Book review - Joe Country by Mick Herron

What is advertised as a standard spy thriller is a sly satire on Brexit Britain. The latest novel to focus on a group of disgraced British spies called the Slow Horses who work under the command of Jackson Lamb a man who is not afraid to admit to having a flatulence problem. The thriller plot comes when a renegade agent who just so happens to the father of one of the Slow Horses. However this plays second fiddle to the power games played between the highest elements of British Intelligence. The scenes where Lamb has to deal with his much hated superior 'Lady Di' bristles with the characters mutual loathing. It is only towards the end that novel goes in full thriller mode however Herron does not do the obvious. We only get the aftermath of a deadly fight involving one of the slow horses. For those who want the usual thriller will be disappointed but those who want more will get an novel of razor sharp wit.