and tries to investigate the circumstances surrounding the death. It appears that his son had worked for a prominent designer of computer games. He had fallen to his death from a balcony outside his flat while under the influence of a strong dose of a new strain of marijuana that has recently been circulating throughout east London. Tom’s attempts to try to reconstruct his son’s day to day existence meet with various obstacles, and attract attention from elements of organised crime as well as the senior ranks of the intelligence service.

This book is very elaborately plotted, as is customary with Mick Herron. It lacks the humour of the Slow Horses books, but does provide interesting insights into the Number One Desk office, Ingrid Tierney, and also explains how J M Coe came to wind up in Slough House. ( )

On page 74 of this book, a character is described as “a Service legend, in her way. Not a bona fide legend like your Jackson Lambs – the plural uncalled for, because there was only one Jackson Lamb, thank God …” And that’s it — the only reference to Mick Herron’s most famous character, the star of the Slough House books and television series, in this book. Other elements (and at least one character) from that series put in an appearance here, but this story stands on its own and in a way is a desperately sad one. Tom Bettany, former MI6 field officer, has been doing the rounds in Europe after quitting the job. The book begins with him working in a meat processing plant in France. There he learns about the death of his only son in London and returns to find out what happened. It’s a very sad story and Bettany is a convincing former agent (and father), still in possession of the skills that made him an effective intelligence officer. The supporting cast of characters — gangsters, spies and software developers (yes, software developers) — are good as well. Highly recommended. ( )

“Morning rose to the surface like trapped gas. At the tube station the crowd dispersed as if expecting random sniper fire.”

This was bleak but then life can be. And I wasn't bothered by the ending. ( )