---
product_id: 38729006
title: "Slow Horses (Slough House)"
price: "HK$9"
currency: HKD
in_stock: false
reviews_count: 13
url: https://www.desertcart.hk/products/38729006-slow-horses-slough-house
store_origin: HK
region: Hong Kong
---

# Slow Horses (Slough House)

**Price:** HK$9
**Availability:** ❌ Out of Stock

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- **What is this?** Slow Horses (Slough House)
- **How much does it cost?** HK$9 with free shipping
- **Is it available?** Currently out of stock
- **Where can I buy it?** [www.desertcart.hk](https://www.desertcart.hk/products/38729006-slow-horses-slough-house)

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## Description

The first book in CWA Gold Dagger Award-winning British espionage series starring a team of MI5 agents united by one common bond: They've screwed up royally and will do anything to redeem themselves. London, England: Slough House is where the washed-up MI5 spies go to while away what's left of their failed careers. The "slow horses," as they’re called, have all disgraced themselves in some way to get relegated here. Maybe they messed up an op badly and can't be trusted anymore. Maybe they got in the way of an ambitious colleague and had the rug yanked out from under them. Maybe they just got too dependent on the bottle—not unusual in this line of work. One thing they all have in common, though, is they all want to be back in the action. And most of them would do anything to get there─even if it means having to collaborate with one another. River Cartwright, one such “slow horse,” is bitter about his failure and about his tedious assignment transcribing cell phone conversations. When a young man is abducted and his kidnappers threaten to broadcast his beheading live on the Internet, River sees an opportunity to redeem himself. But 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 has his own agenda.

Review: Refreshing storytelling. Perfect pacing. Great slice-of-life characters. Believable and entertaining. What's not to like! - Really quite good. I want to touch on some things in other reviews that made me on the fence at first. Don't be dissuaded by reviewers saying it's slow initially. Sure, the first half isn't heart pounding action packed, complex espionage, and chase scenes, but it was very interesting to meet all the players first. Almost like a slice of life movie that's enjoyed just because you are interested in the characters and want to know what they do each day. And I am definitely the first person to put down a book that doesn't grab me, and I commit the sin of judging books practically by their cover. But this was written so interestingly and with dark humor, that I would never have minded even if "the pace" didn't pick up. I also grow tired very quickly of books that over-describe every detail about every room, eveyone's clothes, and every single scene. This book was spot on in the way you learned about the atmosphere and each character.... selecting unique points about them that let your imagination fill in the rest of their stories. The writing definitely was British, but just enough to feel the authenticity of you being in Britian hearing the locals around you. As the pace and action picked up, it always stayed believeable and made sense for the characters and their roles. One note. It definitely helped to read this particular book on my Kindle, because there were many characters introduced along the way, who would then pop up again later. And I definitely used the X-ray feature to jog my memory about the initial intro of them. It's not essential to have, but I enjoyed being reminded of how each character was introduced, because it was usually by way of an interesting tidbit about them or just in passing with a descriptor that caught my attention. So I definitely will continue reading the series and glad it is one. I was left very curious about how things would continue to go with each of the characters in future books. And I don't think it's going to be a typical cookie-cutter series where each book has Hero A confronted with a case to solve and manages it in the nick of time with the help of trusty Sidekick B. Cant wait for more.
Review: Terrific little spy game book with a great character - Concise and compact, this stuffs a lot of plot, action and a great cast of characters into a surprisingly short book. It moves fast and jumps around, mostly in an endearing way (but see the last paragraph). The characters shine through anyway, especially Jackson Lamb. The twists and turns are great and the arrogance of the powerful is sort of classic here. If you've seen the brilliant TV series, this is still worth a read, even though the series Season 1 is rather close to this direct-line plot, which often seems perfectly written for the screen. It is easy to see Gary Oldman speaking when Jackson Lamb is on the page here. The TV version admittedly does make this book a lot less essential. It's common for readers to say "The book is better," but I don't think that is true here. The TV series is notably more fleshed out (while remaining faithful to the book and characters) and frankly more interesting, given how good the cast is and the length of time they have to work. They bring this book to life in a way this short book can't quite equal. If I had a quibble, it related less to the book--so, I'm not dinging another star--and more to the Kindle formatting of the book. As noted, it moves around fast. There are quick cuts within chapters, minor scene changes, that are not set off in any way. For example, there aren't caps beginning a new segment. (Some major cuts/scene changes have caps at the beginning of the new segment, but these quicker cuts do not.) Nor for these quick cuts do they use characters to space things out (like ##, whatever and so on). They just make a routine line break of no consequence--not even a double line break--and are then onto the next character's short scene. For example, on page 198 of my Kindle edition (as displayed on my phone) the last line of a conversation between Lamb and Taverner is: "How could this get worse?" Line break. The next sentence is: "'Because it's got to be stopped,' Hobden said." If anything, that cut gives a clue since Hobden is not part of the Lamb-Taverner conversation, but it at first looks like it is part of that conversation. Having to re-orient so quickly as the text blends into one scene after another is a little disorienting. Some formatting help would be nice.

## Technical Specifications

| Specification | Value |
|---------------|-------|
| Best Sellers Rank | #932,762 in Books ( See Top 100 in Books ) #24 in Traditional Detective Mysteries (Books) #66 in Espionage Thrillers (Books) #82 in Science Fiction Crime & Mystery |
| Customer Reviews | 4.4 out of 5 stars 38,163 Reviews |

## Images

![Slow Horses (Slough House) - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/71ee0-fHgpL.jpg)

## Customer Reviews

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Refreshing storytelling. Perfect pacing. Great slice-of-life characters. Believable and entertaining. What's not to like!
*by J***R on October 12, 2017*

Really quite good. I want to touch on some things in other reviews that made me on the fence at first. Don't be dissuaded by reviewers saying it's slow initially. Sure, the first half isn't heart pounding action packed, complex espionage, and chase scenes, but it was very interesting to meet all the players first. Almost like a slice of life movie that's enjoyed just because you are interested in the characters and want to know what they do each day. And I am definitely the first person to put down a book that doesn't grab me, and I commit the sin of judging books practically by their cover. But this was written so interestingly and with dark humor, that I would never have minded even if "the pace" didn't pick up. I also grow tired very quickly of books that over-describe every detail about every room, eveyone's clothes, and every single scene. This book was spot on in the way you learned about the atmosphere and each character.... selecting unique points about them that let your imagination fill in the rest of their stories. The writing definitely was British, but just enough to feel the authenticity of you being in Britian hearing the locals around you. As the pace and action picked up, it always stayed believeable and made sense for the characters and their roles. One note. It definitely helped to read this particular book on my Kindle, because there were many characters introduced along the way, who would then pop up again later. And I definitely used the X-ray feature to jog my memory about the initial intro of them. It's not essential to have, but I enjoyed being reminded of how each character was introduced, because it was usually by way of an interesting tidbit about them or just in passing with a descriptor that caught my attention. So I definitely will continue reading the series and glad it is one. I was left very curious about how things would continue to go with each of the characters in future books. And I don't think it's going to be a typical cookie-cutter series where each book has Hero A confronted with a case to solve and manages it in the nick of time with the help of trusty Sidekick B. Cant wait for more.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Terrific little spy game book with a great character
*by M***E on May 6, 2024*

Concise and compact, this stuffs a lot of plot, action and a great cast of characters into a surprisingly short book. It moves fast and jumps around, mostly in an endearing way (but see the last paragraph). The characters shine through anyway, especially Jackson Lamb. The twists and turns are great and the arrogance of the powerful is sort of classic here. If you've seen the brilliant TV series, this is still worth a read, even though the series Season 1 is rather close to this direct-line plot, which often seems perfectly written for the screen. It is easy to see Gary Oldman speaking when Jackson Lamb is on the page here. The TV version admittedly does make this book a lot less essential. It's common for readers to say "The book is better," but I don't think that is true here. The TV series is notably more fleshed out (while remaining faithful to the book and characters) and frankly more interesting, given how good the cast is and the length of time they have to work. They bring this book to life in a way this short book can't quite equal. If I had a quibble, it related less to the book--so, I'm not dinging another star--and more to the Kindle formatting of the book. As noted, it moves around fast. There are quick cuts within chapters, minor scene changes, that are not set off in any way. For example, there aren't caps beginning a new segment. (Some major cuts/scene changes have caps at the beginning of the new segment, but these quicker cuts do not.) Nor for these quick cuts do they use characters to space things out (like ##, whatever and so on). They just make a routine line break of no consequence--not even a double line break--and are then onto the next character's short scene. For example, on page 198 of my Kindle edition (as displayed on my phone) the last line of a conversation between Lamb and Taverner is: "How could this get worse?" Line break. The next sentence is: "'Because it's got to be stopped,' Hobden said." If anything, that cut gives a clue since Hobden is not part of the Lamb-Taverner conversation, but it at first looks like it is part of that conversation. Having to re-orient so quickly as the text blends into one scene after another is a little disorienting. Some formatting help would be nice.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Very good indeed. Espionage centered on MI5 agents demoted for miscellaneous failures.
*by M***E on August 29, 2025*

This is the opening book in the Slough House series, Slough House being the (fictional) place where the British MI5 relegates agents no longer approved for active duty. I resisted reading it for quite a while, despite repeated endorsements, but finally succumbed. A good decision. This is a very good, very entertaining book. The prose is always well crafted, occasionally artful, often funny. The plot builds toward a riveting final third, achieving this without threats of nuclear bombs or a hefty body count. I anticipated various developments while being satisfactorily surprised by others. It's neither science fiction nor fantasy, my usual reading diet, yet it is a type of fantasy. A fantasy of a world of sidelined heroes and glamorous espionage. I loved that this story's heroes are rejects of one form or another. I loved that the book made me want to believe the best of them, and the points when it let me do so. I loved the resolution of the thread with Hassan. Five out of five slow stars. P.S. The edition I read had a bonus short story, also very good. About my reviews: I try to review every book I read, including those that I don't end up enjoying. The reviews are not scholarly, but just indicate my reaction as a reader, reading being my addiction. I am miserly with 5-star reviews; 4 stars means I liked a book very much; 3 stars means I liked it; 2 stars means I didn't like it (though often the 2-star books are very popular with other readers and/or are by authors whose other work I've loved).

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*Product available on Desertcart Hong Kong*
*Store origin: HK*
*Last updated: 2026-06-04*