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  • Slow Horses

  • Slough House, Book 1
  • By: Mick Herron
  • Narrated by: Sean Barrett
  • Length: 9 hrs and 44 mins
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars (3,117 ratings)
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Slow Horses cover art

Slow Horses

By: Mick Herron
Narrated by: Sean Barrett
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Summary

Slough House is Jackson Lamb’s kingdom; a dumping ground for members of the intelligence service who’ve screwed up: left a secret file on a train, blown surveillance, or become drunkenly unreliable. They’re the service’s poor relations – the slow horses – and bitterest among them is River Cartwright, whose days are spent transcribing mobile phone conversations. But when a young man is abducted, and it’s threatened that he’ll be beheaded live on the Internet, River sees an opportunity to redeem him.

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 involved has their own agenda….

©2010 Mick Herron (P)2010 Isis Publishing Ltd

What listeners say about Slow Horses

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
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    2,122
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Story
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  • 3 Stars
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  • 2 Stars
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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

London Rules. The complexities of Joes and suits.

Sean Barrett has the perfect London voice for this story. A beautiful labyrinthine mix of emotional cruelty and self-serving power brokers plus all the bickering sarcasm a good writer can fashion into a fascinating story. The characters are drawn in depth in a prose style Le Carre would be proud of though here the Smiley character has the manners of an ageing delinquent.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

New find...

...and thoroughly loving this opener to the Slough House series. Fast paced, well informed, and addictivley etertaining.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

A real cracker

Great spy story brilliantly narrated (as ever) by Sean Barrett. Different theme from the usual and really exciting. Only slight negative is the one common with audio books with many characters in that it is harder to remember who is who unlike when you see the name on a page. That aside if you want an engaging spy romp without gratuitous violence and overblown Bond style action then I highly recommend this book.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

gripping and fast pace

brilliantly read bringing all the characters to life especially jackson Lamb looking forward to the next book

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Worthy of John le Carré!

First Mick Herron book I have listened to, and best book I have listened to, or read, in years.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

I could write an essay on everything I loved in this book

WHAT I EXPECTED:
An expertly written spy thriller from a master writer in the espionage fiction world.

WHAT I GOT:
Exactly that what I expected and more. Slow Horses is a triple threat. A full and brilliantly realised cast of characters, a gripping, believable plot and high quality writing - with one liners I’m still talking to my friends about.

WHAT WAS MISSING:
I can’t think of anything that was missing here, thoroughly enjoyed all of it.

WHAT I LOVED:
I could write an essay on everything I loved but if I had to say just two, it’d be the character of Jackson Lamb and the dynamic of his team. How Mick has managed to make me root for Lamb, this man who is a smart grumpy washed up spook with no manners, still baffles me. Also his team are fascinating. I was invested in each member and why they ended up at Slough House. The dynamic of how a bunch of washed out, self-interested spooks, few of whom like each other, work together, makes for brilliant reading. Highly recommend this book.

WHAT THE NARRATOR WAS:
Marvellous, Sean Barrett made all the characters really come through the speakers. I prefer a faster reading, but he sounds just as good at 1.4x speed as regular speed! A great casting choice who completely does justice to the story.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Underdog spies

Underdog spies...well paced and nicely read. Details that made me feel this possibly had a grain of truth.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Well paced spy thriller

Some good characters, typically unbelievable plot which is par for the course in this genre, but well written, well paced and well read. Will definitely listen to more of the series.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Superb in every way.

Page turning plot, interesting and well drawn characters, brilliant narration. A thriller to match or even surpass Jo Nesbo. Pleasure from start to finish.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

slow horses

it took three attempts to get into this book but once in it riveting


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