A review by wintrovia
Slow Horses by Mick Herron

4.0

I read this book after watching the superb TV adaptation but wish I had done it the other way around. The book is very good but my enjoyment was somewhat tarnished by the images from the televised version already being present and stopping me from building my own story world as I read. So it felt a bit like a novelisation of a TV series despite the book coming first. Completely my fault and nothing to do with the quality of the writing but, I suppose a compliment of how faithful the TV series recreated this novel. The story is centred around the grubby world of Slough House, an offshoot office of MI5 for washed out losers from the secret service to be put out to pasture where they can't do any harm. Only they then get pulled into a conspiracy involving the far-right and the upper echelon's of MI5 and the British Government. It's a fast-paced and well thought through story which sets up the world nicely for future entries in the series. I'm looking forward to reading more, this time I'll be sure to read ahead of the TV series.