Mick Herron has carved out something of a niche with his accounts of the more disfunctional side of the espionage industry. London’s Slough House may sound imposing, but it is basically a scrapyard for spies who, for whatever reason, screwed up their careers with MI5. We meet characters which could very easily have jumped from the pages of books by Evelyn Waugh or Tom Sharpe. Bristling old soldiers, ageing Sloanes, Fathers For Justice dressed as comic book heroes, and a wonderful parody of Boris Johnson – all stumble over each other’s feet in their attempts to protect the lives of Her Britannic Majesty’s subjects. Our reviewer on this occasion was Rough Justice.
