Bad Actors, by Mick Herron

A political advisor has gone missing and the head of MI5, Diana Taverner, finds herself unexpectedly at the pointy end. It’s ironic that her career is in jeopardy for something she is innocent of, rather than one of the many terrible things she has done. Lady Di is in so much trouble she has to call on frenemy Jackson Lamb and his slow horses for help. It’s uncomfortable for the reader to find themselves on the side of the despicable Diana, but it’s a case of the least worst actor in a story that sheds a chilling light on the state of democracy in post-Brexit, post Covid Britain. River Cartwright is completely missing from this tale, following his encounter with a nerve agent in the last book, and it is not clear until the end whether or not he survived. After a shaky start new slow horse Ashley Kahn looks a promising addition to the team, so she’ll probably get killed off in the next Slough House book. Sadly for addicts, that may be a while off as this one is the latest published to date.