What I Just Read

River Cartwright blew up his career on a mission gone bad. Now he labors with other failed intelligence workers in "Slough House," shuffling paper, picking through garbage and doing soul-sucking work designed to drive them out of the job--or at least keep them out of way. This is an anti-John le Carré novel : instead of brilliant intelligence analysts sorting out a case, it's screwups and political outcasts. Except that Slough House is led by Jackson Lamb, a man who might be far more competent than he behaves. Author Mick Herron has an unusual gift for misdirecting the reader, in fact this might be his most notable technical skill. The reader spends a good portion of the book either in the dark or deliberately set up with incorrect beliefs about what's happening. [A quick  affiliate link to Amazon  for those readers who would like to support my work here: if you purchase your Amazon products via any affiliate link from this site, or from my sister site  Casual Kitch...

A wonderful, beautiful work. Ask me about it, and I'll start nattering at you about sphex wasps, fugues, isomorphisms and "jumping out of the system." And my voice will trail off and you'll see me get a faraway look in my eyes. It's actually quite difficult to describe what this book is about--at least, impossible to describe in a few short sentences. [1] But there are so many ways to read Godel, Escher, Bach , and such a wide range of ideas and insights one can get out of it, that it becomes a different book for every reader. And let me confess, if you haven't read GEB  yet, I am jealous of you. [A quick  affiliate link to Amazon  for those readers who would like to support my work here: if you purchase your Amazon products via any affiliate link from this site, or from my sister site  Casual Kitchen , I will receive a small affiliate commission at no extra cost to you. Thank you!] First of all this book can be understood on many levels. You can read it a...