Joe Country
The bestselling thrillers that inspired the hit Apple TV+ show Slow Horses (Slough House Thriller 6)
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4.4 • 423 Ratings
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- £5.99
Publisher Description
*Now an award-winning Apple TV+ series starring Gary Oldman, Kristin Scott Thomas and Jack Lowden*
*THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER*
'Sets a new bar for spy fiction' Financial Times
****
In Slough House, the backwater for failed spies, memories are stirring, all of them bad.
Catherine Standish is buying booze again, Louisa Guy is raking over the ashes of lost love, and new recruit Lech Wicinski, whose sins make him outcast even among the slow horses, is determined to discover who destroyed his career, even if he tears his life apart in the process.
With winter taking its grip Jackson Lamb would sooner be left brooding in peace, but even he can't ignore the dried blood on his carpets. So when the man responsible for killing a slow horse breaks cover at last, Lamb sends his crew out to even the score.
This time, they're heading into joe country. And they're not all coming home.
'The go-to author for British espionage' Guardian
'Bitingly intelligent, light of touch and frequently hilarious' Observer
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Herron's enjoyable sixth Slough House novel (after 2018's London Rules) offers a jaundiced look at espionage in the Brexit age. Jackson Lamb is in charge of Slough House, the decrepit London building where MI5 operatives end up because of a botched mission, alcohol abuse, or simply stepping on the wrong toes. At one point, Lamb tells his crew of misfits: "You lot keep your heads down, do what you're told, and quietly die of boredom, and everyone's happy as an Oxfam worker at a sex party. But start making waves and there are shit storms waiting to happen." Lamb is proven right when Louisa Guy, one of his staff, is contacted by Clare, the widow of Min Harper, Louisa's former colleague and lover. Clare asks Louisa to find her missing 17-year-old son, Lucas. This simple task turns into a deadly game of blackmail, treachery, and spy vs. spy, played out in the freezing Welsh countryside. Droll dialogue, characters who wear their foibles proudly, and observations on the politics of potential vested interest in national security keep the pages turning. Herron solidifies his place as one of Britain's top spy novelists.
Customer Reviews
Best Lamb yet!
Don’t know if it’s just because this is the first of the Slough House novels that I’ve read without seeing a tv adaptation of it first or not, but I think this could be the best one to date!
A cracking read
The review title says it all!
Excellent.
An enjoyable romp well up to the standard; Joe Country doesn’t disappoint.
No spoilers; duplicity at high levels, a mixture of heroics and incompetence at lower levels. In between sits Jackson Lamb knowing, manipulative and protective, and farting.
Well written the snow feels as real as the danger. The cadence is perfect with the switch between scenes a cliff hanger.
My one question, why does it make me want to work at Slough House?