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Slow Horses author has just released the latest book in the series
The critically acclaimed TV show returns on 24 September
Challenging the tropes of the spy world, Mick Herron’s Slough House book series follows secret intelligence officers banished to desk work owing to bad behaviour. Dubbed “slow horses” by their peers, they’re prone to leaving top-secret documents on trains and chasing down the wrong bad guys.
The first novel, Slow Horses, was published in 2010 – but it didn’t creep into the bestseller charts until years later. Herron has since penned eight more novels in the series, with the latest just released.
The series has reached a whole new audience thanks to the Apple TV+ adaptation starring Gary Oldman as the dishevelled, mildly alcoholic leader of Slough House, Jackson Lamb. Oldman stars in the show alongside Kristen Scott Thomas as MI5’s deputy director Diana Taverner and Jack Lowden as River Cartwright, an ambitious but naive field agent. Each season of the critically acclaimed show is based on a different book in Herron’s series, with season five dropping on 24 September.
The winning spy thriller formula follows disgraced, embarrassed and failed agents as they become accidentally embroiled in various espionage operations, high-profile assassinations and political conspiracies. The spy plots are as good as Ian Fleming's or John Le Carre’s storylines, but the black comedy is as sharp as The White Lotus or The Studio.
The latest novel, Clown Town, picks up where the last tome left off. Cartwright is still sidelined from the field, Taverner is pulling political strings behind the scenes and Lamb is determined to expose career-ending MI5 secrets. Here’s everything you need to know.
'Clown Town' by Mick Herron, published by Baskerville
The 10th book in the Slough House series, Clown Town, begins with Cartwright waiting to hear if he’s allowed back on active duty. In the meantime, he delves into his late grandfather’s library to find clues about his mysterious past in the secret service.
Meanwhile, Taverner is resorting to blackmail for political gain and Lamb is forced to recruit a band of misfits at Slough House to foil her plans.
Read the full Slough House series in order
'Slow Horses' by Mick Herron, published by Baskerville
The first book in the Slough House series, Slow Horses, introduces us to the cast of misfits. Slough House is the office where disgraced spies are sent, tasked with boring admin rather than active duty. Though dubbed slow horses for various reasons (being drunk, drugs or plain failure), the ex-spies are more capable than the MI5 chooses to acknowledge.
'Dead Lions' by Mick Herron, published by Baskerville
The second book in the Slough House series opens with Lamb finding a retired spy dead on a bus. The two were operating in Berlin together before the wall came down – while he was an obvious target for assassination then, he isn’t now. As Lamb investigates, he uncovers a Soviet era-style operation being run in the UK – and is he the next target?
'Real Tigers' by Mick Herron, published by Baskerville
The third novel in the series centres on Catherine Standish, who's worked in MI5 long enough to understand it's a perilous place to be. When she’s kidnapped by a former soldier, the slow horses attempt a daring rescue mission.
'Spook Street' Mick Herron, published by Baskerville
The book that inspired the critically acclaimed season four of the Apple TV adaptation, Spook Street, deals with the aftermath of a devastating bomb detonation in a London shopping centre. Naturally, the slow horses are drawn into the investigation, where terrorism is just as much of a threat as old secrets in the service.
'London Rules' by Mick Herron, published by Baskerville
In London Rules, which the upcoming TV series is based on, Lamb’s team gets entangled in a plot involving coordinated terrorist attacks. As MI5 attempt to find the culprits, the slow horses uncover a deeper conspiracy involving political manipulation – and chaos, of course, ensues.
'Joe Country' by Mick Herron, published by Baskerville
The sixth book in the series, Joe Country, sees a former colleague of the slow horses asking for their help to find a missing teenager. Their search takes them deep into the snowy countryside of Wales, face-to-face with age-old enemies and forced to reckon with unresolved secrets from operations in the past.
'Slough House' by Mick Herron, published by Baskerville
Against a backdrop of a growing populist movement in London, several members of the Slough House team vanish. As Lamb tracks down whoever is targeting his band of misfits, Russian hit teams and political protests are around every corner. After the death of his grandfather, Cartwright is grappling with his own demons.
'Bad Actors' by Mick Herron, published by Baskerville
The eighth book in Herron’s series, Bad Actors, sees the slow horses once again drawn into a web of intrigue when a key government advisor disappears. A trusted MI5 officer is tasked with tracking them down, but all paths lead to Taverner at HQ.
The Thursday Murder Club is now on Netflix – here’s how to read the books in order