July Reading: Slow Horses and The Fifth Grave
Howdy, Michael here,
Finishing up the new KD Thorne thriller. Currently trying to settle on a title. Hydroelectric dams are being targeted by ransomware attacks, and KD and Blunt have been tasked with finding the hackers and getting the insurance companies’ money back.
In the meantime, here are a couple of July reading suggestions.
Just read Slow Horses by Mick Herron. This is a British thriller that features a group of washed-up MI5 operatives who’ve been, in theory, banished to pushing paper in hopes that they will quit the service.
It’s been made into a TV series on Apple TV. I haven’t seen it, but my brother says it’s good. I have, on the other hand, read the book. Read it mostly in one sitting. (It’s that good once it gets going.) After Herron sets up the premise of the kidnapped kid who’s going to be beheaded, the plot is a labyrinth of false trails and broken desires that careen to the very end of the story, as the MI5 agents try to sort out who the kidnappers are and where they’re holding the kid.
Also read The Fifth Grave by Jonathan Latimer (1946). Some of you may recall that I’m a big fan of old-school, hard-boiled crime thrillers. I’d not heard of Latimer previously. This book contains the casual sexism and racism of this time period. With that caveat in mind—
Private detective Karl Craven has come to Paulton, Missouri, to separate a young woman from a cult. He discovers his partner’s been murdered, and he immediately gets on the wrong side of the local crime boss. And those are just his opening problems. Femme fatales, crooked cops, and the cult itself round out the cast he has to navigate to solve his partner’s murder, save his client, and stay on the right side of the law. Nicely plotted.
This book was originally released in 1941 as Solomon’s Vineyard. This is the uncensored, original version where the language is even more explicit. It’s currently $0.99 (US) on Amazon.
Happy reading!