Slow Horses
The bestselling thrillers that inspired the hit Apple TV+ show Slow Horses (Slough House Thriller 1)
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4.1 • 367 Ratings
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
*Now an award-winning Apple TV+ series starring Gary Oldman, Kristin Scott Thomas and Jack Lowden*
'The most exciting development in spy fiction since the Cold War' The Times
Slough House is the outpost where disgraced spies are banished to see out the rest of their derailed careers. Known as the 'slow horses' these misfits have committed crimes of drugs and drunkenness, lechery and failure, politics and betrayal while on duty.
In this drab and mildewed office these highly trained spies don't run ops, they push paper. Not one of them joined the Intelligence Service to be a slow horse and the one thing they have in common is they want to be back in the action.
When a boy is kidnapped and held hostage, his beheading is scheduled for live broadcast on the net. And whatever the instructions of their masters at the Intelligence Service headquarters, the slow horses aren't going to just sit quiet and watch.
'Captivating' Christopher Brookmyre
'Wonderfully cynical' Bernard Cornwell
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
This thriller’s title, like so much of its story, is a misdirection—Slow Horses moves with the force of a stampede. Assigned to the lowly Slough House, disgraced British intelligence agent River Cartwright seeks redemption by trying to stop a beheading before it’s broadcast live. Mick Herron’s methodical pacing and characterisation explain why he’s become one of the UK’s most dependable spy novelists. This novel’s a must-read for fans of le Carré and Deighton.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Banished to London’s Slough House—the junkyard for disgraced MI5 agents—for botching a high-profile training exercise, River Cartwright spends his days sifting through garbage and transcribing phone conversations in Herron’s riveting spy thriller. His boss, Jackson Lamb, who governs Slough House as if it’s his own kingdom, makes sure the “slow horses” know they’ll never get back to high-profile work at Regent’s Park. River, bored with his tedious assignments, discovers that one of his fellow agents has been lifting information from Robert Hobden, a well-known journalist. When a Muslim teenager is kidnapped and a video promising to decapitate him appears online, River wonders if it’s connected to Hobden, who has ties to the extremist British Patriotic Party. Herron (Smoke & Whispers) avoids the easy cliché of misfits banding together to right a wrong, instead painting his slow horses as complex characters who are just as fallible as their “faster” counterparts.
Customer Reviews
Slow Horses
Put simply, I liked this book. A very descriptive story with enough depth of plot & characters to fully engage the reader & ensure interest in the next book in the series.
A game of chess plays out with action, intrique, and amusing moments peppered along it’s course
A great story of subterfuge with interesting characters, action, and amusement thrown in
Great read
Enthralling and brilliant. Can thoroughly recommend.