Slow Horses

This was a great book to get snowed in with. It's a classic British spy novel set in modern times when we have Islamophobia and ISIS, suicide bombings and hatred of immigrants. The spies who are the focus of the story have all screwed up in some way and been demoted to Slough House, where they are known as slow horses. Their boss is Jackson Lamb, who had a career as a field agent, but who now seems to be an overweight, ill-tempered, washed up has-been. They spend their time on tedious assignments that are designed to demoralise them to the point that they quit of their own accord, sparing the Secret Service the hassle of firing them. Through a series of seemingly unrelated events, the slow horses get drawn into investigating the kidnapping and impending broadcast execution of a young man.

Slow Horses is well written and darkly funny. It has intricate subplots, misdirection, clever wordplay, and political strategy, all of which make it fun to follow the story, but also a little bit hard. It was really an enjoyable book. I didn't realize it was the first of a series when I picked it up, but now I feel I need to read the second.