Dead Lions
Ratings83
Average rating3.9
THE BOOK BEHIND THE SECOND SEASON OF SLOW HORSES, THE APPLE ORIGINAL SERIES STARRING GARY OLDMAN IN HIS EMMY-NOMINATED ROLE AS JACKSON LAMB. The CWA Gold Dagger Award-winning British espionage novel about disgraced MI5 agents who inadvertently uncover a deadly Cold War-era legacy of sleeper cells and mythic super spies. The disgruntled agents of Slough House, the MI5 branch where washed-up spies are sent to finish their failed careers on desk duty, are called into action to protect a visiting Russian oligarch whom MI5 hopes to recruit to British intelligence. While two agents are dispatched on that babysitting job, though, an old Cold War-era spy named Dickie Bow is found dead, ostensibly of a heart attack, on a bus outside of Oxford, far from his usual haunts. But the head of Slough House, the irascible Jackson Lamb, is convinced Dickie Bow was murdered. As the agents dig into their fallen comrade's circumstances, they uncover a shadowy tangle of ancient Cold War secrets that seem to lead back to a man named Alexander Popov, who is either a Soviet bogeyman or the most dangerous man in the world. How many more people will have to die to keep those secrets buried?
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8 primary books12 released books#2 in Slough House
Slough House is a 12-book series with 8 released primary works first released in 1705 with contributions by Mick Herron. 1 book is still to be released. The next book is scheduled for release on .
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Dead Lions, the second of Mick Herron's Slough House series, is, if anything, even better than the first. Set some months after the events of the first book, we have a couple of new slow horses to be introduced to in the shape of Marcus Longridge and Shirley Dander as well as the familiar cast of losers and screw ups that already inhabit Slough House. As for head Slow Horse, Jackson Lamb, well, he's off investigating the mysterious death of an old colleague from his Cold War Berlin days, found dead on a bus in Oxfordshire.
Herron ups his game here, serving up a complex plot involving the ghosts of Cold War spooks past, sleeper cells, Russian oligarchs and a Stop The City demonstration in London. He keeps all the balls in the air brilliantly: River Cartwright sent undercover into the wilds of.....the Cotswolds; two Slow Horses seconded by “Spider” Webb of MI5's headquarters in Regents Park to look after a visiting Russian player; Lamb trying to find out why an old friend has gotten himself killed leaving a mysterious unsent text on his phone that says simply ‘cicadas'. What does it all mean?
That we don't find out until the very last few pages it testament to Herron's skill as a writer. The dialogue is witty, with Lamb being his usual obnoxious self, the action is deft and unfussy yet packs a punch. Lamb's gang of misfits get the job done, after a fashion, but Slough House is never going to get the credit. Return to Regents Park remains a pipe dream for them.
Honestly this was a joy to read, a page turner that keeps you guessing to the very end. Let's hope there's plenty more Slow Horse tales to come and surely someone in TV land must be looking to option these books? Recommended.
Similar archetype to the first book. Several unconnected threads that coalesce as the book progresses.
It is a fast book to read.
Starts off strong but gets really tangled 60% onwards. No wonder the TV show creators decided to significantly alter the second half of the season based on this book.
