Out & About Autumn 2019

BOOKS The nights are drawing in and this inclement weather can offer up a good excuse to hunker down with a good book. Although not necessarily her thing, GERALDINE GARDNER would suggest giving an apocalyptic comedy a go, but she really enjoyed getting stuck into the exploits of a band of failed MI5 operatives. Out&About leisure

Recently adapted for television, Good Omens is a comic novel about the impending apocalypse and the efforts of an angel and a devil to prevent it from happening, because they rather enjoy their time on Earth. Armageddon is to be brought about by the arrival of Satan in the form of a baby – a ‘baby swap’ that goes hilariously wrong. I will confess to begin with I was pleasantly suprised – the opening scenes are very funny and the engaging prose both refreshing and entertaining – for instance, you’ll now understand why the M25 is such a nightmare to get round. But there’s the rub – I said ‘to begin with’, after a while the joke began to wear a bit thin. Ok so Earth is populated with angels and demons, all vying with each other to create order or mayhem depending on which side they are on, but the reading the reviews, I knew these were my kind of people. So I decided to start from the beginning with Slow Horses (published in 2010) – there are now six in the series, so I have five more to enjoy. Jackson Lamb is a thoroughly unlikely anti-hero, he’s non-pc and rides roughshod over anyone, but underlying all of this is a sharp mind and a sense of duty to the team at Slough House. Slough House isn’t in Slough, it is in London and is a dumping ground for any MI5 operative who messes up and is labelled a ‘slow horse’. Why Lamb is there is not immediately apparent, but at the beginning of Slow Horses , Herron gives us a quick run down of the central characters and for the most part the mistakes that have seen them end up there. This may make for a slow start, but stick with it. The plot revolves around the apparently random kidnapping of a young boy and the threat to behead him online in 24 hours. There are red herrings and twists and turns along the way, but it is a satisfying mystery and Herron does not hold back

introduction of new characters and anarchic situations all became a bit too smug for me. It seemed that the writers – much revered as they are – had became a bit too pleased with themselves. There were so many clichéed characters – a bad-ass female journalist, wandering around the world casually starting wars in erstwhile peaceful states before moving on to the next territory, an eccentric recluse. All very slick and creatively portrayed, but at a little more than 400 pages, for me it started to pall fairly quickly and getting to the end to discover whether or not we would all face oblivion was a little tiresome. If you’re a Terry Pratchett or Neil Gaiman fan, then this will probably tick all the right boxes for you, but the only box it ticked for me was I can now say I have read a Terry Pratchett and I don’t need to worry about reading any more. on who he disposes of along the way, so I fear I may be in for a rollercoaster when it comes to welcoming back familiar characters in each book. No series would be complete without a set of characters who are the antithesis of Lamb’s team and they are provided by MI5’s headquarters, where the ruthlessly ambitious Diana Taverner is constantly wrongfooted by Lamb. Interestingly, there is also a political figure featured in the book – public school, blond, rather scatty with a bumbling public persona, but ruthlessly amibtious. Can’t think who that is based on and I look forward to seeing how he plays out in the rest of the series. I would heartily recommend these books to anyone that likes a good mystery, along with a bunch of characters who become like a favourite cardigan – you get that cosy feeling of knowing exactly how it’s going to feel and, with a cup of tea and big armchair, it couldn’t be better for the rainy autumn days. * Author Mick Herron will be talking about his comic spy novels and writing in Hungerford on Friday, September 27. For tickets, £8, call (01488) 683480 or visit www.hungerfordbookshop.co.uk

I have to come clean – I have never read a Terry Pratchett, nor had any desire to delve into Discworld. So I wasn’t overthrilled when my book group decided to give Good Omens , a collaboration between Mr Pratchett and Neil Gaiman, a go.

I love a good thriller, particularly the world-weary detectives/private eyes such as Cormoran Strike, Jackson Brodie and Harry Hole. Having just devoured the latest Strike mystery, Lethal White by JK Rowling’s alter ego Robert Galbraith, I was feeling a bit bereft and was somewhat suprised that I had not come across Mick Herron’s marvellous creation Jackson Lamb before. The latest in Herron’s series about a group of discarded MI5 misfits, Joe Country , came out this summer and,

You can find book reviews on the Newbury Today website www.newburytoday.co.uk/out&about/books Leave your comments and tell us what you think of the books or email geraldine.gardner@newburynews.co.uk

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O&A AUTUMN 2019