I had been in the mood for a little Le Carre and came across this Mick Herron novel instead. Damn, it turned out to be an excellent road taken, as opposed to a road less traveled. Ahem..
I am so glad I did. It was a fantastic read. To learn that there were even more obscure agents than the down-trodden and world weary "secret agents" than those who populate Le Carre#s world.It reads like Baby Raindeer meets Daniel Craig's Bond. Jackson Lambb is a fantastic find, for me. Rather than amalgram of Bondian tropes he represents an altogether more unsettling vision of those who secretly serve the state. And what a state they are in, so to speak. He is marvelously offensive, there is no ego he could not puncture, no faux-concern he would not throw into recycling. I have not seen any of the television series that is based on the books that include and follow this one. Gary Oldman plays him in the television. I can think of no actor better suited, or more capable, of layering the percieved personality with its many contradictions. This is one book you judge by its cover at your own person risk, cause whatever demons that drive this very damaged man will devour you.
No one is who they appear to be and nothing is what it seems. Outcomes, good or bad, can be adapted too. Today's friend is tomorrow's enemy. As the Duke Of Wellington once said "There are a lot of things one can do with a bayonet but you cannot sit on it."
In Slow Horses a young man is snatched off the street. It is an obviously racially and politically motivated event. In fact there is nothing obvious about what took place. The clock is ticking, as his kidnappers plan to cut his head off, live online. I garuntee that in your minds eye you are already making assumptions about the identity of the victim and the agenda of his kidnappers. You would be better to let go of your certainties, in this case, as up is down and down is anything the kidnappers wish it to be. In fact, even those who seek to rescue the kidnapped man adapt to situations as they unfold, molding narratives that suit their own ends. It is a bit of a head scratcher as to who are the good guys in this world, the world that belong's to Mick Ferron's Slow Horses. I highly recommend this introduction to that world.
Leave your certainties at the door.
