Slow Horses

Enjoyed reading this book really got into characters and look forward to next book

Really enjoyed this spy novel, a genre I like to read, and will definitely, with haste, seek out more in the series. Too bad the TV adaptation is on a subscription service I don't have or I'd be keen to check that out too.

What happens to Spooks who mess up?

"You know why they call this Slough House?"
"Yes."
"Because it might as well be in-"
"In Slough. Yes. And I know what they call us, too."
"They call us slow Horses"...

The story hangs round this interesting premise, full of twists & turns in the vein of Le Carré the Master. Characters come at you quick and fast in short bursts of narrative, imitative of a screenplay. Confusing at first, worth sticking with as we follow our Slow Horses to a satisfactory conclusion.

If the novel calls to mind Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, there's a bit of Len Deighton in the mix too, with weary cynicism and dry humour. I enjoyed, too, what I'm sure is a dig at our current PM. A proper page-turner.

There was a mixed review for this book. Members either loved it or didnt. The premiss of the storyline was that the agents involved were inadequate in their roles as agents. The story line was predictable but still kept your interest. Some of the Characters were likable, and as the story progressed you found out how their lives were intertwined
it is well written and is also a part of a series of books, which some of the group are going on to read

I am not a fan of thrillers generally and so wasn’t very keen when this was given out at our book group, saying that, I did work my way through it and found it was overall a good read. River Cartwright was a good main character and I could see the effort the author had gone to make the world of spies feel down to earth and relatable and I found this an interesting part of the story as this was made the characters more real. The characters were good and made the story unpredictable. I did enjoy this more than I thought I would but I admit I probably will not be reading any more.

This book had mixed reviews from the group. Most of liked the descriptions of the characters, but found the plot bit slow in places. Some people didn't like all the bad language, and found it a too violent in places
We all felt it was a mix of John le Carre, Spooks and New Tricks tv shows.
Two of us like the book so much we have gone onto read the rest in the series

Slough House is where MI5 agents are deposited when they have messed up, a dumping ground for spies who have disgraced themselves in some way. The work they are given is tedious in the extreme, in the hope that they will leave and pursue a career elsewhere. However, most of them cannot envisage doing anything else and are determined to redeem themselves and be returned to the fold. River Cartwright is one of these failed spies and one day he sees just such an opportunity when Hassan, a young man, is abducted and his kidnappers threaten to behead him live online. At first it seems like a crime fuelled by racial hatred but something doesn‘t seem quite right to River and he starts investigating. Presiding over these failed spies is Jackson Lamb and both he and the other Slow Horses at Slough House eventually become involved in tackling this act of terrorism.

This is a great premise for a book - an office populated by highly trained espionage agents who have failed to live up to the exacting standards required of them and have been sidelined into performing the tedious and boring tasks that nobody else wants to do (the kind of tasks that would make reading a telephone directory seem exciting). And then their big chance arrives. So far, so good.

However, for me that is where the positive attributes stopped. The book was very disjointed and quite hard to follow. The narrative is written in small snippets and as it moves from one snippet to the next, the scene changes. I think I understand why it was adapted for TV because this is the way that screenplays work, jumping from one scene to the next constantly. However, I did not want to read a screenplay and at times it did feel as though this is what I was doing. However, I don’t think that this was the only issue. I only know one person who has watched the TV adaptation and their comment was that it started with a bang but lost momentum in the middle. To some extent the book does the same but the fragmented nature of the narrative probably mitigated the initial “bang”, reducing it to a bit of a pop. All in all I was just a bit bored with the book and it felt like a long, hard, slog to reach the end.
The character development was also sadly lacking. There are too many characters to get to grips with and even by the end of the book I’m not sure I could have identified them all individually – they were all just a bit featureless.
I also struggled to follow the plot but I suspect this is more to do with me than the author – I have the same problem when reading John Le Carre and watching Mission Impossible on TV (I suspect I’m showing my age there, but it was complicated!).

All in all I cannot honestly say that I would recommend this book and will not be jumping through hoops to read more by this author.

I must disclose that this isn't my 'normal' genre of book. However, despite an interesting premise, focusing on a number of 'misfit' intelligence staff who for various reasons have been 'sent to Coventry' (or in this case Slough House), I found this book very dull, and it took me a very long time to bring myself to finish it. Sorry, not for me, although some in our book Club did enjoy it.

Where do the spies go when they leave classified folders behind on the bus or make a mistake that potentially allows a terrorist to blow himself up taking 34 casulties with him? They end up in Slough House. A department where they are as far away from any action and as boring as being in Slough. This dumping ground is run by Jackson Lamb who is a crude, rude and disgusting man.
When a Muslim student comedian is kidnapped, things become interesting for them. This John le Carre style spy novel is well written and very twisty turny. The characters are interesting and the plots/subplots with governmental overrtones and well thought out. I loved the way that the reader had to think for themselves and nothing was absolutely black and white or tied up with a neat little bow.
I would highly recommend this page turner to anyone. Once started it is hard to put down. Read and enjoy.

I went into this book expecting a murky John Le Carré-esque spy thriller and I got exactly what I hoped for (although I will say that I've only ever seen adaptations of Le Carré's work without having read the source material). The story follows a group of MI5 agents sent to Slough House, a department where nothing important is accomplished and a dumping ground for all the people the agency would rather forget about. They're a fascinating mix of characters, all vividly presented in three dimensions and all desperate for something to do and to escape their purgatory. As a teenager is abducted, many of them find themselves pulled into action again, with all the intrigue and danger which accompanies it.

The real unexpected delight of this book is the department head, Jackson Lamb. He's such an unusual presence, at times crude and uncaring, at others coarse and abrasive, but always formidable and not without his own strange brand of charm. He refuses to give motivational speeches to spur on his staff, demeans them terribly, yet still somehow inspires.

In spite of its title, it’s a fast-paced book. I loved it and I'm planning on reading the sequel as soon as I can get my hands on it!

A clever and unusual plot, set in the hidden world of espionage and politics. All the story twists and turns were fascinating, and I loved the droll and dark humorous writing. River is an appealingly flawed and very human central character. I can't wait to read the rest of the series.

Slow moving and sometimes hard to follow at times almost to the point where I felt like giving up. However I thought it warmed up and got quite exciting towards the end. Not sure that I would read any more in this series as I didn’t really engage with any of the characters.

The book revolves around a M15 operative who after a mess-up on a case ends up in Slough House which is where the disgraced spooks end up being assigned to.
The main character Jackson Lamb and his misfit team investigate the kidnapping of a young man who is about to be beheaded on live t.v. The team need to find the kidnapped man, figure out who and what this young man is in connection to a journialist and why Jacksons bosses want to just pretend this kidnapping isnt happening.
Jackson Lamb is wanting to restore his reputation in the world of M15 and is hoping that solving this case will do that.
I personally found the book a very slow burner and by the time the action got going half way through this novel I'd lost interest.