Nobody Walks by Mick Herron
Mar. 4th, 2020 11:13 pmThe Blurb On The Back:
Tom Bettany is working at a meat processing plant in France hen he gets a voice mail from an Englishwoman he doesn’t know telling him that his estranged 26-year-old son is dead - Liam Bettany had a fatal fall from his London balcony.
Now for the first time since he cut all ties years ago, Bettany returns home to London to find out the truth about his son’s death. Maybe it’s the guilt he feels about losing touch with Liam that’s gnawing at him, or maybe he’s actually put his finger on a labyrinthine plot, but either way he’ll get to the bottom of the tragedy, no matter whose feathers he has to ruffle. But more than a few people are interested to hear Bettany is back in town, from incarcerated mob bosses to those in the highest echelons of MI5. He might have thought he’d left it all behind when he first skipped town, but nobody ever really walks away.
( The Review (Cut For Spoilers): )
The Verdict:
Mick Herron’s excellent standalone spy thriller includes characters from the SLOUGH HOUSE SERIES, offering background on Coe and featuring Ingrid Tearney and Sam Chapman. The plot twists and turns neatly with Herron setting up strands and returning to them in unexpected ways and there’s a sense of sadness and regret going through the book, together a bleak cynicism such that the open ending doesn’t leave the reader with much reassurance or hope.
Tom Bettany is working at a meat processing plant in France hen he gets a voice mail from an Englishwoman he doesn’t know telling him that his estranged 26-year-old son is dead - Liam Bettany had a fatal fall from his London balcony.
Now for the first time since he cut all ties years ago, Bettany returns home to London to find out the truth about his son’s death. Maybe it’s the guilt he feels about losing touch with Liam that’s gnawing at him, or maybe he’s actually put his finger on a labyrinthine plot, but either way he’ll get to the bottom of the tragedy, no matter whose feathers he has to ruffle. But more than a few people are interested to hear Bettany is back in town, from incarcerated mob bosses to those in the highest echelons of MI5. He might have thought he’d left it all behind when he first skipped town, but nobody ever really walks away.
The Verdict:
Mick Herron’s excellent standalone spy thriller includes characters from the SLOUGH HOUSE SERIES, offering background on Coe and featuring Ingrid Tearney and Sam Chapman. The plot twists and turns neatly with Herron setting up strands and returning to them in unexpected ways and there’s a sense of sadness and regret going through the book, together a bleak cynicism such that the open ending doesn’t leave the reader with much reassurance or hope.