Published 11th September 2025 by Baskerville.
From the cover of the book:
Spies lie. They betray. It's what they do.Slow horse River Cartwright is waiting to be passed fit for work. With time to kill, and with his grandfather - a legendary former spy - long dead, River investigates the secrets of the old man's library, and a mysteriously missing book.
Regent's Park's First Desk, Diana Taverner, doesn't appreciate threats. So when those involved in a covert operation during the height of the Troubles threaten to expose the ugly side of state security, Taverner turns blackmail into opportunity.
Over at Slough House, the repository for failed spies, Catherine Standish just wants everyone to play nice. But as far as Jackson Lamb is concerned, the slow horses should all be at their desks.
Because when Taverner starts plotting mischief people get hurt, and Lamb has no plans to send in the clowns. On the other hand, if the clowns ignore his instructions and fool around, any harm that befalls them is hardly his fault.
But they're his clowns. And if they don't all come home, there'll be a reckoning.
***********
In a nondescript four-storey block on Aldersgate Street, Finsbury, the slow horses plod along the dead-end career path designated for failed spies. Each one is stuck in their own private hell, characterised by the weight of their misdeeds, biting sarcasm, and laborious paperwork, under the deceptively watchful eye of dishevelled Jackson Lamb.
Waiting to be passed fit for work after a close-call with deadly poison, slow horse River Cartwright has been overseeing the relocation of his grandfather's library to the hallowed halls of Oxford. All is going smoothly, until the archivist in charge contacts him about a book that appears to be missing from the famous spy's collection - one that should not even exist.
Meanwhile, Diana Taverner, devious First Desk over at Regents Park, has received a blackmail message from a former operative involved in a covert mission during the days of the Troubles in Ireland. Taverner does not welcome threats to expose the secrets of the security services, but perhaps she can use this as an opportunity to rid herself of another sticky problem...?
In an absolute baptism of fire, Clown Town is my introduction to the intricate world of Mick Herron's Slough House - a series that has spawned the hit TV drama Slow Horses. The story begins with the slow horses in disarray (a normal state of affairs it seems), with the usual dismal cloud over Slough House for those in residence, and some awaiting clearance to return to work after brutal bumps with death and violence in the course of missions which were not necessarily their responsibility. Presiding over this bunch of loose cannons sits scruffy, sardonic Jackson Lamb, a man with a legendary past in the field, who wishes his slow horses would confine themselves to their allotted tasks - but who knows full well that this is unlikely to happen.
Jackson's nemesis, Diana Taverner has a lot going on as lauded First Desk. She is willing to risk much in pursuit of the nation's security, and even more ensuring her own. When sins of the past rear their ugly heads, she sees it as a chance to rid herself of a thorn in her side, and she does not care about collateral damage, as long as it does not touch her. Suffice to say that the slow horses get mixed up in Diana's Machiavellian schemes through a delicious, round about intertwining of plots around their personal trials and tribulations, yearning to be welcomed back into the MI5 fold, and River's delving into the secrets of his grandfather's career as a spook back in the day. In parallel, Jackson Lamb quietly pursues his own quest for vengeance when his slow horses suffer the consequences of Taverner's ambition.
Full of grit, dripping with lashings of spy-related content (and lingo), and ringing with echoing themes of political jockeying, ambition, deception, and unpalatable truths, the Slough House world is one to immerse yourself in. It is a rare and beautiful thing to find an espionage series that combines such all-consuming storylines with a cast of characters as compelling as Herron's, and he does a superb job of making this novel equal parts plot and character-led. The narrative flows seamlessly between characters, offering parallel perspectives on the storylines, and the slow-beat of a tense chess game heats up with bursts of action that culminate in a cleverly choreographed climax. Herron is a class act.
Coming into a series at book nine is a tricky prospect, and there have been a lot of threads for me to pick up in the midst of this latest instalment of the slow horses' adventures, but I can honestly say that I have loved every second of my time with Clown Town. I am now off to consume every backlist novel in the Slough House series... this is how literary love affairs begin.
Clown Town is available to buy now in hardcover, ebook and audio formats.
Thank you to Baskerville for sending me a proof of this book in return for an honest review.
About the author:
Mick Herron’s Slough House novels have been shortlisted for eight CWA Daggers, winning twice, and shortlisted for the Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year three times. The first, Slow Horses, was picked as one of the best twenty spy novels of all time by the Daily Telegraph, while the most recent, Joe Country, was a Sunday Times top ten bestseller.
Mick Herron was born in Newcastle upon Tyne, and now lives in Oxford.
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