Clown Town

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What to expect

The brand new Slough House thriller from the #1 bestseller Mick Herron

SUNDAY TIMES, THRILLER OF THE YEAR
GUARDIAN, CRIME BOOK OF THE YEAR
DAILY TELEGRAPH, BOOK OF THE YEAR
TLS, BOOK OF THE YEAR
THE SPECTATOR, BOOK OF THE YEAR

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'Mick Herron is our best and most topical spy writer' Ian Rankin

'Clown Town is a masterpiece' India Knight, Sunday Times

'An authentic megastar of the genre' Sam Leith, Guardian

'No one can rival Mick Herron' The Times

'A superb thriller' The Spectator

'Masterly' Times Literary Supplement, books of the year

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Spies lie. They betray. It's what they do.

Slow horse River Cartwright is waiting to be passed fit for work. With time to kill, and with his grandfather - a legendary former spy - long dead, River investigates the secrets of the old man's library, and a mysteriously missing book.

Regent's Park's First Desk, Diana Taverner, doesn't appreciate threats. So when those involved in a covert operation during the height of the Troubles threaten to expose the ugly side of state security, Taverner turns blackmail into opportunity.

Over at Slough House, the repository for failed spies, Catherine Standish just wants everyone to play nice. But as far as Jackson Lamb is concerned, the slow horses should all be at their desks.

Because when Taverner starts plotting mischief people get hurt, and Lamb has no plans to send in the clowns. On the other hand, if the clowns ignore his instructions and fool around, any harm that befalls them is hardly his fault.

But they're his clowns. And if they don't all come home, there'll be a reckoning.


*Mick Herron's Clown Town was a Sunday Times Number Four bestseller in hardback in the second week of September 2025

User Reviews

Book 4.6
Narration 3.8
5.0
5.0
PhilW 29/10/2025
5.0
3.0
Tdk 29/10/2025
5.0
5.0
fluentindothraki 19/10/2025
4.0
4.0
Didn’t quite keep up all the effortless wry comments of previous Slow Horses books but the characters are still well rounded and events possibly plausible.
dizzydyslexic 17/10/2025
4.0
4.0
mcmrbt 30/09/2025
4.0
1.0
I love Mick Herron books but am struggling to follow the narrator on this one. The gravely voice is extremely difficult to decipher so I'm constantly going back to work out what is happing and/or who is speaking. Such a shame.
NickUT 23/09/2025
5.0
5.0
Phenomenal. Simply phenomenal! Mick Herron is one of the greatest writers working today in any genre. The fact that he has single-handedly reinvented the novel form of the like of Len Deighton and John LeCarre is testament to how great he is. Combined with Sean Barrett as the narrator, you have a match made in heaven. Barrett injects life into every character to the extent that you can virtually see the pores on each characters skin, feel the emotions in each word expressed, sense the frail humanity of each character, and empathise with all of their actions no matter how dubiously ethical or lacking in morals. Clown Town is a screaming thrill from start to finish. The story grips your throat from page one and happily trails you to the end of another magnificent roller-coaster ride, and you're left breathlessly waiting for the next installment. As for the humour? You'll laugh until you're sore as a result of the brilliant writing being expressed so perfectly by a consummate actor.
Thomas Reilly 18/09/2025
5.0
3.0
The book is brilliant. But the deadpan style of the narration meant that I didn’t catch every word which was a shame.
bargirl 12/09/2025

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