The sharp writing and fantastic cast (including Gary Oldman, Kristin Scott Thomas and Jack Lowden) have made Apple TV+’s Slow Horses a huge hit.
What some fans of the show may not realise is that the TV drama is based on a series of spy thrillers by the author Mick Herron. The first book, Slow Horses, was published in 2010 and there are 12 other novels and novellas in the Slough House series. Mick Herron has also written another series – known as the Oxford series – featuring private detective Zoë Boehm, as well as five standalone thrillers and lots of short stories. If you’re a Slow Horses fan but haven’t yet discovered Mick Herron’s writing, this is where to start…
JOHN MURRAY Slow Horses by Mick Herron
1.Slow Horses
The book that began it all deserves the top slot! In Slow Horses, Mick Herron introduces us to cantankerous MI5 intelligence officer Jackson Lamb – possibly one of the best fictional characters ever created – who heads up Slough House, home to disgraced spies and other misfits. When a British Asian teenager is taken off the street and his kidnappers threaten to cut his head off on camera live on the internet, Lamb and his team step in. Both brilliantly witty and fast-paced as anything, this is a 5 out 5.
The Secret Hours by Mick Herron
2. The Secret Hours
This standalone spy thriller starts with a heart-pounding chase sequence. Even after the action slows down, it’s a fascinating insight into the machinations of the Secret Intelligence Service – and the witty writing really makes it. Fans of Slow Horses will delight in recognising some of the settings and characters – and the reveal of a historic secret.
John Murray Reconstruction by Mick Herron
3. Reconstruction
An escaped prisoner, a gun and a group of nursery-aged hostages make this a throat-pounding thriller from the get-go. As ever with Mick Herron, the plot is clever and complex and he grows the tension brilliantly as the story develops.
Soho Crime Dead Lions by Mick Herron
4. Dead Lions
This is book two in the Slough House series and won Mick Herron a CWA Gold Dagger Award (one of the biggest awards in crime writing). Jackson Lamb and his band of exiled MI5 agents are called in to protect a visiting Russian oligarch whom MI5 hopes to recruit to British intelligence. But when a Cold War-era spy is found dead, a tangled web of connections between Russia and the UK are revealed and the Slough House team are in the middle of the action.
John Murray Press Nobody Walks by Mick Herron
5. Nobody Walks
Another standalone espionage thriller, this time centered on a man, Tom Bettany, who is determined to avenge his son’s death – but the more he delves into his son’s demise, the more danger he puts himself in. This wouldn’t be a Mick Herron without an appearance from MI5 and, sure enough, what Tom discovers leads him to Dame Ingrid Tearney, MI5 head honcho (played by Sophie Okonedo in the TV series). While it doesn’t have quite the same mordant humour as the Slough House books, the storyline is smart and stylish.
