Spook Street

The bestselling thrillers that inspired the hit Apple TV+ show Slow Horses (Slough House Thriller 4)

By: Mick Herron

Narrated by: Sean Barrett

*Now an award-winning Apple TV+ series starring Gary Oldman, Kristin Scott Thomas and Jack Lowden*

'A terrific spy novel' Ian Rankin

'A modern masterpiece' Irish Times

****

Twenty years retired from the Intelligence Service, David Cartwright still knows where all the bones are buried. But when he forgets that secrets are supposed to stay hidden, there's suddenly a target on his back.

The 'Old Bastard' raised his grandson to be a hero, not a slow horse. Now, far from joining the myths and legends of Spook Street, River Cartwright is part of Jackson Lamb's team of pen-pushing no-hopers at Slough House. Which doesn't mean he won't ditch everything and go rogue when his grandfather comes under threat.

Lamb worked with Cartwright back in the day, and knows better than most that this is no innocent old man. So when a panic button raises the alarm at Intelligence Service HQ, it's Lamb who's called on to identify the body. And it's Lamb who'll do whatever's necessary to protect an agent in peril.

'Outstanding' Daily Telegraph

Critic reviews

A terrific spy novel: sublime dialogue, frictionless plotting

Immensely satisfying and utterly brilliant

Mick Herron is an incredible writer and if you haven't read him yet, you NEED to. I read the Jackson Lamb books one after the other and am already desperate for the next one. They are smart, darkly comic and hugely addictive

A captivating series where the intelligence services' misfits and screw-ups become the useful tools of Herron's quite magnificent creation, Jackson Lamb

I love Mick Herron's books more than is decent. Hands down my favourite crime series of the decade . . . Spook Street is a superb novel - fast-paced, original, witty and completely satisfying on every level. I just can't get enough of this brilliant series

In Spook Street Mick Herron returns to the wonderful fallen spies of MI5 in a series that is fast becoming a classic

The dialogue crackles. Herron is a master of timing, word by word, sentence by sentence. His language creates its own world, with streaks of satire and loss that prevent it from becoming too comfortable. Give yourself a treat and hurry on down to Spook Street

It's all sheer fun. Herron is spy fiction's great humorist, mixing absurd situations with sparklingly funny dialogue and elegant, witty prose

Slough House provides the hub for Mick Herron's Jackson Lamb spy novels, of which Spook Street is the fourth, a series that is by some distance the most impressive new body of work in spy fiction

Mick Herron's outstanding series is extremely funny

It's not often a reviewer can say, "You've never read anything quite like this" but it's a safe encomium to use in the case of Mick Herron. The author's idiosyncratic writing is unique in his genre: the spycraft of le Carré refracted through the blackly comic vision of Joseph Heller's Catch-22

Herron's series of novels about a group of deadbeat spies - or 'slow horses', in spook parlance - has been hailed as the most exciting thing to hit the genre since George Smiley hung up his mackintosh

Spook Street is written with a wry, sardonic wit that will make you laugh out loud as you are taken on a gripping thrill ride

The new spy master

Mick Herron's Spook Street began with an atrocity targeted at teenagers, which seemed horribly prescient come the Manchester Arena attack in May. But it's these discomfiting dips into the real world that give Herron's entertaining series about incompetent MI5 rejects its depth

The long and enduring power of Le Carré leaves British espionage fiction a cramped space for newcomers. Mick Herron has carved out his own distinctive territory . . . Chief cowboy of the slow horses, Jackson Lamb, whose vulgar hedonism would be enough to make Falstaff look like Philip Hammond, is becoming one of crime fiction's great characters

Another gem ...albeit more backstory than contemporary action

The authors' gift of weaving the earlier "cast" into each fresh book is to be admired. This is a book to be listened to in large licks - as small chunks will leave you bamboozled.

Brilliant dark humour

Simply brilliant. I loved the TV series but the books are even better. Plan to listen to the whole series when available.

The smart and the misfits

Mick Herron’s style offers surprises in many forms - plot twists, sparkling turns of phrases, character exploration. If you enjoy a clever plot and great writing, this book is for you.

A real cracker; twists that caught me out.

I like his books from the outset, but this one is a snorter. As much as I love all that good character development stuff, I need a tale to have the right mix of detail and pace - this one really hit the mark. plus a few times just as I slipped into a comfortable spot and thought I knew where we'd be going, I got caught by a clever twist and I was fully engaged again. worth every dollar and minute. I just deeply wish I could go toe to toe with Jackson Lamb and smack his smirk off of his face!

As always fantastic

Another excellent and interesting take on mi5 and it’s foibles. The characters are exceptional and the story well spun