Second paragraph of third chapter:

So Ho was uninterested in Shirley and Marcus’s chattering, and the office above theirs was empty, because Harper and Guy weren’t yet back. If they had been, it’s likely that one would have knelt with an ear to the floor, and relayed each word to the other. And if River Cartwright had been in there, instead of in the room above Ho’s, he might have done the same: itwould have relieved the boredom. Which he should have been used to but it kept recurring, like a week-old insect bite that wouldn’t quit. Though if that analogy were to ring true, River now thought, he’d have to be wearing boxing gloves too: unable to scratch; just rubbing away without effect.

This is the one which starts with a British secret agent dead on a bus in Oxfordshire and ends with a Russian attack on a London skyscraper. Tremendous thriller style plotting, including killing off one of the main characters half way through. Hilarious relationship between Jackson Lamb and his colleagues, both in Slough House and at spook HQ. Notable that the TV series made a lot more space for River Cartwright’s grandfather, as played by Jonathan Pryce. All very entertaining. You can get Dead Lions here.