Slough House

The bestselling thrillers that inspired the hit Apple TV+ show Slow Horses (Slough House Thriller 7)

By: Mick Herron

Narrated by: Sean Barrett

*Now an award-winning Apple TV+ series starring Gary Oldman, Kristin Scott Thomas and Jack Lowden*

*THE INSTANT SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER*
***WINNER OF THE THEAKSTON OLD PECULIER CRIME NOVEL OF THE YEAR 2022***

'A gripping thriller' Ian Rankin

****

Slough House - the crumbling office building to which failed spies, the 'slow horses', are banished - has been wiped from secret service records.

Reeling from recent losses in their ranks, the slow horses are worried they've been pushed further into the cold, and fatal accidents keep happening.

With a new populist movement taking a grip on London's streets, the aftermath of a blunder by the Russian secret service that left a British citizen dead, and the old order ensuring that everything's for sale to the highest bidder, the world's an uncomfortable place for those deemed surplus to requirements. The wise move would be to find a safe place and wait for the troubles to pass.

But the slow horses aren't famed for making wise decisions.

'The most completely realised espionage universe since that peopled by George Smiley' The Times

'An absolute tour-de-force' Sunday Express

(P)2021 Hodder & Stoughton Limited©2021 Mick Herron

Critic reviews

I can report that the new Mick Herron novel, Slough House, is as eye-wateringly funny as it is nerve-shreddingly tense. I think this might be the best Jackson Lamb outing yet, and that's taking it above a very high benchmark

This is a darker, scarier Herron. The gags are still there but the satire's more biting. The privatization of a secret service op and the manipulation of news is relevant and horribly credible

Mick Herron is one of the finest writers of his generation

An excellent writer

[Slough House] is the best yet. The jokes are frequent and good, the pacing first rate, and the plot pieces, the moves and countermoves, snap as satisfyingly into place as anything I've read in the genre.

Herron has certainly devised the most completely realised espionage universe since that peopled by George Smiley...What Herron has actually been writing is a modern sit-com. This is "the Office" (as insiders refer to MI6) as The Office, half-complete with the Slough setting.

[Jackson Lamb] Herron's glorious creation propels the story to the bitter end where the non-stop barrage of jokes is fatally undercut by a final shocking twist.

I'll tell you what, to have been lucky enough to play Smiley in one's career; and now go and play Jackson Lamb in Mick Herron's novels - the heir, in a way, to le Carre - is a terrific thing.

Wish I could give it more than 5 stars

Quite comfortably the best thing I have listened to in years. Humour is magnificent surpassing even the TV series. Performed impeccably

Engrossing and completely entertaining

This series feels in many ways like the inheritance from John Le Carre because it has many similarities of style, plotting, setting, cynicism, pacing and realism. But MH definitely does it all very, very well and with such humour that he is creating what seems a wholly original genre. Hard to stop listening.

Another awesome addition.

Very enjoyable listen, Mick Herron never lets me down. I have never been a person to read or in this case listen to a whole series one after the other, but in this case I have not been able to put any of them down. I will quietly await another adventure with the Slow Horses. Sean Barrett you are a true legend, and make Jackson Lamb and the other characters three dimensional. If you read this review, join the team and enjoy the journey.

Spies – smart, and deluded

Mick Herron writes great stories, but
If his books are small miracles it’s because of his virtuosity in telling them. I dare anybody to read or listen to just 10 minutes without being delighted.

Everything You Could Want But Doubted You'd Find.

A tour de force rendition by an actor at the top of his game; a labyrinthine plot that you can't put down and nail-biting action thrown in. What more could you ask for. Excellent!