Slow Horses
by Mick Herron · first published 1705
86% recommend14% neutral
Why HN recommends it
Witty, fast-moving British spy fiction about washed-up MI5 agents exiled to Slough House; readers call it great fun and a strong match for the Apple TV adaptation, and good for spy-thriller fans or bedtime reading.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
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 dis
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I just read "Slow Horses" by Mike Herron. It's easily as good as the show on Apple TV and was lots of fun to read. I can't imagine anything more entertaining.
on “Reading for pleasure plummets by 40% in the US” ↗Mick Herron's "Slow Horses" series is fantastic, highly recommended. Slough House (from which the title) is where agents go when they fuck up. So everyone is flawed, and know they have failed. They're the ones who get a whiff of…
on “Re-reading the novels of John le Carré” ↗Herron's "Slow Horses" series, a total of eight books, is wonderful bedtime reading.
on “English cottage where John le Carré wrote Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy is for sale” ↗All of Mick Herron's Slow Horses books, after watching the first two series on Apple TV. By far the most fun spy fiction I've ever read. Rose/House, a novella from Arkady Martine, a surprisingly deep little murder mystery involving…
on “Ask HN: Books you read in 2023 and recommend for 2024” ↗If you enjoy Slow Horses, I highly recommend the book series it’s based on. I’m not sure if Mick Herron wrote the books with Gary Oldman in mind, but it’s the perfect Oldman character nonetheless. The show is quite a faithful…
on “Husband and wife outed as GRU spies aiding bombings and poisonings across Europe” ↗…his temper suspected him of political savvy, but by and large PJ seemed happy with the image he’d either fostered or been born with: a loose cannon with a floppy haircut and a bicycle. Herron, Mick. Slow Horses: The bestselling thrillers that inspired the hit Apple TV+ show Slow Horses (Slough House Thriller 1) (p. 187). (Function). Kindle Edition. That is a brilliant piece of characterisation, and if you know…
My wife and I have been reading aloud to each other for years. We worked through Anthony Doerr, Dumas, Eco. Eight or so of Louise Penny's Gamache books. Currently on book 5 of Mick Herron's Slow Horses. Since I'm learning French, I'm on my third Jules Verne (in French). Just to prove to myself that I'm not over the hill - I was born in the first half of the previous century.
on “Ask HN: What are you reading?” ↗