London Rules (Slough House) by Mick Herron - Spy Thriller Novel | Perfect for Book Clubs & Espionage Fiction Fans

I enjoyed this book immensely and recommend you read it as soon as possible.A hallmark of London Rules and the other Slough House books is they seamlessly combine drama, action and humor.Humor.For grins, I annotated each passage in the book that made me smile or laugh out loud — and ended up with a total of 105. And about 25% of those were sustained belly laughs. The humor comes in the form of the narrator’s satirical observations and the character’s invective banter and vulgar puns, frequently delivered unexpectedly in dramatic situations. Lamb has the most punchlines but all the main characters at times deliver slashing comebacks and biting sarcasm.Action.This book has plenty of action. Mass shootings, fights, gun fights — it all drives the plot forward and adds suspense. Genuine suspense, not the “action thriller” suspense in bad movies that translates to insipid, implausible and insufferable. The reader cares about the characters and never knows who’s going to die. It keeps the action interesting.Drama.Most of the characters in London Rules are tormented. They struggle with addictions, PTSD, the memories of murdered or lost loved ones, their dead-end careers, their frustrated political aspirations, their sexual peccadillos. Their struggles tinge all interactions with tension. And when the characters hurt, we empathize with their pains because we know them well.The narration is top notch, full of pop culture references and detailed descriptions of scenes. The diction is precise. Be sure to look up words you don’t know. For example, if you don’t know the meaning of “vajazzle,” look it up when you see it in London Rules. You’ll get a laugh for your effort. The narrator personifies different parts of the day (for example, dawn) and depicts it creeping through and observing Slough House. Definitely literary. Definitely difficult to do in an entertaining way. Mick Herron pulls it off with aplomb. I’ll leave you with a sample:“On (dawn) goes, down the final set of stairs, and somehow passes through the back door without recourse to the shove this usually requires, the door being famously resistant to casual use.”