Clown Town

Slough House, Book 9

By: Mick Herron

Narrated by: Sean Barrett

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

*Now an award-winning Apple TV+ series starring Gary Oldman, Kristin Scott Thomas and Jack Lowden*

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

'No one can rival Mick Herron' The Times

'A superb thriller' The Spectator

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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.©2025 Mick Herron

Critic reviews

No one can rival Mick Herron . . . the series is increasingly acquiring a seriousness of heart that befits Herron's achievement

Funny, thrilling and shot through with real anger at the state of the nation

This isn't just a superb thriller about dysfunctional spooks. In these dark days, there are not many novels of any sort that make you laugh aloud. But this is one of them

Intricate plots of simmering tension, an intelligence service that hums with mundanity and mendacity, and X-rated dialogue delivering character assassination with every withering riposte. . . a series that continues to reinvigorate the spy fiction genre

Laced with Herron's mordant wit and whip-crack dialogue . . . Herron knits the threads together with his familiar verve

A fabulous, funny book with a delicious sting in the tail

Herron at his masterly best, a stylish page-turner . . . the tales of the Slow Horses have matched the muddle, shoddiness and loss of status of post-Brexit Britain

Herron again blends satire with politics and page-turning pacing

Mick Herron has that rare gift of being able to write exquisitely and hilariously while keeping us on the edge of our seats. An IRA double agent and a corrupt politician are central to this story while Diana Taverner and Jackson Lamb slug it out once again. Thoroughly enjoyable, I now have a whole new bunch of insults to add to my collection (Liz Nugent, author of STRANGE SALLY DIAMOND)

Pure class: thrilling, funny and moving. By now it's obvious that the Slough House novels are not just suspenseful, laugh-out-loud entertainments, not just literary marvels, but important too, essential stories of the state of the UK in the twenty first century (Simon Mason, author of A VOICE IN THE NIGHT)

Clown Town is an absolute belter. No one is better than Mick at loading exactly the right words and taking aim at the egos and idiocies in Westminster and further afield. More satisfying than a squirty flower in the face of your least favourite politician (Sarah Hilary, author of SHARP GLASS)

The circus is back in town and this time the slow horses are not the only clowns in the big tent . . . effectively blends plot, satire and pure, unadulterated fun. Another Mick Herron virtuoso performance (Vaseem Khan, author of CITY OF DESTRUCTION)

Brilliant and very funny

This is an extraordinary story with all the absurdity of Slow Horses That delights and educates

Absolutely Excellent

Well read and well written! A great time with great twists and turns! Highly recommended!

Decent story marred by poor production

Slow and less rich than previous Slow horses entries but still a decent story.
It would have been a better listen had the audio book been properly done.

The absence of chapters to navigate makes it very annoying to play.
Transitions are consequently easy to miss and with the characters being harder than ever to discern by voice I was often left utterly confused and had to go back to try and understand thr story. (At random, without chapter navigation).

Clowns

The story, as all Slow horses stories, are intriguing. The narrator represents the characters perfectly. Only one small problem, once the book is started you can't stop listening.
Thank you to the author and his team.

great stories

the whole series is outstanding.
Mick's descriptions and laugh-out-loud moments are so special.
a great read l love them.