Review: Dead Lions

Dead Lions by Mick Herron
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The apparent death of a former Cold War foot soldier (putting the very best spin on it possible) from a heart attack on a rail replacement bus service didn't raise any flags, except for Jackson Lamb, head of the dumping ground for disgraced former MI5 operatives commonly called Slough House. His investigations indicate that a fictional Russian spymaster may not, after all, have been so fictional and he may have created a Russian sleeper cell in the UK. Or does someone want Slough House to think that?

Slough House has two new operatives, one of whom may (or may not) be a spy planted by Diana Taverner.

Meanwhile, since Regents Park is being audited following misappropriation of funds by a senior member, 'Spider' Webb has recruited two Slough House operatives to babysit a Russian oligarch on his visit to London. Spider hopes to 'recruit' the Russian as an ally against the faint possibility that he could rise to power.

I enjoyed this, but not as much as the first book. It may just be that I didn't read it practically at one sitting like the first one, but I found it somewhat disjointed flipping between the babysitting job and the hunt for the Cold War spy, which itself took place at Slough House and in the Cotswolds simultaneously.

Now the dilemma, do I watch the TV series (since I've just got a three month free trial of Apple TV+) or carry on reading?

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