I recently watched season five of Slow Horses, the brilliant British spy thriller series based on Mick Herron's novels starring Gary Oldman. Saddened that it will be another year before the next season airs, I wondered how many books there are in the series and how long I may have to enjoy it. Herron has just published his ninth Slow Horses novel, Clown Town (2025), so there are thankfully a few seasons left. When my googling led me to a boxed set of Herron's novels, I ordered without hesitation, and started the first novel in the series, Slow Horses (2010) as soon as it arrived and finished it after a few magical hours of reading.
The plot of this cracking thriller centres on the abduction of a young Pakistani man by three white nationalists calling themselves the Voice of Albion. They have targeted him because of his race and plan to execute him live on the internet. The slow horses are on a different case, which may somehow be connected, and suddenly they need to solve the case or else get blamed for the young man's imminent beheading. But can this group of losers actually seize the day?
I really enjoyed Herron's writing style. The novel starts and ends with an almost cinematic voiceover introducing the reader to the scene. His dialogue was perfect, and I noticed Herron only ever used the word 'said' for dialogue. He paces the story well, with enough twists and turns to keep the reader guessing. For fans of spy thrillers there are plenty of spycraft tropes to fuel your enjoyment.
