Slow Horses

When I'm anticipating a movie or tv show coming out that's based on a book, I'll often try to read it first as I find seeing the story I've just read visualized is an interesting experience.

In this case, I had watched and really enjoyed the first season of the show before I started reading, which covers this book in is entirety, and is pretty darn faithful to it.

So while listening to this audiobook, I found myself in a weird position of generally just picturing the scenes from the show more than actually engaging with the writing, I think? It's hard to say how much I got out of the book itself.

Still, I'm a sucker for this type of story and the characters and quippy dialogue is a lot of fun. I'll definitely be watching more of the show and I'll try to figure out if/when to read the books.

Starts out rather slow but in hindsight the author is set up something to compare to later and giving background on the various players. I liked it well enough to move on to the next in the series and would consider a reread years later. When I've forgotten the details enough to enjoy again, or if I find out later, there are layers to the story that I didn't pick up on the first time around that would become apparent with another read.

NPR on a regular basis checks in with bookstore owners around the country to see what they would recommend for the upcoming reading season; this was one of those recommends.

What if James Bond was a bored, fat, semi-retired spy who doesn't trust anyone. Begrudgingly leading a small team of ex-spies who, like him, are punished for having fucked up, they turn out to be smarter and more resourceful than their career-obsessed former colleagues. There's a kidnapping to be solved, but it's mostly the characters, their interconnected backstories and the complex web of office politics that makes it a page-turner