This is the eighth instalment in the series about Jackson Lamb and his slow horses.

A key aide to the Prime Minister disappears without a trace, and it is none other than Claude Wheelan, former head of MI5 and, as such, a bitter enemy of his successor, Diana Taverner, who is tasked with finding him. But the clues lead her straight to the Secret Service headquarters and, after taking a roundabout route and encountering various enemies, to Jackson Lamb.

With their trademark blend of black humour, narcissism and plenty of chaos, the Slow Horses finally bring down a situation that was already unstable.

As in the entire Slough House series, the characters lack principles and have no ideal of serving society. Some are obsessed with erotic pleasure or traumatised by their past. Their family life, if it exists at all, is a farce. The author depicts immoral behaviour without explicit descriptions. Readers should be aware that this is a crime novel and that, in reality, there are also people who are eager to serve and have noble ideals, with a transcendent outlook on life.