Slow Horses, Nutshell and The Power

Slow Horses is the first of Mick Herron's Jackson Lamb spy thrillers and has been described as a cross between John Le Carre and Graham Greene. No! A plot that twists and turns is one thing, great writing is another and this book fails in that respect. I became pretty tired of the short page or two in one location before diving off to another and back again. It may carry the story forward at a fast pace, but does nothing for characterisation or place. However, I might just try the second in the series when I need a change from my usual fare.

How can a foetus be so intellectual? Ian McEwan's short fantasy Nutshell imagines an almost ready to be born listening in to it's mother's plans for her husband and his brother. This takes us into the realms of a standard thriller, although there are plenty of other matters that affect our tiny narrator, not least it's mother's wine drinking. An expert in this field is soon to be with us.

However, absorbing the late night podcasts it's mother leaves open, our narrator learns and ruminates about the world it will soon join. "Pessimism is too easy, even delicious, the badge and plume of intellectuals everywhere". So the author has plenty of scope to digress about life and it's pitfalls. But never for too long as the plot drives on to it's sticky conclusion.

An unsettling but ingenious story, The Power by Naomi Alderman (I think) is a pacy thriller that is never less than entertaining. I was surprised that it won the Bailey's prize as the prose is nothing special. The alternating multiple characters keeps each chapter fairly short. Sometimes, early on, it was hard to tell which person the new chapter belonged to, but after about a third way through, this all became clear.

However, the necessary repetitive reminder of the central premise means that we never avoid the feeling that this is a total fantasy and this takes the edge of what is a deeply disturbing imagined future. All men should avoid pages 280-283 for the sake of their sanity. Mine will never recover!