Bad Actors
by Herron, Mick
- Used
- Hardcover
- first
- Condition
- VG/VG
- ISBN 10
- 1641293373
- ISBN 13
- 9781641293372
- Seller
-
Carrying Place, Ontario, Canada
Payment Methods Accepted
About This Item
Reviews
"… the role of the slow horses is to embrace unfulfillment and boredom, to look back in disappointment, stare round in dismay, and understand that life is not an audition, except for the parts that are, and those are the parts they've failed."
Bad Actors is the eighth book in the Slough House/Jackson Lamb series by award-winning British author, Mick Herron. Dr Sophie de Greer, hand-picked by the PM's trusted right-hand man, Anthony Sparrow for an important role, is missing, and the word is that First Desk Di Taverner's people at Regent's Park are involved.
Chair of Limitations, Oliver Nash has been tasked by Sparrow with finding out, but he's sure that Sparrow has an agenda. Semi-retired former First Desk, Claude Whelan is sent to look for her and, when he chats with Catherine Standish about it, he gets an idea of where she might be.
Days earlier though, milkman John Bachelor had spotted the young lady, and is sure she's not quite whom she purports to be, something he shared with his friend, Lech Wicinski. So the slow horses, minus River Cartwright but ever eager for action, decide a bit of covert surveillance is in order.
Tightly plotted as always, and close-to-the-bone topical, this installment has the slow horses, and a few others, seeing plenty of action. Apart from guns, knives and fists, weapons brandished include a baseball bat, a hot chilli, a guide book, a table lamp, a spork, a head-lamp, an iron and a broom.
The Russian GRU's First Desk makes an appearance, along with a gang of soccer hooligans, and a certain young man on the hub looks a likely candidate for Slough House after an encounter with Lady Di.
We can rely on Herron to unfailingly raise Lamb to new levels of obnoxiousness (yes, it is actually possible) while, outside of his IT prowess, Roddy Ho is no less deluded about his ability and appeal. The manifestation of the newly arrived Ashley Khan's anger with Lamb almost backfires on her, but she does gets Ho a date, and Ho's unlikely teamwork with Shirley Dander surprises them both.
Later, tucked away in an exclusive rehab facility to deal with her anger management issues, Shirley manages to engage in even more violence than usual, and finds an unexpected rapport with Claude Whelan.
The dialogue is always a source of humour and one might wonder if there is a forum where readers can offer Herron increasingly objectionable insults for Lamb's use.
His description of characters is original and inventive: Sparrow is "nasty, British and short" and "the weasel under the Cabinet table, teeth bared and dripping" while, of Diana Taverner, "Even Nash, technically one of Regent's Park's string-pullers, knew to tread carefully around Diana. String-pullers carry weight, but Diana carried scissors."
Fans f the series always look forward to an outing with the slow horses, while a reread fills the reader with anticipatory glee at the prospect of so many delicious and darkly funny moments set within the clever plot. Due to the guaranteed but unpredictable laugh-out-loud nature of the story, a warning must be issued: best not read on public transport, if you have continence issues, or whilst eating/drinking. Mick Herron never disappoints.
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Details
- Bookseller
- Alex Simpson (CA)
- Bookseller's Inventory #
- 030182
- Title
- Bad Actors
- Author
- Herron, Mick
- Format/Binding
- Hardcover
- Book Condition
- Used - VG
- Jacket Condition
- VG
- Edition
- First Edition
- ISBN 10
- 1641293373
- ISBN 13
- 9781641293372
- Publisher
- Soho Press, Inc. Crime
- Place of Publication
- New York, New York, U.S.A.
- Date Published
- 2022
- Size
- 8vo - over 7¾" - 9&f
- Keywords
- 9781641293372 Slough House Thriller 8 Series VIII Eight
- Bookseller catalogs
- Mystery;
Terms of Sale
Alex Simpson
Digital pictures available upon request. METHODS OF PAYMENT: check or international money order made payable to Alex Simpson (sole proprietor), Credit cards through Biblio Payment Services. All prices quoted in U.S. dollars. SHIPPING: Canada Post regular mail unless otherwise arranged. RETURNS: Accepted by arrangement, please email. SHIPPING: Orders usually shipped within 2 business days. Shipping costs are based on books weighing 2.2 LB, or 1 KG. If your book order is heavy or oversized, we may contact you to let you know extra shipping is required. For packages weighing less than 500 grams postage may be reduced. PACKING: Books are packed to arrive as described. Our goal is maximum protection at a minimum weight (to keep the rate low). Books are sealed in plastic bags and shipped in appropriate sized boxes with bubblewrap, peanuts, kraft paper etc. as required. Books are also shipped in bubblewrap envelopes.
About the Seller
Alex Simpson
About Alex Simpson
Glossary
Some terminology that may be used in this description includes:
- Edges
- The collective of the top, fore and bottom edges of the text block of the book, being that part of the edges of the pages of a...
- VG/VG
- Very Good Condition book with a Very Good Condition dust jacket. Very Good Condition indicates a used book that does show some...
- First Edition
- In book collecting, the first edition is the earliest published form of a book. A book may have more than one first edition in...