A massacre in a sleepy English village kicks off this latest stay at Slough House, but it's an attempt on the life of the appalling Roderick Ho that attracts the less-than-benign attention of Jackson Lamb, even though Ho himself barely noticed it happening. River is reeling from revelations about his family in the previous book and his grandfather's senility. Louise is unimpressed but generally coping. Catherine is still off the drink and back at work. Shirley is going to Anger Fucking Managament classes. JK Coe is feeling suprisingly better since he killed that guy. Roderick has a girlfriend, and may just be about to get all of the Slow Horses wiped out by their own side. The horrifying Jackson Lamb doesn;t seem to care about much, but he won't let anyone else mess with his shower of despised joes. Not without causing unbelievable amounts of trouble and strife. This he now does.