Praise for Clown Town
Vogue’s Best Books of the Year
An ABA Indie Next Selection
“Excellent . . . Herron’s work now has a huge following and no wonder: He’s a master at mixing byzantine plotting with breathless pacing.”
—Vogue
“Overflowing with gritty action and mordant humor, this is as good as espionage novels get.”
—Publishers Weekly, Starred Review
“The best news of all: The climax leaves the door open to further reports from the hilariously misnamed British Intelligence.”
—Kirkus Reviews, starred review
“Since he first introduced the misfit spies of Slough House in 2008’s Slow Horses, Herron has been compared to the likes of Graham Greene, Len Deighton, and John le Carré. But Herron’s stories are entirely unique, and his writing style is unlike anyone else’s, with a deliciously satirical edge . . . If there are any spy-fiction fans who haven’t yet read Herron’s books, now’s a good time to rectify that.”
—Booklist
Praise for the Slough House Series
“What spurs me to keep reading each new installment is Herron’s absurdist voice, which could devolve into cheap cynicism but never does. That’s why the Slough House denizens, from Jackson Lamb to Roddy Ho to newcomer Ashley Kahn, maintain pathos in the face of parody—they may be bitter, but they have pride in themselves and their work.”
—The New York Times Book Review
“Intricate plotting, full of twists . . . Herron can certainly write a real spy story, with all the misdirection and sleight of hand that requires. But it’s the surly Slough House mood, the eccentric characters, and Herron’s very black, very dry sense of humor that made me read one after the other without a break.”
—Slate.com
“I'll tell you what, to have been lucky enough to play Smiley in one's career; and now go and play Jackson Lamb in Mick Herron's novels—the heir, in a way, to le Carré—is a terrific thing.”
—Gary Oldman
“Confirms Mick Herron as the best spy novelist now working.”
—NPR's Fresh Air
“Compulsively readable, tightly plotted.”
—Los Angeles Times
“Out of a wickedly imagined version of MI5, [Herron] has spun works of diabolical plotting and high-spirited cynicism, their pages filled with sardonic wit . . . Happily for Mr. Herron—if alas for us—events continue to produce rich material for his special gifts, and we hope he is scribbling away making good use of it all.”
—The Wall Street Journal
“Heroic struggles, less-heroic failures and a shoot-out-cum-heist . . . with no let-up in the page turning throughout.”
—Esquire
“The best in a generation, by some estimations, and irrefutably the funniest.”
—The New Yorker
“Herron’s strength is in examining at close hand the absurdities, conflicts, and dangers of the intelligence agency as an institution at the center of some of the most central conflicts in the 21st century.”
—Los Angeles Review of Books
