Thursday 10 September 2015

MICK HERRON - SLOW HORSES (2010)


Synopsis/blurb….

Let us be clear about this much at least: Slough House is not in Slough, nor is it a house...Slough House is Jackson Lamb's kingdom; a dumping ground for members of the intelligence service who've screwed up: left a secret file on a train, blown a surveillance, or become drunkenly unreliable. They're the service's poor relations - the slow horses - and bitterest among them is River Cartwright, whose days are spent transcribing mobile phone conversations. But when a young man is abducted, and it's threatened that he'll be beheaded live on the Internet, River sees an opportunity to redeem himself. Is the victim who he first appears to be? And what's the kidnappers' connection with a disgraced journalist? As the clock ticks on the execution, River finds that everyone involved has their own agenda ...And unless the slow horses can prove they're not as useless as they're thought to be, a young man's death is going to echo around the world.

Praise for Mick Herron:

'Mick Herron never tells a suspense story in the expected way, which is why his new novel, Reconstruction, reads as much like a puzzle mystery as it does a thriller ...unpleasant things are bound to happen, and they do - but not until Herron has finished surprising us . ..there is no hiding under the desk' - "New York Times".

'This is one of these novels where you read it, not just to see what happens at the end, but to see what happens on the very next page' - "Booklist".

'Good characterisation, dialogue and well-paced narrative make this confident first novel frighteningly plausible' - "Sunday Telegraph".

 'Tight, literary and cliche free' - "Publishers Weekly".

'Stylish and engaging' - "Washington Post".

I do like the espionage book…….intrigue, secrets, duplicity, danger, loners and consequences. This book just reaffirmed everything I love about this particular genre.

I could ramble on and reconstruct events and give a bit of the narrative, but I won’t. Suffice to say – absolutely bloody amazing. Character, plotting, pace……who is playing who here? 

Jackson Lamb is probably one of the most interesting characters I’ve read about all year. A fat washed up alcoholic has-been….or is there more than meets the eye? Candidate for most useless boss of the year, until his boss starts messing with his team.

Interesting evolution of the "slow horses" during the course of the book, from isolated and insular and separated from each other at the start, to actually working as a unit by the end. 

Dead Lions is the next in the Jackson Lamb – Slough House series. Can’t wait.

5 from 5


Mick Herron has a website here.

Bought copy – second hand a year or two ago.

TracyK at Bitter Tea and Mystery reviewed Slow Horses here



14 comments:

  1. You're the second one this week, Col, who's mentioned Mick Herron and his work. I think it must be a Sign that I should get more familiar with it than I am. Glad you enjoyed this.

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    1. If time allows Margot I would. I know you aren't the biggest fan of the espionage-esque novel, but I'd defy you not to enjoy this one!

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  2. I could not agree with you more, Col. This was a very good book. Thanks for linking to my post, and now I realize it has been a year since I read this one and I still haven't read Dead Lions. Maybe by the end of the year.

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    1. Too late to change your reading plans for the rest of 2015? Dead Lions coming soon.......ish!

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  3. I'm no great fan of the espionage genre, but this does sound like it's a lot of fun. If I see a copy I might well snaffle it . . .

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    1. I would recommend this, despite you not being a fan of the genre. I think the author may have had a bit of fun writing this one.

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  4. Mick Herron is definitely on my radar, and I have been meaning to read something by him for ages. Must get on with it... not sure which one to start with though.

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    1. I have other "non-Slough" books from him, untried of course, but I think you'd like these ones in particular. I'll have to read some of the others to give you a considered opinion.

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  5. Col, definitely like the title and that it refers to intel guys who did a bad job. Worth a read, I think.

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    1. I hope you can add it to your reading list and enjoy it sometime, Prashant.

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  6. Not a fan but glad you all have enjoyed his books. It is weird since I do enjoy a good espionage book. Moving right along, I guess. Hope everything is well with you, Col. I see your reading output continues to amaze me. Still somewhat burned out and busy these days myself.

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    1. Hiya Keishon, always good to see you stop by. Yes - I pretty much loved every word! I'm looking forward to the next in this series.
      All is good here. Mini reading slump - 1 book is 5 days! Haha.
      I hope things ease up for you soon. Try not to work too hard!

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    2. Finally got into a book late last night, David Goodis - Dark Passage. Have you read him? There's quite a few of his books available in e. So far, I like his writing style. I know Dark Passage was a Bogart/Bacall film and that's what made me locate the book.

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    3. Hmm, not yet. I know I have a few of his acquired in my more avaricious buying days, but not yet tried him shamefully....add him to the same list as Derek Raymond and even Agatha!

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