Books: Marylebone Drop (Slough House #5.5) By Mick Herron (2018)

“Old spooks carry the memory of tradecraft in their bones, and when Solomon Dortmund sees an envelope being passed from one pair of hands to another in a Marylebone café, he knows he's witnessed more than an innocent encounter. But in relaying his suspicions to John Bachelor, who babysits retired spies like Solly, he sets in train events which will alter lives. Bachelor himself, a hair's breadth away from sleeping in his car, is clawing his way back to stability; Hannah Weiss, the double agent whose recruitment was his only success, is starting to enjoy the secrets and lies her role demands; and Lech Wicinski, an Intelligence Service analyst, finds that a simple favor for an old acquaintance might derail his career. Meanwhile, Lady Di Taverner is trying to keep the Service on an even keel, and if that means throwing the odd crewmember overboard, well: collateral damage is her specialty.”

The Marylebone Drop is the second novella associated with Mick Herron’s Slough House series (making this short tale #5.5) that also brings back John Bachelor, a man in his late fifties who is aging fast. Once a good spy, but his current job is acting as a third-tier "milkman" for MI-5, which just means he monitors retired assets.

 

The advantage of these novellas is it gives Herron a chance to explore some different areas of the Slough House universe. This is where we meet Alec Wicinski, an smart analyst who unfortunately, and against his better judgment, tries to help Bachelor out – which goes sideways pretty quickly. So no good deed goes unpunished, and Lady Di, the master manipulator, knows where to put him.

 

Like the previous novella, this one (and another follow after it) is not a necessary tale to read to keep up with the main series, but for some completist, this is just a fun side adventure. Herron’s humor and his skewed look at London, office politics, and old spooks who come in from the cold, remain the best aspect of this series. I suspect that German triple agent is an arc that the author is slowly dealing with, and there is another novella after book six, Joe Country, so I’m curious if that will play out there, or be folded into the main series.

Books: London Rules (Slough House #5) by Mick Herron

“At MI5 headquarters Regent's Park, First Desk Claude Whelan is learning this the hard way. Tasked with protecting a beleaguered prime minister, he's facing attack from all directions himself: from the showboating MP who orchestrated the Brexit vote, and now has his sights set on Number Ten; from the showboat's wife, a tabloid columnist, who's crucifying Whelan in print; from the PM's favorite Muslim, who's about to be elected mayor of the West Midlands, despite the dark secret he's hiding; and especially from his own deputy, Lady Di Taverner, who's alert for Claude's every stumble. Meanwhile, the country's being rocked by an apparently random string of terror attacks. Over at Slough House, the MI5 satellite office for outcast and demoted spies, the agents are struggling with personal problems: repressed grief, various addictions, retail paralysis, and the nagging suspicion that their newest colleague is a psychopath. Plus someone is trying to kill Roddy Ho. But collectively, they're about to rediscover their greatest strength - that of making a bad situation much, much worse.”

For the most part, this fifth novel in the Slough House (and largely more standalone-ish than the previous four) series plays out like inter-office battle for control more than a terrorist wave hitting London (which, in the end, is really just an excuse for the back-biting). The fact that everyone else hates Ho (who is either clueless or so much a narcissist or, really, just both), that he fell so easily into the trap, is only the icing on the cake for Lamb and his crew.

I sense that while this series of books are sold as modern spy novels that deals in reality and not James Bond fantasy, it’s really about office politics with terrorism thrown in as an almost afterthought. We get a better understanding of that towards the end, where Taverner explains to Catherine what happened to her former boss and why Lamb is head of Slough House and why she was first person he selected. But, in effect, the whole point of London Rules –or the meaning of the title- appears to be CYA (cover your ass). Also try to bury evidence, deny everything and maybe, just maybe, rid yourself of pesky witnesses.

So high stakes office politics. Not really an effective way to run a business, but clearly everyone believes they’re doing the right thing for themselves.

Then there is Herron’s trademark humor, with its off-beat characters, and action (though it tips close to parody and Keystone Cops half-way in) that makes this series work. At times, it seems tongue in cheek, played with a serious underlying tome, but the comedic aspects also there.  

Books: The Fuller Memorandum (Laundry Files #3) by Charles Stross (2010)

“Bob and Mo become tangled up in a plot by some cultists to steal Teapot, also known as the Eater of Souls. The cultists are being manipulated by a bigger, badder, blacker order that wants to bring on CASE NIGHTMARE GREEN (also known as the end of the world) sooner rather than later. If that’s not bad enough, Bob’s boss, Angleton, goes missing, and Bob is suspended from work with pay pending an investigation into a civilian fatality he accidentally caused.”

With what seems like a Robert Ludlum inspired (?) title, The Fuller Memorandum is probably the most accessible of the first three Laundry Files novels - but they’re is still a bunch of somewhat unfriendly tech-speak throughout the book that will go over the heads of us non-computer programming nerds. Like me.

But I would also say this is probably the darkest one so far, as it furthers the arc of Gods, demons, zombies, and other Lovecraftian nightmares that are trying break through the fabric of our reality to destroy the world. The snark remains, however, and there a number of funny bits, like the introduction of the Jesus Phone and The Cult of Steve, along with another jab at British bureaucracy with the spoofiest of James Bond spoofs. But Bob is not your typical suave secret agent; he is a civil servant.

But then are parts –as seen in the previous two books- where Bob goes on for paragraphs at a time about Chthonic beings and Lovecraftian monsters and computational demonology. It’s fun, even cute, but it drags. Stross has created a very clever character, one seemly smarter than everyone else, but it slows the narrative down. But a lot of modern day writers do this, and I’ve always wondered why editors don’t –carefully, I guess- as them to get to the point sooner.

We finally get a bit more background on some characters, most notably Angleton. Last time we learned that Angleton has been with the Laundry since practically its inception—yet hasn’t seemed to age. I like that Stross continues to spin out bits and pieces of Laundry mythology. While each novel is a self-contained, madcap thriller with supernatural elements, the series mythology continues to grow and appearing to head towards some kind of apocalyptic climax.

 

Books: Spook Street (Slough House #4) By Mick Herron (2017)

“A shakeup at MI5 and a terrorist attack on British soil set in motion clandestine machinery known to few modern spies. David Cartwright isn't a modern spy, however; he's legend and a bonafide Cold War hero. He's also in his dotage and losing his mind to Alzheimer's. His stories of -stotes- hiding in the bushes, following his every move have been dismissed by friends and family for years. Cartwright may be losing track of reality but he's certain about one thing: Old spooks don't go quietly and neither do the secrets they keep. So what happens when an old spook loses his mind? Does the Service have a retirement home for those who know too many secrets but don't remember they're secret? Or does someone take care of the senile spy for good? These are the questions River Cartwright must ask when his grandfather, starts to forget to wear pants and begins to suspect everyone in his life has been sent by the Home Office to watch him. River has the other thing worry about, because that bomb has killed forty innocent civilians. The agents of Slough House have to figure out who is behind this act of terror before the situation escalates.”

It’s been noted that Mick Herron often refrains from creating extensive character back stories, and for three books and a novella so far, this has remained true. We know that River Cartwright is the center of the Slough House universe, beyond Jackson Lamb, and a lot of the reasons he remains within Lambs grasp is because his grandfather, David, holds many secrets and also realizes that with his age and Alzheimer’s, is bound to cause problems down the line. In Spook Street, this comes to fruition (because mortality, addiction and ancestral sin are the many themes that play-out through the series). What is learned here points everything into a new direction.

For want of a better description, Spook Street moves fast, and plays out more like a spy thriller than ever. River goes off mostly on his own to solve why someone targeted his grandfather, which means using the passport of assassin that almost succeeded (who strangely looks similar to River). That leads to France and recently burned out building in Les Arbres and where River finds more questions than answers.

Meanwhile, Lamb tries to stall and find out how terror attack and the assassination attempt are connected to the Service. As always, despite him claiming so, Lamb knows things and his instincts are usually correct. This plugs into another theme of Herron’s, that Secret Service operates like any other workplace where "people are often doing quite dull jobs and working with other people who they don’t necessarily like, with a lot of office politics going on.”

Spook House remains true to the previous tales, with his farcical look at bureaucrats of the modern era, with a deeply cynical and often funny and darkly slanted take on politics, spies, peoples foibles, and world at large.

I cannot get enough.

Books: The List (Slough House 2.5) By Mick Herron (2015)

 

“Dieter Hess, an aged spy, is dead, and John Bachelor, his MI5 handler, is in deep, deep trouble. Death has revealed that deceased had been keeping a secret second bank account—and there is only ever one reason a spy has a secret second bank account. The question of whether he was a double agent must be resolved, and its answer may undo an entire career’s worth of spy secrets.”

The List is the first of a handful of short-stories/novellas that are connected to Mick Herron’s main Slough House series, and this one is set between books two and three (I guess book 2.5?). The story introduces a new character, J.K. Coe, who is in his first week with MI5, and who will become a recurring character in the series. The usual team is not too active here (a brief cameo of River Cartwright) but we get scenes –and some funny one-liners- from Jackson Lamb, Catherine Standish and Diane (Lady Di) Taverner.

What’s great here is The List gives the reader a better look at Jackson Lamb, who has spent three novels seemly a couple sets ahead of everyone and shows him why he’s such a badass, which is something he not often does –because he is usually busy with boozing, farting and torturing his Slow Horses. A nice filler, though. 

Still, at the end of the day, these novellas (like the ones Ben Aaronovitch has done with his Rivers of London series), this tale –and other three yet to come- are more for completest than necessary reads.