Slow Horses [Hardcover]

Mick Herron (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1, 2010

Praise for Mick Herron:

"Mick Herron never tells a suspense story in the expected way. . . . In Herron's book, there is no hiding under the desk."—The New York Times Book Review

"Stylish and engaging."—The Washington Post

"[A] masterful thriller. . . . The intricate plot, coupled with Herron's breezy writing style, results in superior entertainment that makes most other novels of suspense appear dull and slow-witted by comparison."—Publishers Weekly, starred review

"Like a good movie . . . grabs the reader from the first page."—Booklist, starred review

Slough House is a dumping ground for British intelligence agents who’ve screwed up a case in any number of ways—by leaving a secret file on a train or blowing a surveillance. River Carter, one such “slow horse,” is bitter about his failure and about his tedious assignment transcribing cell phone conversations.

When a young man is abducted and his kidnappers threaten to broadcast his beheading 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 has his own agenda.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Banished to London's Slough House—the junkyard for disgraced MI5 agents—for botching a high-profile training exercise, River Cartwright spends his days sifting through garbage and transcribing phone conversations in Herron's riveting spy thriller. His boss, Jackson Lamb, who governs Slough House as if it's his own kingdom, makes sure the slow horses know they'll never get back to high-profile work at Regent's Park. River, bored with his tedious assignments, discovers that one of his fellow agents has been lifting information from Robert Hobden, a well-known journalist. When a Muslim teenager is kidnapped and a video promising to decapitate him appears online, River wonders if it's connected to Hobden, who has ties to the extremist British Patriotic Party. Herron (Smoke & Whispers) avoids the easy cliché of misfits banding together to right a wrong, instead painting his slow horses as complex characters who are just as fallible as their faster counterparts. (June)
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From Booklist

Slough House is an “administrative oubliette” for British intelligence. Spooks who have screwed up in a big way are assigned there, and no one has ever been returned to real service. In spook speak, the denizens of Slough House are Slow Horses, objects of scorn, “fridge magnets.” River Cartwright, the ostensible protagonist of this crackling good spy thriller-farce, wants to be the first Slow Horse to force his own resurrection to MI5, and he sees his chance when an apparently inept right-wing group kidnaps a Pakistani youth and threatens to behead him on a live webcast. Saying more about the plot might spoil the fun. Herron’s sixth novel is filled with acidic wit and engaging misdirection, and readers will need to adjust to his narrative style; but the rewards are great. Slow Horses is a fine thriller with enough suspense, double-dealing, and mayhem for thriller devotees; but it’s also a wonderfully funny, farcical, deeply cynical skewering of politics, bureaucrats, turf wars, and the Great Game. --Thomas Gaughan

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Soho Constable (June 1, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1569476438
• ISBN-13: 978-1569476437
• Product Dimensions: 5.8 x 1.3 x 8.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,073,879 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Slow Horses finish first in the end, July 18, 2011

By 

Glinda Good (Michigan) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Slow Horses (Hardcover)

The title points to the most important element of the novel -- the characters exiled to Slough House. Taken from active duty for a variety of reasons that range from performance to politically motivated ass-covering to nuisance relocation, the people who report for work at Slough House under the eagle-eye of Jackson Lamb are the skeleton of the story the plot is hung upon.

The synopsis provided by Publishers Weekly adequately outlines the plot of Slow Horses, and too much more would spoiler some parts of the novel that are best discovered slowly. While River Cartwright may be the first major character introduced, the story is as much about his fellow exiles finding new life and mission, and may ultimately be mostly about the canny, overweight, determined head of Slough House, Jackson Lamb.

I look forward to reading future novels by Mick Herron. I get the feeling that he's still working on the perfect balance of plot/character/action. He's very close to perfect with Slow Horses.