Thursday, October 20, 2022

First Paragraph

 The killers arrived in a sand-coloured jeep, and made short work of the village.

- From London Rules by Mick Herron

3 comments:

MI6 said...

Although Mick Herron’s Bad Actors meanders a bit, it is still almost as compelling a read as Slow Horses. Mind you, that’s not surprising: on Amazon, Mick Herron is described as “The John Le CarrĂ© of our generation” and it’s all to do with bad actors and slow horses. Who would have thought le CarrĂ© might be associated with "any generation"! In terms of acclaimed spy novels, Herron’s Slough House series has definitely made him Top Of The Pops in terms of anti-Bond writers. For Len Deighton devotees that ends a long and victorious reign at number one.

Raw noir espionage of the Slough House quality is rare, whether or not with occasional splashes of sardonic hilarity. Gary Oldman’s performance in Slow Horses has given the Slough House series the leg up the charts it deserved. Will Jackson Lamb become the next Bond? It would be a rich paradox if he became an established anti-Bond brand ambassador. Maybe Lamb should change his name to Happy Jack or Pinball Wizard or even Harry Jack. After all, Harry worked for Palmer as might Edward Burlington for Bill Fairclough (real life MI6 codename JJ) in another noir but factual spy series, The Burlington Files.

Of course, espionage aficionados should know that both The Slough House and Burlington Files series were rejected by risk averse publishers who didn't think espionage existed unless it was fictional and created by Ian Fleming or David Cornwell. However, they probably didn’t know that Fairclough once drummed with Keith Moon in their generation in the seventies. Both books are a must read for espionage illuminati.

Do look up the authors or books mentioned on Amazon, Google The Burlington Files or visit https://theburlingtonfiles.org and http://bit.ly/BillFairclough-WTBio and read Beyond Enkription.

Michael Wade said...

MI6,

Jackson Lamb as the next James Bond?

Intriguing.

Michael

MI6 said...

His key attraction for the role is that prima facie he looks but a lamb to the slaughter to the FSB!