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Slough House

The bestselling thrillers that inspired the hit Apple TV+ show Slow Horses (Slough House Thriller 7)

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About this listen

 *Now an award-winning Apple TV+ series starring Gary Oldman, Kristin Scott Thomas and Jack Lowden*

*THE INSTANT SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER*
***WINNER OF THE THEAKSTON OLD PECULIER CRIME NOVEL OF THE YEAR 2022***

'A gripping thriller' Ian Rankin

****

Slough House - the crumbling office building to which failed spies, the 'slow horses', are banished - has been wiped from secret service records.

Reeling from recent losses in their ranks, the slow horses are worried they've been pushed further into the cold, and fatal accidents keep happening.

With a new populist movement taking a grip on London's streets, the aftermath of a blunder by the Russian secret service that left a British citizen dead, and the old order ensuring that everything's for sale to the highest bidder, the world's an uncomfortable place for those deemed surplus to requirements. The wise move would be to find a safe place and wait for the troubles to pass.

But the slow horses aren't famed for making wise decisions.

'The most completely realised espionage universe since that peopled by George Smiley' The Times

'An absolute tour-de-force' Sunday Express

(P)2021 Hodder & Stoughton Limited©2021 Mick Herron Crime Thrillers Espionage Political Spies & Politics Suspense Thriller Thriller & Suspense Crime Fiction Exciting Witty England Russia

Critic reviews

I can report that the new Mick Herron novel, Slough House, is as eye-wateringly funny as it is nerve-shreddingly tense. I think this might be the best Jackson Lamb outing yet, and that's taking it above a very high benchmark
This is a darker, scarier Herron. The gags are still there but the satire's more biting. The privatization of a secret service op and the manipulation of news is relevant and horribly credible
Mick Herron is one of the finest writers of his generation
An excellent writer
[Slough House] is the best yet. The jokes are frequent and good, the pacing first rate, and the plot pieces, the moves and countermoves, snap as satisfyingly into place as anything I've read in the genre.
Herron has certainly devised the most completely realised espionage universe since that peopled by George Smiley...What Herron has actually been writing is a modern sit-com. This is "the Office" (as insiders refer to MI6) as The Office, half-complete with the Slough setting.
[Jackson Lamb] Herron's glorious creation propels the story to the bitter end where the non-stop barrage of jokes is fatally undercut by a final shocking twist.
I'll tell you what, to have been lucky enough to play Smiley in one's career; and now go and play Jackson Lamb in Mick Herron's novels - the heir, in a way, to le Carre - is a terrific thing.
All stars
Most relevant
Slough House is a gripping addition to the series which exercises the full range of emotions and provides the cliffhanger ending which guarantees that I will listen to the next installment.

To my mind Sean Barrett is Jackson Lamb as Alec Guinness is George Smiley.

Read the books including the novellas, in sequence, for maximum impact.

Gloriously incorrect!

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Having looked forward to its release for months, there is always a worry that Mr Herron will be unable to keep up the excellence of the series.
Happily the worry was unjustified and, consumed in just 2 inexorably hilarious and enjoyable sittings, Slough House matches and exceeds every expectation.
Every Jackson Lamb utterance invokes the uncontrollable, tell-tale titter which, in pre-Covid times; when being enjoyed, for example, on public transport; produces strange looks from fellow travellers.
This latest helping is pure genius.
I'm off to re-listen to it all again.

Unputdownable!

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Perfectly narrated by Sean Barrett, Jackson Lamb’s jokes and the interplay between slough House characters make this my favourite. Added to this, the plot is less complex but still gripping which I prefer.

Loved it! Less complex, more fun dialogue

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I deliberately saved this book to listen to and I was not disappointed. I love the character of Jackson Lamb and think he is voiced brilliantly. I listen to my books to and from work and have laughed out loud in so many places. The other characters are so well written too that they are easy to visualise. I'm very tempted to listen again to all the novels in the series.

As brilliant as ever!

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Absolutely brilliant episode! Some laugh out loud moments but also deeply moving and serious.

Brilliant

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