Slow Horses
Ratings72
Average rating3.9
15
Ratings72
Average rating3.9
Soon to be an Apple TV+ series starring Gary Oldman and Kristin Scott Thomas. Welcome to the thrilling and unnervingly prescient world of the slow horses. This team of MI5 agents is united by one common bond: They've screwed up royally and will do anything to redeem themselves. This special tenth-anniversary deluxe edition of a modern classic includes a foreword by the author, discussion questions for book clubs, and an exclusive short story featuring the slow horses. London, England: Slough House is where washed-up MI5 spies go to while away what’s left of their failed careers. The “slow horses,” as they’re called, have all disgraced themselves in some way to get relegated there. Maybe they botched an Op so badly they can’t be trusted anymore. Maybe they got in the way of an ambitious colleague and had the rug yanked out from under them. Maybe they just got too dependent on the bottle—not unusual in this line of work. One thing they have in common, though, is they want to be back in the action. And most of them would do anything to get there─even if it means having to collaborate with one another. When a young man is abducted and his kidnappers threaten to broadcast his beheading live on the Internet, the slow horses see an opportunity to redeem themselves. But is the victim really who he appears to be?
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8 primary books11 released booksSlough House is a 12-book series with 8 primary works first released in 2010 with contributions by Mick Herron.
Reviews with the most likes.
When I'm anticipating a movie or tv show coming out that's based on a book, I'll often try to read it first as I find seeing the story I've just read visualized is an interesting experience.
In this case, I had watched and really enjoyed the first season of the show before I started reading, which covers this book in is entirety, and is pretty darn faithful to it.
So while listening to this audiobook, I found myself in a weird position of generally just picturing the scenes from the show more than actually engaging with the writing, I think? It's hard to say how much I got out of the book itself.
Still, I'm a sucker for this type of story and the characters and quippy dialogue is a lot of fun. I'll definitely be watching more of the show and I'll try to figure out if/when to read the books.
What if James Bond was a bored, fat, semi-retired spy who doesn't trust anyone. Begrudgingly leading a small team of ex-spies who, like him, are punished for having fucked up, they turn out to be smarter and more resourceful than their career-obsessed former colleagues. There's a kidnapping to be solved, but it's mostly the characters, their interconnected backstories and the complex web of office politics that makes it a page-turner
Veddy British, a little depressing, some nice flashes of writing and a bit tedious.
Very entertaining. Full of dark humor and wry wit. Le Carré if le Carré had a sense of humor and was 30% less depressed.
