Standing By The Wall by Mick Herron
Sep. 21st, 2023 10:51 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
quippeThe Blurb On The Back:
Here in Slough House, the intelligence service’s home for inept spies, it’s beginning to feel a lot like Christmas.
Roddy Ho is used to being the one the slow horses turn to when they need miracles performed, and he’s always been Jackson Lamb’s Number Two. So when Lamb has a photograph that needs doctoring, it’s Ho he entrusts with the task. Christmas is a time for memories, but Lamb doesn’t do memories - or so he says. But what is it about the photo that makes him want to alter it? How would the slow horses cope if Roddy Ho did not exist? And most importantly of all, are the team having Christmas drinks, and if so, where?
Standing By The Wall offers a glimpse into the kind of seasonal merriment you might expect at Slough House, where the boss generally marks the festive season with an increase in hostilities. But them, this is the secret service, not Secret Santa. And the slow horses aren’t here to enjoy themselves.
Roddy Roddy Roddy? Ho Ho Ho!
It’s late afternoon on Christmas Eve in Slough House, some time after the events in BAD ACTORS.
Roddy Ho is looking forward to a traditional Christmas watching Die Hard, Die Hard 2 and Elf but is also contemplating finding out if the other slow horses are planning to have Christmas drinks, in which case he could be tempted to grace them with his presence. But when Jackson Lamb summons him to his office for an important task, Roddy knows that as Jackson’s Number Two and the Lynch pin on which all of the slow horses relied, he has to do it. Besides, it’s not actually that difficult a job - Jackson gives him an old photo of three people - two men (one of whom looks oddly familiar) and a woman - standing in front of a wall, and tells him to remove one of the men, which Roddy could do it in his sleep. It is not in Roddy’s nature to ask why Jackson wants the photograph doctored, and even if it was, he knows that Jackson would never tell him.
Meanwhile, River Cartwright has decided to stop by Slough House to see how Shirley, Catherine, Louisa and Lech have been coping while he’s been on sick leave, recuperating from the dose of novichok he got at the end of SLOUGH HOUSE. There are still a few weeks to go before he’s due back in the office but it’s good to meet newcomer Ashley who needs to learn that their office is actually his office and he’s deliberating going up to say hello to Jackson - that is, if he can physically get his body up the stairs. But does he really want to risk the scathing presence of Lamb when he’s got Sid waiting at home for him?
Mick Herron’s short story set in the SLOUGH HOUSE universe is a pithy, fun affair. There are hints here as to a link with forthcoming book THE SECRET HOURS (notably a mention of Operation Monochrome), I always enjoy the self-delusional Roddy Ho and it’s good to see River Cartwright make a return, albeit not in peak health. If, like me, you devour anything SLOUGH HOUSE related, then it’s worth a look but occasional readers could probably skip it.
I enjoyed the glimpse into Slough House’s Christmas activities and I always love reading anything from Roddy’s point of view because he is so completely self-delusional. I also very much enjoyed the re-appearance of River Cartwright, whose fate Herron teased in BAD ACTORS before confirming his survival, if not his return and there’s a welcome cameo from Molly Doran, the archivist at Regent’s Park. The reference to Operation Monochrome that crops up here promises a link to the forthcoming THE SECRET HOURS (and I have already pre-ordered my copy) and I am particularly intrigued by a reference to Lamb’s pre Slough House activities, when he was running Joes in the field.
If you’re a SLOUGH HOUSE completist, then I think you should check this out because I do not doubt that the photograph at the heart of this will come back in a later book and be a neat Easter egg. However if you’re someone who just dips in and out of the series, then you can give it a miss.
The Verdict:
Mick Herron’s short story set in the SLOUGH HOUSE universe is a pithy, fun affair. There are hints here as to a link with forthcoming book THE SECRET HOURS (notably a mention of Operation Monochrome), I always enjoy the self-delusional Roddy Ho and it’s good to see River Cartwright make a return, albeit not in peak health. If, like me, you devour anything SLOUGH HOUSE related, then it’s worth a look but occasional readers could probably skip it.
Roddy Ho is used to being the one the slow horses turn to when they need miracles performed, and he’s always been Jackson Lamb’s Number Two. So when Lamb has a photograph that needs doctoring, it’s Ho he entrusts with the task. Christmas is a time for memories, but Lamb doesn’t do memories - or so he says. But what is it about the photo that makes him want to alter it? How would the slow horses cope if Roddy Ho did not exist? And most importantly of all, are the team having Christmas drinks, and if so, where?
Standing By The Wall offers a glimpse into the kind of seasonal merriment you might expect at Slough House, where the boss generally marks the festive season with an increase in hostilities. But them, this is the secret service, not Secret Santa. And the slow horses aren’t here to enjoy themselves.
It’s late afternoon on Christmas Eve in Slough House, some time after the events in BAD ACTORS.
Roddy Ho is looking forward to a traditional Christmas watching Die Hard, Die Hard 2 and Elf but is also contemplating finding out if the other slow horses are planning to have Christmas drinks, in which case he could be tempted to grace them with his presence. But when Jackson Lamb summons him to his office for an important task, Roddy knows that as Jackson’s Number Two and the Lynch pin on which all of the slow horses relied, he has to do it. Besides, it’s not actually that difficult a job - Jackson gives him an old photo of three people - two men (one of whom looks oddly familiar) and a woman - standing in front of a wall, and tells him to remove one of the men, which Roddy could do it in his sleep. It is not in Roddy’s nature to ask why Jackson wants the photograph doctored, and even if it was, he knows that Jackson would never tell him.
Meanwhile, River Cartwright has decided to stop by Slough House to see how Shirley, Catherine, Louisa and Lech have been coping while he’s been on sick leave, recuperating from the dose of novichok he got at the end of SLOUGH HOUSE. There are still a few weeks to go before he’s due back in the office but it’s good to meet newcomer Ashley who needs to learn that their office is actually his office and he’s deliberating going up to say hello to Jackson - that is, if he can physically get his body up the stairs. But does he really want to risk the scathing presence of Lamb when he’s got Sid waiting at home for him?
Mick Herron’s short story set in the SLOUGH HOUSE universe is a pithy, fun affair. There are hints here as to a link with forthcoming book THE SECRET HOURS (notably a mention of Operation Monochrome), I always enjoy the self-delusional Roddy Ho and it’s good to see River Cartwright make a return, albeit not in peak health. If, like me, you devour anything SLOUGH HOUSE related, then it’s worth a look but occasional readers could probably skip it.
I enjoyed the glimpse into Slough House’s Christmas activities and I always love reading anything from Roddy’s point of view because he is so completely self-delusional. I also very much enjoyed the re-appearance of River Cartwright, whose fate Herron teased in BAD ACTORS before confirming his survival, if not his return and there’s a welcome cameo from Molly Doran, the archivist at Regent’s Park. The reference to Operation Monochrome that crops up here promises a link to the forthcoming THE SECRET HOURS (and I have already pre-ordered my copy) and I am particularly intrigued by a reference to Lamb’s pre Slough House activities, when he was running Joes in the field.
If you’re a SLOUGH HOUSE completist, then I think you should check this out because I do not doubt that the photograph at the heart of this will come back in a later book and be a neat Easter egg. However if you’re someone who just dips in and out of the series, then you can give it a miss.
The Verdict:
Mick Herron’s short story set in the SLOUGH HOUSE universe is a pithy, fun affair. There are hints here as to a link with forthcoming book THE SECRET HOURS (notably a mention of Operation Monochrome), I always enjoy the self-delusional Roddy Ho and it’s good to see River Cartwright make a return, albeit not in peak health. If, like me, you devour anything SLOUGH HOUSE related, then it’s worth a look but occasional readers could probably skip it.
