Clown Town

"May be the best Slow Horses book to date."--The Wall Street Journal

THE NEW NOVEL IN THE SERIES BEHIND SLOW HORSES, AN APPLE ORIGINAL SERIES NOW STREAMING ON APPLE TV+

Jackson Lamb and the bad spies of Slough House are caught in a deadly battle between MI5's secret past and its murky future in this gripping, hilarious, and heartbreaking thriller by Mick Herron, "the le Carré of the future" (BBC).

"Old spies grow ridiculous, River. Old spies aren't much better than clowns." Or so David Cartwright, the late retired head of MI5, used to tell his grandson. He forgot to add that old spies can be dangerous, too, especially if they've fallen on hard times--as River Cartwright is about to learn the hard way.

David Cartwright, long buried, has left his library to the Spooks' College in Oxford, and now one of the books is missing. Or perhaps it never existed. River, once a "slow horse" of Slough House, MI5's outpost for demoted and disgraced spies, has some time to kill while awaiting medical clearance to return to work, and starts investigating the secrets of his grandfather's library.

Over at the Park, MI5 First Desk Diana Taverner is in a pickle. An operation carried out during the height of the Troubles laid bare the ugly side of state security, and those involved are threatening to expose details. But every threat hides an opportunity, and Taverner has come up with a scheme. All she needs is the right dupe to get caught holding the bag.

Jackson Lamb, the enigmatic and odiferous head of Slough House, has no plans to send in the clowns. On the other hand, if the clowns ignore his instructions, any harm that befalls them is hardly his fault. But they're his clowns. And if they don't all make it home, there'll be a reckoning.

Author: Mick Herron
Publisher: Soho Crime
Published: 09/09/2025
Pages: 352
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 1.32lbs
Size: 9.13h x 6.06w x 1.26d
ISBN: 9781641297264


Review Citation(s):
Kirkus Reviews 07/01/2025
Publishers Weekly 07/28/2025
Booklist 08/01/2025
Library Journal 08/08/2025 pg. 1
BookPage 09/01/2025

About the Author
Mick Herron is a British novelist and short story writer who was born in Newcastle and studied English at Oxford. He is the author of the Slough House espionage series, four Zoë Boehm mysteries, and several standalone novels. His work has won the CWA Diamond Dagger for Lifetime Achievement in Crime Writing, the Gold Dagger for Best Crime Novel, the Steel Dagger for Best Thriller, the Theakston's Novel of the Year Award, the Barry Award and the Ellery Queen Readers Award, and been nominated for the Macavity and Shamus Awards. Slow Horses and Down Cemetery Road have both been adapted into Apple Original series. Mick is a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. He currently lives in Oxford and writes full-time.