https://tamaranth.blogspot.com/2023/09/2023136-slow-horses-mick-herron.html ( )

VERY slow story. Primarily build up until the last couple of chapters. Never really got “involved” or interested in the characters.
The story is about British “spies” who had made mistakes and are now relegated to “Slough House” which is in essence a “pasture” so to speak where they are sent to ride out their careers. Of course, they uncover a scheme concocted at the highest levels and intended for the Slow Horses to take the blame. ( )

Bad writing. Example:

"The chances of a parking revenue attendant - or whatever they were called today - doing the rounds after midnight were slim, but not non-existent."

What is the point of that parenthetical aside? Is it the narrator who does not know what to call the people in this job? The author? The copy editor? If you don't know what something is called, look it up and learn. That goes for authors as well as their characters. ( )

It was a little tricky to keep the large cast straight, but it was worth the effort. This was different and kept my interest, and even made me laugh at times (though on the whole it's not a comedy). I look forward to reading the next. ( )

Slough House is home of those unceremoniously dumped by MI5, presided over by Jackson Lamb, the head fuckup. Don’t call them a found family, because they don’t like each other. Through their endless toil of gruntwork they accidentally crack the case of a far-right politician’s involvement in the kidnapping of a muslim teen. But what are the chances that this bunch of rejects could really solve a case that spies in good standing could not?

Not my usual kind of thing but I’ve seen the TV show so it went down real smooth. I think without that I would have found the constant change of perspective to be very confusing in audio. I was surprised that River Cartwright was presented as the main character, because he’s the most boring. ( )