Real Tigers is the third of Mick Herron’s Slough House series. It’s just as gripping as its predecessors and equally rife with often-sardonic humor.
The discredited British intelligent operatives, known as Slow Horses, once again find themselves faced with overcoming expectations of their abilities when one of their own is kidnapped. In some ways it’s a comedy of errors in the face of real danger.
Herron hooks readers from the onset with his description of the shabby Slough House, the name given to the office space where the former spies are relegated to paper pushing busy work. The M15 higher-ups expect the meaningless jobs will encourage them to quit. Little do they understand the degree of hope each has of being able to find their way to good standing. These people are nothing if not optimistic.
Toward this end, the crew sets about to rescue their colleague. The kidnappers’ ransom request is a secret file they want the Slow Horses to retrieve. It’s a seemingly impossible task.
Among Herron’s fortes is his skill to imbue characters with distinct personalities including physical features, foibles and qualities.
Jackson Lamb oversees Slough House with an attitude akin to a broken umbrella: why bother?! He’s a disheveled chain-smoking, flatulent man who’d rather sit at his desk nursing a drink. However, when necessary he will take action albeit in a slothful manner – keeping in character.
M15 conspiracies and suspicions about who is good and who’s not are other elements Herron incorporates to keep readers engaged.
Real Tigers
Four Bookmarks
Soho Crime, 2016
343 pages
The Blue Page Special 