"Fans of Slow Horses, the Apple TV series adapted from Herron's earlier Slough House books, will recognize the pair as the characters played with brisk professionalism and callused gravitas by Kristin Scott Thomas and Gary Oldman. Those incomparable actors are a big part of the show's appeal, but the Britain they inhabit weary, cynical, clinging to the tattered scraps of ancient imperial glory is built out of Herron's witty, corkscrew sentences."
"She sat, placing her tote bag between them, and when she looked up he was holding a lit cigarette, which he hadn't been a moment ago. Lamb could peel an orange one-handed in his pocket, if doing so would save him having to offer you a segment. She said, 'There's a rumor those things are bad for you.' 'And there's statistics prove healthy people die.' 'What's your point?' 'Already done.'"
Two veteran MI5 officers sit on a shaded London bench, exchanging brisk, cynical banter that reveals personalities and institutional history. The bench functions as a physical and symbolic locus, anchored to concrete and shade that evokes urban decay and lingering imperial decline. Dialogue mixes sharp humor and rueful observation while small actions—lighting cigarettes, one-handed orange peeling—signal habit, defiance, and control. The prose uses vivid, corkscrew sentences to build atmosphere, blending witty lines with sociological weight to portray a Britain clinging to tattered scraps of past glory.
Read at www.nytimes.com
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