London's Slough House is where the washed-up MI5 spies go to while away what's left of their failed careers. The "slow horses," as they’re called, have all disgraced themselves in some way to get relegated here. Maybe they messed up an op badly and can't be trusted anymore. Maybe they got in the way of an ambitious colleague and had the rug yanked out from under them. Maybe they just got too dependent on the bottle—not unusual in this line of work. One thing they all have in common, though, is they all want to be back in the action. And most of them would do anything to get there─even if it means having to collaborate with one another.
Now the slow horses have a chance at redemption. An old Cold War-era spy is found dead on a bus outside Oxford, far from his usual haunts. The despicable, irascible Jackson Lamb is convinced Dickie Bow was murdered. As the agents dig into their fallen comrade's circumstances, they uncover a shadowy tangle of ancient Cold War secrets that seem to lead back to a man named Alexander Popov, who is either a Soviet bogeyman or the most dangerous man in the world. How many more people will have to die to keep those secrets buried?
Dead Lions, Mick Herron
Being quite a fan of the TV series SLOW HORSES, and all over the place with reading the books that make up the Slough House series I promised myself earlier in the year that I'd carve some time out to start reading (in some cases re-reading) from book 1. It's not going so well given that it's now heading into December, and I'm 2 books in.
Not because of any reluctance or reticence, simply because the reviewing piles are lurking loudly.
To be fair though, reading the books now, having seen the series up to the current release, it's hard not to see the actors, and hear their voices when reading. Which normally makes me twitch, but this time round just works. The books are obviously considerably more detailed, but it's turned out to be kind of like getting the full story over a beer at the pub after seeing the highlights played out just before. It's enjoyable. The books are really enjoyable in their own right, with a sly sense of humour, great pace, really good characters, and plots which are disarmingly believable, given the subject matter.
The washed up nature of Slough House's raison d'être is nicely done, the slow horses various and sometimes seemingly minor disgraces that have resulted in them being pushed to the outer edges of MI5 makes for a diverse cast of characters, as does, in DEAD LIONS in particular, that idea of a chance of redemption smelling very sweet indeed. This time when an old Cold-War-era spy found dead on a bus in Oxford, way outside his normal comfort zone, it's Jackson Lamb who smells murder, and leads his crew into an investigation that winds right back to a man named Alexander Popov who is either a Soviet strawman or a very dangerous person indeed. It's up to the Slow Horses crew to keep the body count manageable, and all of themselves, in particular upright.
Even without the TV version of these characters in your head, they are easy to get to know and like in these books - irascible, snippy, arrogant and/or a bit lost - they all feel very real, as does the put upon nature of their work, and their place of work - a scruffy non-descript place in a grey sort of location, in mostly grey weather, with whatever hope that's generated being pushed out from within.
I've really enjoyed those books of this series that I've had a chance to read, and I really really want to carve out a bit more time to keep going with this quest.