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A review by saareman
Down Cemetery Road by Mick Herron
5.0
A Dark Horse but not Slow
Review of the Soho Crime eBook edition (April 1, 2009) of the original Constable hardcover (August 28, 2003).
If you've exhausted Mick Herron's Slough House (2010-ongoing) series, perhaps like me, you will eventually turn to his earlier Oxford Investigations (2003-2009) or his standalones. After reading this first outing I was not disappointed and could see aspects of the future Herron even in this very first novel.
This is actually more of an espionage related novel than the crime/mystery genre which the "Investigations" sub-title would suggest. Sarah Trafford (née Tucker) is plunged into a dark world when she recklessly takes it upon herself to discover the fate of the surviving 4-year-old daughter of nearby neighbours, whose home is blown up in the middle of the night, an event passed off as being due to a gas leak.
It is gradually revealed that the explosion and resultant coverup are part of an even more diabolical plot which involves the security services trying to contain a possible scandal. There are some ruthless fixers charged with the task who are not at all concerned with collateral damage. Sarah's naïve enquiries lead her to involve the private detectives of Oxford Investigations led by the marriage-strained couple of Joe Silvermann and Zoë Boehm.
Herron's sardonic humour is not at the fore here, but there are definite hints of it in the verbal jousting between Sarah and her husband's possible financial client Gerard Inchon (whose physical build hints at the future Jackson Lamb of Slough House). Self-justified sociopathic behaviour on behalf of the Secret Intelligence Services is regularly on display. The sudden deaths of seemingly major characters is another future Slough House characteristic. Major plot twists abound, some of which are especially satisfying.
Get on it now, before the future TV fans get there ahead of you!
Trivia and Link
Publicity photos of Emma Thompson and Ruth Wilson who will play Zoë Boehm and Sarah Tucker in the future (2025?) AppleTV+ series adaptation. Image sourced from Variety.
Review of the Soho Crime eBook edition (April 1, 2009) of the original Constable hardcover (August 28, 2003).
Give me your arm old toad,
Help me down Cemetery Road. - excerpt from the poem "Toads Revisited" by [a:Philip Larkin|64716|Philip Larkin|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1212545983p2/64716.jpg]
If you've exhausted Mick Herron's Slough House (2010-ongoing) series, perhaps like me, you will eventually turn to his earlier Oxford Investigations (2003-2009) or his standalones. After reading this first outing I was not disappointed and could see aspects of the future Herron even in this very first novel.
This is actually more of an espionage related novel than the crime/mystery genre which the "Investigations" sub-title would suggest. Sarah Trafford (née Tucker) is plunged into a dark world when she recklessly takes it upon herself to discover the fate of the surviving 4-year-old daughter of nearby neighbours, whose home is blown up in the middle of the night, an event passed off as being due to a gas leak.
It is gradually revealed that the explosion and resultant coverup are part of an even more diabolical plot which involves the security services trying to contain a possible scandal. There are some ruthless fixers charged with the task who are not at all concerned with collateral damage. Sarah's naïve enquiries lead her to involve the private detectives of Oxford Investigations led by the marriage-strained couple of Joe Silvermann and Zoë Boehm.
Herron's sardonic humour is not at the fore here, but there are definite hints of it in the verbal jousting between Sarah and her husband's possible financial client Gerard Inchon (whose physical build hints at the future Jackson Lamb of Slough House). Self-justified sociopathic behaviour on behalf of the Secret Intelligence Services is regularly on display. The sudden deaths of seemingly major characters is another future Slough House characteristic. Major plot twists abound, some of which are especially satisfying.
Get on it now, before the future TV fans get there ahead of you!
Trivia and Link
Publicity photos of Emma Thompson and Ruth Wilson who will play Zoë Boehm and Sarah Tucker in the future (2025?) AppleTV+ series adaptation. Image sourced from Variety.