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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 (618 ratings)

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Slow Horses cover art

Slow Horses

By: Mick Herron
Narrated by: Sean Barrett
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Publisher's 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
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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Entertaining and witty spy extravaganza

Mick Herron is certainly a master of the spy genre. It's a little bit like reading John le Carre with extra humour. Rather then a gradual progression of narrative, the story advances by deep pictures of individual characters interspersed with pacey and exciting scenes. Every character is flawed and complex. Noone is to be trusted. the greatest enemies lie within.

it's all jolly good fun, but also quite exciting. But there's a dark edge that sometimes runs close to the bone, pointing a spotlight atcontemporary tensions and characters. Boris Johnson has a double in this tale for example, which seems quite prophetic given this book's age.

The only downside is that sometimes we get so much back-story on characters that the story itself creeps to walking pace for a while before lurching forward again. But that's part of the style that i because used to as the book progressed.

A big thumbs up for the narrator, who suits this book perfectly, and is near to flawless.

I shall be moving immediately on to the next book in the series.

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2 people found this helpful

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

I’m warming to the series

This is my second book of the series and I’m loving the characters and the shadow play

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1 person found this helpful

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

Molto piacevole!

A great listen indeed - the old radio shows this good? Highly recommended - good story with excellent performance ✅

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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

Excellent!

This is a great spy story. There is tight plot, really nice character development and some really talented writing. The performance is also really well done. This is one of the best audible stories I’ve heard in some time.

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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

Top listen!

Brilliant narration by Sean Barrett - Jackson Lamb came to life for me in the persona of Churchill. Great story and thoroughly enjoyed everything about it.

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

an engaging story

I enjoyed the story, with unexpected twists. However, I found it hard to follow when the new chapters weren't announced. Sometimes, someone was speaking and it turns out they are not part of the previous scene so it's a bit confusing.

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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

Excellent

This was such an engaging story with intricate storylines weaved together. Some longish backstories meant I gave it one less star than I would have. But the action and plot turns were great, as was the narration!

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

Slow Horses is really refreshingly good

Herron has an intelligent writing style. Never knew know what was coming next. Very clever story. Looking forward to the next one.

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

Entertaining

Started slow and ended with entertaining punch

Enjoyable alternative spy adventure

Loved the twists and turns

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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

Slow Horses

is anything but slow. This story hits the road running and keeps the pace up right until the tantalising end. There isn't a single tedious moment, with action, intrigue and cool wit all keeping you utterly entertained every second. Sean Barrett, of course, is as brilliant as ever and still my favourite narrator. I can't wait to get onto the next in this series and any others written by this obviously talented author.

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7 people found this helpful

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