As the clock ticks toward a young man’s execution, a discredited British intelligence agent sees an opportunity to redeem himself.
Slough House is a dumping ground for British intelligence agents who’ve screwed up a case in any number of ways — by leaving a secret file on a train or blowing a surveillance. 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.
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.
A great start to an intelligent and clever series I stumbled across this title while trolling some other reviewers whose opinions I respect.Â
Like Dilbert cartoons there is a healthy dose of reality in this tale I am pretty sure I have worked with people similar to the Slow Horses and their bosses — the author must have drawn the characters from his life experiences as the aura of authenticity is too good to be straight fiction.Â
The Real Work Mick Herron is a superb mystery/ spy/ writer. His novels take us to the secret alleys of MI-5.Â