Mick Herron

*From the creator of SLOW HORSES and soon to be a major TV series starring Emma Thompson and Ruth Wilson*'If you haven't read Zoë Boehm yet, welcome to your next fiction addiction' Val McDermid, author of Past Lying'Unexpected and satisfying . . . The engaging heroine never loses her cool, from the melancholy opening to the whirlwind finale, a marvellously extended set-piece' KirkusZoë Boehm has harbored a distinct aversion to death ever since she shot the man intent on killing her. So when Caroline Daniels takes a deadly fall in front of a train and her lover fails to turn up at the funeral, Zoë wants nothing to do with the case. But Caroline's boss is persistent, and as Zoë attempts to unlock the secrets of a woman she's never met while in search of a man who could be anywhere, she starts to wonder if he's found her first. And if he has, will that make her the next victim, or prove to be her salvation from a paralysing fear?

*From the creator of SLOW HORSES and soon to be a major TV series starring Emma Thompson and Ruth Wilson*'If you haven't read Zoë Boehm yet, welcome to your next fiction addiction' Val McDermid, author of Past Lying'This is one of these novels where you read it, not just to see what happens at the end, but to see what happens on the very next page' BooklistWhen a body is hauled from the River Tyne, Sarah Tucker heads to Newcastle for a closer look. She identifies the dead woman, but putting a name to the corpse only raises further questions. Did the woman kill herself? Why was she wearing the jacket a murderer had stolen years before? And what's brought Sarah's former sparring partner Gerard Inchon to the same broken-down hotel where she's staying? Coincidence is an excuse that soon appears pretty unconvincing. Sarah can't leave until she's found the answers to her questions, however dangerous they might turn out to be.

Första boken i årtiondets mest hyllade nya spionserie»Storbritanniens nye thrillermästare.«| Sunday Times»Mick Herron ser ut att bli vår tids store spionförfattare.« | Daily MailJackson Lambs grupp av misfitspioner har blivit bannlysta från de högpresterande MI5-leden i Regent's Park för diverse förseelser kopplade till droger och fylla, sex och ödesdigra misstag, politik och svek. Nu är de i stället samlade i Slough House, där de vänder papper snarare än utför operationer. Men ingen av dem har gått med i underrättelsetjänsten för att vara en »slö häst«. Nu har en pojke kidnappats och hålls som gisslan - och förövarna hotar att ta livet av honom i livesändning på nätet. Hur orderna från »Tjänsten« än ser ut, så tänker inte de slöa hästarna bara sitta stilla och titta på... Slöa hästar är första boken i Mick Herrons prisbelönta kriminalserie Slough House, som nu också blir TV-serie med Gary Oldman i rollen som Jackson Lamb.»Millenniets bästa nya kriminalserie.« | Mail on Sunday»Vår generations John Le Carré.« | Val McDermidMICK HERRON är en bästsäljande brittisk thrillerförfattare, mest känd för sin Slough House-serie, som nominerats till en lång rad priser och vunnit bland annat CWA:s Gold Dagger 2013, CWA Ian Fleming Steel Dagger Award 2017 och Capital Crime Best Thriller Award 2019. Slöa hästar [Slow Horses] är den första boken i serien.

Sløve hester kaster oss rett inn i et nervepirrende terrorscenario: Den unge MI5-feltagenten River Cartwright er på King's Cross stasjon, hvor han skal finne og pågripe en mistenkt selvmordsbomber. Ifølge instruksen er bomberen fra Midtøsten, iført hvit t-skjorte under blå skjorte. River og de andre agentene finner mannen som passer beskrivelsen, men han er ingen selvmordsbomber. Plutselig blir River usikker: hvit t-skjorte under blå skjorte, eller blå t-skjorte under hvit skjorte? Sløve hester er første bok i serien om Slough House, avdelingen hvor MI5-agenter blir omplassert etter å ha begått utilgivelige tjenestefeil eller på annet vis tabbet seg ut. Sjefen her er Jackson Lamb: tjukk, uflidd, kjederøykende og intenst utrivelig - og, skal det etter hvert vise seg, en genial spion med en ryggrad av stål.

Da Dickie Bow, en afdanket engelsk agent fra den kolde krig, bliver fundet fundet død i en bus uden for Oxford, ringer der ingen alarmklokker i hovedkvarteret for MI5, det engelske efterretningsvæsen. Det gør der imidlertid hos Jackson Lamb.Dickie var i Berlin samtidig med Jackson Lamb under den kolde krig. Og da Lamb kommer i besiddelse af Dickies telefon med en sidste gådefuld besked fra den gamle spion, får han mistanke om, at en operation i gammel Moskva-stil er i gang i MI5's baghave.Og snart er Jackson Lamb og hans hold af udrangerede agenter, kaldt Slagteheste, involveret i en dødsensfarlig aktion, hvor de fornemmer, at en djævelsk udspekuleret modstander hele tiden er et skridt foran

THE SIXTH BOOK IN THE SERIES BEHIND SLOW HORSES, AN APPLE ORIGINAL SERIES NOW STREAMING ON APPLE TV+ If Spook Street is where spies live, Joe Country is where they go to die. "Suspense, spycraft, dry wit and vulgar humor are all well-deployed in this satisfying work by Mr. Herron, whose style can accommodate everything from a tough action scene to a lyrical elegy."--Tom Nolan, The Wall Street Journal In Slough House, the London outpost for disgraced MI5 spies, memories are stirring, all of them bad. Catherine Standish is buying booze again, Louisa Guy is raking over the ashes of lost love, and new recruit Lech Wicinski, whose sins make him an outcast even among the slow horses, is determined to discover who destroyed his career, even if he tears his life apart in the process. Meanwhile, in Regent's Park, Diana Taverner's tenure as First Desk is running into difficulties. If she's going to make the Service fit for purpose, she might have to make deals with a familiar old devil . . . And with winter taking its grip, Jackson Lamb would sooner be left brooding in peace, but even he can't ignore the dried blood on his carpets. So when the man responsible for killing a slow horse breaks cover at last, Lamb sends the slow horses out to even the score.

Two Slough House Novellas**THE DROP**'It is time Mick Herron was recognised in his own right as the best thriller writer in Britain today' Sunday ExpressOld 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 cafe, 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 favour 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 crew member overboard, well: collateral damage is her speciality.A drop, in spook parlance, is the passing on of secret information.It's also what happens just before you hit the ground.**THE LIST**'Mick Herron is an incredible writer and if you haven't read him yet, you NEED to' Mark BillinghamDieter Hess, an aged spy, is dead, and John Bachelor, his MI5 handler, is in deep, deep trouble. Death has revealed that the deceased had been keeping a secret second bank account - and there's 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.**previously published as two separate editions**

'A snapshot of what the crime novel is doing now and a glimpse of the directions it might take in the future' - Mick Herron'Crime fiction demands a flexible, sceptical framework for its own increasingly rude health. The eleven writers in this third MA Crime Fiction Anthology understand this. Irrespective of subject, setting, theme or prose style, each uses the multitudes of the crime genre to embrace and reflect who we are and how we live now. Each understands and respects the genre, even as they dismantle its traditions' - Tom Benn'The creative writing workshop is an environment that is built upon freedom, but also support. It's almost too magical a place, too idyllic, too democratic, too truthful. But I don't believe in magic, any more than I believe in the muse. What has happened in this space, which is ever expanding, over the last couple of years, has been an outpouring of talent and determination, by eleven extraordinary writers' - Henry SuttonFeaturing work by: Laura Ashton • Judi Daykin • Antony Dunford • Jayne Farnworth • Natasha Hutcheson • Louise Mangos • Elizabeth Saccente • Matthew Smith • Karen Taylor • Wendy Turbin • Bridget Walsh

'Masterful . . . superior entertainment that makes most other novels of suspense appear dull and slow-witted by comparison' Publishers WeeklyWhat should have been a simple pick-up turns into a day-long nightmare for Bad Sam Chapman.When an operational catastrophe puts a gun in the hands of a young man, who then breaks into South Oxford Nursery School and takes a group of hostages, teacher Louise Kennedy fears the worst. But Jaime Segura isn't there on a homicidal mission, and he's just as scared as those whose lives he holds as collateral. As an armed police presence builds outside the school's gates, Bad Sam Chapman - head of the intelligence service's internal security force, the Dogs - battles the clock to find out what Jaime is after. But the only person Jaime will talk to is Ben Whistler, an MI6 accountant who worked with Jaime's lover, Miro. Miro's gone missing, along with a quarter of a billion pounds allotted for reconstruction work in Iraq. Jaime refuses to believe that Miro is a thief - though he's always had his secrets. But then, so does Louise, so do the other hostages - and so do some people on the outside, who'd much rather Jaime was silenced.

THE FIFTH BOOK IN THE SERIES BEHIND SLOW HORSES, AN APPLE ORIGINAL SERIES NOW STREAMING ON APPLE TV+ Ian Fleming. John le Carr . Len Deighton. Mick Herron. The brilliant plotting of Herron's twice CWA Dagger Award-winning Slough House series of spy novels is matched only by his storytelling gift and an ear for viciously funny political satire. "Mick Herron is the John le Carr of our generation."--Val McDermid At MI5 headquarters Regent's Park, First Desk Claude Whelan is learning the ropes the hard way. Tasked with protecting a beleaguered prime minister, he's facing attack from all directions: 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. It's a good thing Jackson Lamb knows the rules. Because those things aren't going to break themselves.

Jackson Lamb og hans mandskab er alle forvist fra aktiv tjeneste i den engelske efterretningstjeneste MI5s hovedkvarter, Regent’s Park, for forskellige forseelser eller på grund af politiske intriger, og nu befinder de sig i det miserable Slough House, hvor de skubber rundt på papirbunker i stedet for at deltage i operationer. Men ikke én af dem gik ind i tjenesten for at blive en ‘Slagtehest’, som de nu bliver kaldt. Så bliver en dreng kidnappet og holdt fanget. Gerningsmændene truer med at kappe hovedet af ham og vise det ‘live’ på nettet. Og uanset hvad efterretningstjenesten siger, har Slagtehestene ikke tænkt sig bare at sidde og kigge på. "Slagteheste" er på samme tid både nyskabende og en spionthriller i den bedste engelske tradition.

From CWA Gold and Steel Dagger winner Mick Herron comes a shocking, twisted novel of psychological suspense about one woman's attempt to be better than ordinary

From the New York Times bestselling author of Slow Horses comes a riveting novel of psychological suspense about one woman's attempt to be better than ordinary. Twenty-six-year-old Maggie Barnes is someone you would never look at twice. Living alone in a month-to-month sublet in the huge city of London, with no family but an estranged sister, no partner, and not much in the way of friends, Maggie is just the kind of person who could vanish from the face of the earth without anyone taking notice. Or just the kind of person MI5 needs to infiltrate the establishment and thwart an international plot that puts all of Britain at risk. Now one young woman has the chance to be a hero--if she can think quickly enough to stay alive.

THE BOOK BEHIND THE FOURTH SEASON OF SLOW HORSES, THE APPLE ORIGINAL SERIES STARRING GARY OLDMAN IN HIS EMMY-NOMINATED ROLE AS JACKSON LAMB. 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 paranoid concerns of David Cartwright, a Cold War-era operative and one-time head of MI5 who is sliding into dementia, and questions his grandson, River, must figure out answers to now that the spy who raised him has started to forget to wear pants. But River, himself an agent at Slough House, MI5's outpost for disgraced spies, has other things to worry about. A bomb has detonated in the middle of a busy shopping center and killed forty innocent civilians. The "slow horses" of Slough House must figure out who is behind this act of terror before the situation escalates.

*Soon to be a major TV series starring Gary Oldman* 'The finest British spy fiction of the past 20 years' Metro Slough House is the Intelligence Service outpost for failed spies called the 'slow horses'. One of them, Catherine Standish, knows that chance encounters never happen to spooks. She's worked in the Intelligence Service long enough to understand treachery, double-dealing and stabbing in the back. What she doesn't know is why anyone would target her: a recovering drunk pushing paper with the other lost causes in Jackson Lamb's kingdom of exiles at Slough House. Whoever it is holding her hostage, it can't be personal. It must be about Slough House. Most likely, it is about Jackson Lamb. And say what you like about Lamb, he'll never leave a joe in the lurch. He might even be someone you could trust with your life. 'Masterful' Daily Mail 'A pulsating spy thriller' Daily Express

THE BOOK BEHIND THE THIRD SEASON OF SLOW HORSES, THE APPLE ORIGINAL SERIES STARRING GARY OLDMAN IN HIS EMMY-NOMINATED ROLE AS JACKSON LAMB. When one of their own is kidnapped, the washed-up MI5 operatives of Slough House--the Slow Horses, as they're known--outwit rogue agents at the very highest levels of British Intelligence, and even to Downing Street itself. London: Slough House is the MI5 branch where disgraced operatives are reassigned after they've messed up too badly to be trusted with real intelligence work. The "Slow Horses," as the failed spies of Slough House are called, are doomed to spend the rest of their careers pushing paper, but they all want back in on the action. When one of their own is kidnapped and held for ransom, the agents of Slough House must defeat the odds, overturning all expectations of their competence, to breach the top-notch security of MI5's intelligence headquarters, Regent's Park, and steal valuable intel in exchange for their comrade's safety. The kidnapping is only the tip of the iceberg, however--the agents uncover a larger web of intrigue that involves not only a group of private mercenaries but the highest authorities in the Secret Service. After years spent as the lowest on the totem pole, the Slow Horses suddenly find themselves caught in the midst of a conspiracy that threatens not only the future of Slough House, but of MI5 itself.

Set in the same fictional London as his CWA Gold Dagger Award-winning Slough House spy series, Mick Herron now introduces Tom Bettany, a man with a violent past and only one thing to live for: Avenging his son's death. Tom Bettany is working at a meat processing plant in France when he gets a voicemail from an Englishwoman he doesn't know telling him that his estranged 26-year-old son is dead--Liam Bettany fell from his London balcony, where he was smoking pot. Now for the first time since he cut all ties years ago, Bettany returns home to London to find out the truth about his son's death. Maybe it's the guilt he feels about losing touch with Liam that's gnawing at him, or maybe he's actually put his finger on a labyrinthine plot, but either way he'll get to the bottom of the tragedy, no matter whose feathers he has to ruffle. But more than a few people are interested to hear Bettany is back in town, from incarcerated mob bosses to those in the highest echelons of MI5. He might have thought he'd left it all behind when he first skipped town, but nobody ever really walks away. From the Hardcover edition.

In this chillingly plausible thriller by CWA Gold Dagger winner Mick Herron, "there is no hiding under the desk" (The New York Times Book Review). When a gunman breaks into South Oxford Nursery School and takes a group of hostages, teacher Louise Kennedy fears the worst. But Jaime Segura isn't there on a homicidal mission, and he's just as scared as those whose lives he holds as collateral. As an armed police presence builds outside the school's gates, the only person Jaime will talk to is Ben Whistler, an MI6 accountant who worked with Jaime's lover, Miro. Miro's gone missing, along with a quarter of a billion pounds allotted for reconstruction work in Iraq. Jaime refuses to believe that Miro is a thief--though he's always had his secrets. But then, so does Louise, so do the other hostages--and so do some people on the outside, who'd much rather Jaime was silenced.

Oxford private detective Zo Boehm turns up dead in Newcastle, launching her friend Sarah Tucker into an investigation with several leads--but no one she can trust. When a body is hauled from the River Tyne, Sarah Tucker heads to Newcastle for a closer look. She identifies the dead woman as private detective Zo Boehm, but putting a name to the corpse only raises further questions. Did Zo kill herself, or did one of her old cases come back to haunt her? Why was she wearing the jacket a murderer had stolen years before? And what's brought Sarah's former sparring partner Gerard Inchon to the same broken-down hotel where she's staying? Coincidence is an excuse that soon appears pretty unconvincing. Sarah can't leave until she's found the answers to her questions, however dangerous they might turn out to be.