Maybe the best book I've read this year

Dialogue, characters, plot - perfect. Totally believable. I started watching the show before reading this, so I already had a picture in my mind of the characters. But it turned out okay. ( )

What's not to love about a bunch of underdogs surviving in the cut-throat world of British intelligence? I don't usually read spy fiction, but after watching the TV series I had to read the book to find out how the dramatisation compared to the book. It took me a little while (the first chapter) to get used to the writing style, as I'm not used to short and choppy sentences; but once used to it, I had to admit that this device works very well in this instance.

As has been remarked elsewhere, the programme follows the source material very closely, but I still appreciated the extra details and nuances you get with the characters. The slow horses in particular are extremely well drawn and show real depth, and there are some great comedic moments, usually involving Jackson Lamb. I just loved the dialogue, which positively fizzes! Even though I already knew the plot, the book still proved to be a page-turner. And although Hassan Ahmed spends most of his time bound and gagged, I was surprised by how much Mick Herron makes him appear a central character rather than a passive participant.

I will definitely continue the series, even though I already know the general plot outline. ( )

My parents have a sixty-year-old copy of "For Your Eyes Only" kicking around the house someplace, but "Slow Horses" is the first real-deal spy novel I've ever read. I don't really know how to judge it, but I'll go so far as to say that Herron's hook is effective. There aren't any shaken-not-stirred martinis or any Aston Martins, and nobody in this book is an exemplar of graceful-but-hypercompetent masculinity. Everyone is Slough House has ruined their prospects, and they all resemble pencil-pushers hanging on to good-enough office jobs just for the salary, the benefits, and, maybe, to have something to do with their lives. All the society ills that affect workers outside of MI5 -- alcoholism, depression, apathy -- are present here. Even the building in which Slough House is based -- which other spies avoid at all costs -- is falling apart, an potential allegory, one can't help but suspect, for post-Brexit Britain. The residents of Slough House -- the slow horses -- are losers, and not all of them are really lovable, either.

There are certainly parts of "Slow Horses" that resemble genre writing: there are more than enough chases and twists here. But Herron digs deeper into his characters than he might have strictly needed to. Most of the residents of Slough House, especially resident tech genius Roderick Ho, have turned their investigative skills on each other. They spend much of the novel wondering what it was exactly that condemned their fellow inmates to this godforsaken place. In this they resemble residents of Hell trying to guess at what mortal sin kept them out of heaven. Still, Herron tells their stories with some pathos: some trusted the wrong co-workers, other developed addictions, and some committed grave errors. Some of the Slough House's residents are obviously to blame for their fates, but others are there because of bad luck, or bad circumstances, or bad friends. It could have happened to anyone. If thrillers are supposed to be propelled by logic and logic and detective work, I found Herron's slightly woolier approach very pleasing indeed. As for the plot, which I know I'm supposed to care about, too, that was fine: well-paced, artfully executed, and bloody and dangerous enough to keep me on edge. My sister bought the entire series for my dad, but I doubt he'll get to them. They should make fine summer reading. After reading Herron, I rather wonder if I'll ever make it back to James Bond. ( )

Slow Horses, Mick Herron, author; Gerard Doyle, narrator
Slough House is the place where fallen intelligence agents land. It is run by a curmudgeon, named Jackson Lamb. Everyone assigned there has a story to tell and a secret. Their story is one of failure, of an error in judgment, either intentional or unintentional; it is a story of mistakes that are sometimes not of their own making. The reason for their banishment doesn’t matter, only the result, only the mistake. Once written, it can never be erased.
The “higher-ups” at MI5, the ones who pull the weight, they are all schemers. They always have a plan, a way out to protect their image or an escape to start a new life. They are the masters of cover-ups and frame-ups and also the victims of same.
When an MI5 agent makes an unforgivable mistake, even in a training exercise, he is tossed into Slough House where he will remain until he withers away. He will bide his time doing nothing important, pushing paper, until he retires or quits. The slow horses of Slough House are essentially banished from the hierarchy of intelligence work, the only thing that means anything to them. Often, they do act like the Keystone Cops, but most often, they want to do the right thing. Some of them don’t even know why they have been placed at the end of the rope, but they are so demoralized by their demotion to Slough House that they are easily compromised and can be persuaded to engage in a cover-up that will compromise others, though unfairly. They justify their collusion by their need to feel like an integral part of the intelligence industry again, or to prevent being tossed from it on to the garbage heap of history. They know that they are just being used, but they are using the system to survive in it, as well.
When a seemingly random teenager, Hassan, who turns out not to be a random teenager, disappears for what seems to be no apparent reason, other than terrorists wanting to make a point, MI5 is drawn into the investigation. Somehow, defying reality, so is Slough House. Can any reader guess the reason? I did not, at first, but some of you may be wiser.
Anyway, the teen is threatened with beheading in 48 hours, but no demands are made for his release, so the fear is that it will occur no matter what. When it turns out that he is related to a person of some stature, the intensity of the investigation increases. River Cartwright, was also seemingly chosen for failure at random, but It turns out that there is more to his story than meets the eye, as well. Framed by his friend known as “spider”, he watches own star fade as Spider’s rises. For some reason, River suspects that this teen has been caught up in an op being conducted by the agency in order to create positive publicity which will occur when they sweep in and rescue the teenager unharmed. Which genius thought up that plan?
When the plot thickens and bodies pile up, the plan goes awry. Who lives and who dies becomes irrelevant as nothing seems more important than the cleanup and coverup since the teen might not survive, after all. How have both River and Hassan’s lives been challenged or enhanced by a powerful relative? Does clout play an important role in their lives? Are they both inherently good people? Is justice ever done and do we ever really learn the whole truth about the events in our lives that have the power to alter the trajectory we travel?
Slough House is inhabited by the “slow horses”, called that because they are thought not to be bright enough to serve the needs of the agency, but are not bad enough to be fired, so they are farmed out to pasture in the hope that they will quit.
The dialogue in the book is rich with humor, and if the world today wasn’t spinning out of control with conspiracy theories that turned out to be true, created by the “higher-ups” with clout, it would be even funnier to us than it is.
When the reader realizes that the losers rise to the occasion, wanting to do the right thing, as the winners sink to lower and lower levels of chicanery and dishonesty, the hypocrisy is exposed, but it is revealed with so much humor behind it as if even though the good are more evil than those believed to be evil, it is no big deal. In the end, the ship will right itself.
In the world today, does the same situation and atmosphere exist? There are so many who are thumbing their nose at people they believe are less virtuous than they are, yet those same people with their noses in the air, lack any virtue whatsoever. This is a book to read and enjoy. With its many themes, it is also a book to ponder and discuss afterwards. Betrayals are commonplace, backroom deals are the norm, and survival is the end game. Is what we see or what we are told to see more true or more false? Is the absolute entire truth ever told? ( )

Read along with the TV show. Very good spy novel. ( )