Book Bingo Reading Challenge 2022! Slough House – Mick Herron

Hello Loves!

I promised recently that I would catch up with all my book reviews and today I am thrilled to be doing just that! I’d fallen really behind in my Book Bingo Reading Challenge but I am pleased to say that I’ve completed it! Hurrah! Today’s post is all about November’s choice: Read an award winning book.

This led me to a lot of research and I’ve found out that there’s so many prizes for books which is incredible! You’ve got the big, prolific ones but I wanted to go for an award that I’d never heard of before. I chose Slough House by Mick Herron. This book won the Theakston Old Peculier crime novel of the year award. I knew the drink because my dad likes it so I wanted to pick this. It also naturally fits with my favourite genre – crime – so it was meant to be! For more information on the Theakston Old Peculier crime novel of the year award, please see here. Let’s crack on!

What’s it all about?

I don’t plan on spoiling anything here but Slough House is book seven. You all know how I feel about a series but as a stand alone book, this was really easy to follow and I didn’t really feel like I’d missed anything (not discrediting earlier work). It’s a book that you can read as a stand alone but I imagine the reading experience is bettered when reading the series in order.

“History has an open-door policy. Any fool can walk right in.”

The boss, as it were, is a character called Jackson Lamb. The book opens with himself and his crew coming to terms with the death of Emma Flyte and their own J K Coe in Wales. However, they have more pressing issues at hand. Roderick Ho (Roddy) has learnt that someone is wiping their records from the service database. Does this impact them? Well, they’re getting paid but it does mean that they don’t exist anymore. Furthermore, when Louisa Guy discovers that she is being followed, leading to the other agents realising the same, things feel more on edge. I found myself gripping the book a little firmer too.

River Cartwright, is my favourite character. The fact that they’re being followed doesn’t interest him much to begin with. He is more centred on Sidonie Baker (Sid) who is alive and not dead as presumed. However, she’s turned up at River’s dead grandfather’s house in Kent, needing his help. She thinks that there are two people trying to kill both her and him. Yet, due to the significant injuries she sustained from a gunshot wound from the end of book six, we are never quite sure just how real that threat is.

“Even I’d put me way down on a list of people worth killing. You’d have to be halfway through the Cabinet first. Not to mention whoever invented fruit-flavoured beer.”

Weaved within that plot is the character of Diana Taverner (Lady Di) who has decided to strike back at Russian services in retaliation for the Novichok poisoning attack that happened in Salisbury. But she cannot do this alone. She forms an alliance with the ex-politician, now working in PR, Peter Judd. He managed to put together a group of Patricia lot minded billionaires willing to fund these operations. This doesn’t come without a price and Lady Di soon realises that these people have demands of their own, demands which she isn’t overly comfortable with. An example of this is the YouTube billionaire turned new channel owner, Damien Cantor who would like Lady Di to do an interview on his channel.

Whilst the slow horses try to piece together what exactly is doing on, they find themselves caught up in events outside of their control. There’s absolutely no way I’m going to ruin the ending but when they’re against a ruthless enemy, there’s going to be fireworks. Not being used to Herron’s style, I didn’t see that ending coming at all and that closes the book perfectly.

“Funny thing. When I hear the words “trust me”, I get the feeling someone’s pissing in my shoe.”

Final Thoughts

I can totally understand why this book is a prize winner. I love the blend of events in our time and fiction. The characters, all deeply flawed, really are lynchpin of the book. I’d have no qualms about reading the other books in the series at all. The weaving of alternative plot threads is expertly done and for a smaller book, each page feels like it packs a punch. I really enjoyed entering this world and the experience it took me on as a reader. I also found it deeply humorous and full of quick, clever wit. This just adds another dimension but it really did work with the plot.

The Christmas countdown is on! I’ll see you soon for an update on my book advent calendar!

Big love xxx

Discussion: What do people read on holiday?

Hi loves!

So, I’ve been surrounded by this gorgeous view for a month now and I’m honestly so grateful for that. It’s beautiful, idyllic and a paradise. Yet, I have more pressing matters at the forefront of my mind… books. Whenever I see a book leave a beach bag, I’m looking to see a) what it is and b) if they are enjoying it. I have that genuine fear of missing out on a good read.

This has led me to think about why people read the type of books they do on holiday. How do they make their choices? What leads them to pick those specific titles?

Well, this has been going round in my head for a few days now and has now turned into a little sun lounger activity of mine… First of all, it’s really pleasing to see just how many people, on the loungers have been adorned with towels, start reading. There’s books everywhere! Always a paperback, never a hardback and only one Kindle. I can totally relate to this; I only packed paperbacks, had my Kindle in hand luggage but didn’t actually use it. In fact, it’s still in flight mode. Hmmm.

The hotel had a bookcase in reception which was very pleasing! I had a little look here and it followed the same pattern: paperbacks, no hardbacks at all. However, there were some larger paperbacks. These were all Grisham. I saw a lot of Grisham on the loungers along with James Patterson. These were the top two authors by a long way. (Embarrassingly, I didn’t read any of Grisham or Patterson!)

In terms of books that I saw multiple people read, this was terribly interesting! They were Tyson’s Fury’s Between the Mask and Ant Middleton’s First Man In. Non-fiction! I didn’t expect to see that… In fact, the Tyson Fury book was my mum’s and she felt chuffed that others had taken it from the hotel bookshelf.

Repeat ‘take outs’ gave me another train of thought. I read (and thoroughly adored) The Paper Palace by Miranda Cowley Heller. When I saw that someone else had picked this off the shelf, I felt exactly like my mum did, like I made a good choice. It made me feel validated and like my recommendations could be trusted. Isn’t that silly? I feel silly writing it…

Overwhelmingly, the main genre I saw was crime and thriller. I totally understand that! It’s my favourite after all. But for summer? Where were all the romance novels? The chic lit?

I read one, Lizzie & Dante by Mary Bly which was stunningly beautiful and had me sobbing on my lounger. But this was the only one I saw. Where are the other people sobbing at a good love story? I did spot that this book was moving further back on the hotel bookcase too. But why is that? I always thought summer was about the soppy love novels that were only bearable because of that very reason – the fact that it is summer. There’s something about the smell of suncream that makes me think this… When you know, you know…

Also, there was a distinct lack of female authors too. I helpfully added to that with my own pile. Writers like Liza Jewell, Jenny Han, Jane Corey and Michele Campbell vacationed with me and are all there waiting to be discovered by the next reader.

So, why do we read the things we do on holiday? What is a typical ‘beach read’ and are they changing? What have you spotted? For me, it was all my paperbacks that didn’t fit on the bookcase. How do you pick yours though?

Until next time, when I’m back in the UK!

Big Love xxx