| Title | : | Real Tigers (Slough House, #3) |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | - |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Kindle Edition |
| Number of Pages | : | 369 |
| Publication | : | First published January 19, 2016 |
| Awards | : | Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Shortlist (2017) |
What she doesn't know is why anyone would target her.
So whoever's holding her hostage, it can't be personal. It must be about Slough House. Most likely, it's about Jackson Lamb. And say what you like about Lamb, he'll never leave a joe in the lurch.
He might even be someone you could trust with your life.
Real Tigers (Slough House, #3) Reviews
-
Having recently read Dead Lions, I was really looking forward to encountering the failed 'slow horses' spooks of Slough House again. I have to say that I am coming to love this smart and compelling series so much. Our disgraced spooks go into action when one of their own, Catherine Standish, a recovering alcoholic, is kidnapped by an ex-soldier seeking vengeance. Her release depends on our spies infiltrating headquarters, Regent's Park, and acquiring classified information. Only nothing is as it seems and what we have is the tip of the iceberg that leads to other plots and counter plots in the intelligence services and the increasing involvement of the tigers. There is the usual Regent Park ambitions, intrigue and shenanigans. There is a deranged and twisted new Home Secretary, Peter 'PJ' Judd who is clearly based on a famous politician we are familiar with. Truth proves to be an exceedingly rare commodity. This is a story of spooks vs spooks rather than external threats and politicians focusing on self interest and their own agendas.
Marcus is a gambling addict, Shirley has her cocaine habit, River likes going into action, and Roddy Ho, whilst an internet marvel, lacks social skills, has bizarre fantasies and is a loser in the romance stakes. The iconic head of Slough House is the repulsive, grotesque and brilliant Jackson Lamb who despite his abrasive exterior is going to support and protect his spies. He is more than a match for the machinations of Regent Park, and in dealing with the political demands of PJ. As Regent Park do their usual best to use the slow horses as pawns to further their own ambitions and agendas, our spies do not take matters lying down, they fight back. They encounter murder, revenge, violence and a no holds barred paramilitary assault. Packed with numerous twists, the plotlines begin to come together.
There are considerable shifts in the narrative that indicate the level of intricate and complex multi-layered plotting in the novel. There is tension and suspense that keeps the reader hooked. The dialogue and writing is superb. The characters are what drive this story, and the character development is excellent. At the heart of it is the canny Jackson Lamb, a tour de force. The introduction of the venal PJ, the Home Secretary, is a nod to the true life realities of politics within the intelligence services and the threats it raises. There are plenty of comic touches including some that are slapstick. The dark humour is an underlying plank that characterises this entertaining series. Highly recommended read. Thanks to John Murray Press for an ARC. -
I love this series so I will probably go no lower than 4* anytime soon. It is very well written, the characters are interesting, the plot keeps you at the edge of the seat and it is very funny. And then we have Lamb, the farting, foul-smelling super spy who gets to shepherd the losers of the MI5, also known. Their domain is called Slough House, the place where no agent want to be transferred.
Even if it seems they have nothing to do, the shock team always seems to succeed to get into trouble. This time, one member of the team is kidnapped and that will lead to all sorts of high level complications. Enter a politician with his own interests with the service. We also have more of the backstabbing between the 1st two ladies of the MI5. Lamb is fantastic in this one. River is his idiotic, overeager self, who needs to fuck things up first and then make them well again. Ho gets has a crush and that made for some LOL episodes.
I am also a big fan of the TV Series. Gary Oldman is the perfect Lamb. I binge-watched the 3rd season based on this book in 1 day, even though i already knew the plot. So, I recommend both series, on the page and on the screen. -
I am going to five star this one because it was so, so good! Three books into the series and the characters are really growing on me. All of them are drop outs and failures for some reason or other but when the pressure is on they all bring out their strengths and somehow they win!
The humour in these books is terrific too. I became one of those awful people who has to read bits out loud to anyone in the room and expects them to laugh too. (Even though they have no understanding of what went before or who the people are.)
Jackson Lamb is the most politically incorrect person ever and yet he gets away with it. He also provides most of the humour. River is the one you want to see succeed. Catherine seems to have so many secrets and did have a special understanding with Lamb although that may have been dealt a serious blow. I really like Louise too and she has some really good moments in this book.
The last page is just brilliant. Perfect even. Now I can't wait to get to book 4! -
3.5
-
After reading the first book in this series,
Slow Horses, I loved the characters. Reading the second book,
Dead Lions, confirmed that feeling. Reading this, the third, my fate is sealed! The Slough House characters have all committed some spy faux pas that's demoted them to slow horse status until they quit.
Jackson Lamb, head of Slough House, is a curmudgeonly father-type…sometimes. He has some disgusting personal habits. He’s a smart and experienced spook with lots of history. Catherine Standish is elderly, disillusioned, and a non-practicing alcoholic. River Cartwright is smart, but too quick to act. Louisa Guy is in mourning and most likely depressed. Marcus Longridge is a black ops type guy. Roderick Ho is the computer geek and very unsocial. Shirley Guy is young, likes her drink and coke. They are all doing boring, repetitive, and pointless tasks, and every one of them hopes to get back into MI5’s good graces.
Ingrid Tearney aka Dame Ingrid is Head of Service, and Diana “Lady Di” Taverner is second chair. They are both power-hungry, back-stabbing, conniving women. The plot is something one or both have devised and put into motion.
The books are highly character driven. There are character departures and new arrivals in each book of the series. There is black humor, sarcasm, and wit in the dialog. There is action because these spooks just can't stay at their desks!
I will be picking up the next book,
Spook Street, ASAP! -
4★
“‘What if they come after you?
With guns?’
‘Yes.’
‘You’ll be fine. Getting shot’s like falling off a log. It doesn’t take practice.’”
It’s as entertaining as the first two in the series, and I’ll include a few more quotes just because, well, just because. I haven’t actually compared page by page, but it felt as if there was a lot more violence and physical action in this one, mostly towards the end, which I’m sure many will find exciting. Myself, I prefer suspense and investigation and figuring things out. And the humour, of course.
Herron always leads us into the alley and the side door to the non-descript old building which is Slough House, home of the Slow Horses (a kind of rhyming slang). The description of the stairs, the rooms, the smells, the dingy nature of the place make you cringe to enter. Sometimes he has a cat take us in, or a mouse, or this time, a spirit. It’s that kind of place.
We follow the Slow Horses, the same disgraced spies as before who answer to Jackson Lamb, the disreputably attired and disgustingly behaved head of operations in Slough House. But there aren’t any “operations” because these people are no longer operatives. They have all been demoted and hidden away where they are “gradually disappearing under reams of yellowing paper,” never to be seen again.
“‘It’s not like your department’s a jewel in the Service’s crown, after all. It’s more like a slug in its lettuce patch.’”
They are unwanted. Jackson Lamb’s offsider, Catherine Standish, is a reformed alcoholic, and Lamb is the kind of guy who calls her in to sit across from him and pours them each a drink, determined to push her off the wagon. Nice guy. The others have different problems and all hold out hope that one day, some day, they’ll be transferred back. No chance.
Suddenly, there’s a kidnapping, a high level politician, a rivalry between the two women who work for the real spies, and there’s a hunt for the Grey Books. Trouble is, they are in the tightly protected, secure archives of Regent Park, headquarters of the proper spies.
It’s hard to know who the good guys are, as with most spy and cop stories, the good guys and bad guys are all pretty familiar with each other and have crossed paths in the past. When someone pops out from the shadows behind, we’re not sure if it’s someone following a character for interest, for protection, or for some sinister reason.
Roderick Ho is featured a bit more in this one. He’s the awkward computer nerd who surfs the Dark Net and doesn’t need to rely on Google to look things up. Give him a little while, and he’ll show you your bank account, your phone bill, and when you last went to the dentist.
“Because while Roderick Ho was a dick, that was only the most obvious thing about him, not the most important. Most important was, he knew his way round the cybersphere. This was arguably the only thing keeping him alive. If he weren’t occasionally useful, Marcus or Shirley would have battered him into a porridge by now.”
Our old friend River features heavily in the action (we like River), and while he and all the others are suddenly made “live” on an operation, Lamb finds himelf left with only Ho to drive him.
“‘Now go get your car. Chop chop.’
Ho was halfway down the stairs when Lamb called out, ‘Oh, and when I say “chop chop”, I hope you don’t think I’m being racially insensitive?’
‘No.’
‘Only you Chinkies can be pretty thin-skinned.’
It was going to be a long drive to High Wycombe.”
And it was.
Quite enjoyable. A little more bone-crunching action that didn’t interest me as much and not quite as compelling a read for me as the first two, but don’t let that put you off. These are entertaining stories written well, and I’m looking forward to the next. These are standalone stories but would still be more fun if you read them in order, I think. But if you can’t, just read what you can find!
Thanks to NetGalley and Hachette Australia for the preview copy from which I’ve quoted. Hachette has reissued the first four in this series prior to the release of the fifth. What a good idea! -
4.5 ☆
The public was like one of those huge Pacific jellyfish; one enormous, pulsating mass of indifference, drifting wherever the current carried it; an organism without a motive, ambition or original sin to call its own, but which somehow believed, in whatever passed for its brain, that it chose its own leaders and had a say in its own destiny.
In
Real Tigers,
Mick Herron hits his stride. After reading the first two novels in his Slough House series, I have come to expect Herron's clever byzantine schemes, sardonic wit, and complex characters. In Real Tigers, Herron also plumbs the depths of ruthless ambition and pairs it with rapid-fire action.
Slough House is MI5's dumping grounds for its agents who have failed the grade.
[In] this “administrative oubliette,” as it was once dubbed, of the intelligence service ... as every office worker knows, it’s not the hope that kills you. It’s knowing it’s the hope that kills you that kills you.
As though the mind-sapping drudgery inflicted upon the Slough House's slow horses isn't sufficient punishment, others are not so content to forget them when it suits their purpose. As agents who have been left in a derelict cupboard, the slow horses can be pulled into ops without triggering an administrative review of expenses; and for more devious minds, they can be an expendable pawn on the political chessboard.
It was why they'd join the Service in the first place: this sneaking suspicion that the whole damn world was hostile. The only one you could trust were those you worked alongside, and you couldn't trust them either, because there was no friend falser than another spook. Always, they'd stab you in the back, cut you off at the knees or just plain die.
The right-wing Peter Judd has ascended to an influential position. He's the new Home Secretary and thus now in charge of MI5.
There was always trouble, and he always rose from the resulting miasma looking a lovable scamp: lovable, anyway, to that gratifyingly large sector of the populace to whom he'd always be a figure of fun: breathing a bit of the old jolly into politics, and where's the harm in that, eh? As for those who hated him, they were never going to change their minds, and since he was in a better position to fuck them up than they were him, they didn't give him sleepless nights.
One little problem is that Judd has consistently been MI5's loudest critic. This antipathy could be traced back to the Service's long ago rejection of Judd's employment application.
... but [Judd's] psychological assessment had been so damning ... that even now, old hands agreed, it cut both ways. On the downside, they were paying the price for having pissed off a narcissistic sociopath with family money, a power complex and a talent for bearing a grudge; but on the up, had Judd actually been allowed into the Service, he'd almost certainly have escalated the Cold War into a hot one...
So will the newly powerful, biggest critic intervene when one of the long term denizens of Slough House gets snatched shortly after leaving the premises? The victim is asked for the name of a person who could be trusted with her life in the balance, because the ransom demand will be required from that person. And although most of the slow horses have undergone training for operatives, their minds and skills have dulled under the enforced inertia as directed by Jackson Lamb, the Slough House boss, which increases the odds for screwing up.
“A birdy tells me you’ve got one of mine in your lock-up.”
“That would be River Cartwright.”
“Yes, but don’t blame me. I think his mother was a hippy.”
“Smoke a lot of dope while he was in the womb, did she? That might explain today’s dipshit behaviour. And I thought he was one of your cleverer boys.”
“Mind like a razor,” Lamb agreed. “Disposable.”
Jackson Lamb... for all his faults --and that wasn't a short list-- would walk through fire for a joe in peril ...
Buckle your seat belts because the slow horses have to run fast to evade danger in Real Tigers. While Herron has so far written the novels as standalones, a reader won't fully appreciate the complex characters without knowing the details of their earlier histories. What a treat for new readers.
*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*
2nd Reading -
In
Real Tigers, addictions run deep as adrenaline and tempers surge hot as Slough House faces dangers from both inside and out of MI5. While there's no lady behind door number one, door number two hides a tiger.
Mick Herron takes readers on an Alice-in-Wonderland roller-coaster. Strap yourself tight and enjoy the ride. Unchanged rating of 4.5 ☆
*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*
Listed in GR sequence, but not necessarily in chronological order:
#1
Slow Horses 4 ☆
#2
Dead Lions 4 ☆
#2.5
The List 4 ☆
#4
Spook Street 5 ☆
#5
London Rules 4.5 ☆
#5.5
Marylebone Drop 4 ☆
#6
Joe Country 5 ☆
#6.5
The Catch 4 ☆
#7
Slough House 4.5 ☆
#8
Bad Actors 4 ☆ -
I think I've said before how much I love this series and this third episode has only re-affirmed that. This time the threat is not from outside Regents Park and MI5 but inside as politicians and the head and deputy head of MI5 play dangerous power games to gain control over each other. The Slow Horses get dragged in when one of their number, Catherine Standish is kidnapped and held ransom in exchange for certain documents from the MI5 archives. Up against a private army run by an ex soldier with his own agenda, the bunch of misfits from Slough House are soon back in the field fighting for their lives.
The plot is clever and multilayered and a delight to see unfold but it is the characters that continue to shine in this series. Jackson Lamb is just brilliant - it's hard to know how much of his character as a shambolic man with disgusting personal hygeine and eating habits is a devious shield behind which he hides his true intelligence and astuteness. All the characters get their moment in the spotlight, including the head of MI5, Ingrid Tierney and her second desk Diana 'Lady Di' Taverner, both of them lethal and manipulative, as well as the odious Home Secretary Judd with Prime Ministerial ambitions. As with the earlier books, there is much dark humour in Herron's wonderful writing, both in the situations his misfits find themselves in as well as the dialogue. One of the memorable moments of the book occurs when Roddy Ho is forcibly separated from his computer and dreams of what he'd like to do to women (if only he got the chance) and taken out into the field by Lamb. Told to come to Lamb's rescue if he doesn't reappear Roddy comes up with a equally unique and inept rescue plan that still makes me snigger when I think of the book.
With thanks to Netgalley and the publisher Hachette for a digital copy to read. -
4.5 stars
short review for busy readers: The 3rd adventure for the denizens of Slough House. Lots of twists, scheming, double-crossing and the application of an old London double decker bus as a ramrod! Less humorous, but with more action than previous instalments. Highly enjoyable.
in detail:
All is not well in the chummy relationship between the new head of the Home Office and Regent's Park, nor at Regent's Park itself.
Power struggles and pissing contests among the high and mighty reach our rejects at Slough House when they're unwittingly roped into performing a "stress test" on the Park itself. A test none of them, nor Slough House, are supposed to live through.
And yet...
Less funny, but with far more plot twists and action than previous books, "Real Tigers" deals with what it's like to be a pawn in a high-stakes game played kilometres above your head, to be lied to and sold out by your own side.
Not that that phases "Death Hippo" Jackson Lamb, but it does make him...peeved, to say the least..and looking about for a whopping huge spanner to throw into the works.
I enjoyed the inclusion of some real places in this one, most especially the ancient London church of St. Giles Cripplegate which is described beautifully. Also the full action scenes toward the end are a delight and the actual end, superb!
(Minor spoiler: unlike previous instalments, none of the Slough House people are killed in this one.)
I'm reading this entire series for the Series Challenge 2024. -
This is the third in the Slough House series, where the ‘Slow Horses’ reside – those M15 operatives who have made mistakes and have been shunted off to do administrative tasks; either because of personal failures or embarrassing mistakes. Slough House is presided over by Jackson Lamb, who, although now he appears to be slovenly, unkempt and interested only in himself, was once an undercover operative during the Cold War and, despite his appearances, is not only still quite capable of out manoeuvring those at the Park, but he is fiercely loyal to those he is responsible for and anyone he considers to be one of his own.
One of the members of Lamb’s team is recovering alcoholic, Catherine Standish. Although it is difficult to say that Lamb is fond of any of the inhabitants of Slough House; Catherine acts as something of a buffer between him and everyone else and, as such, he at least notices she is gone. The reason for her sudden absence is that she is snatched in what appears to be a straightforward kidnap. However, as with all of these novels, nothing is straightforward and the Slow Horses may soon be heading back into the field and into danger as they become involved in a complicated and complex plot .
I would really suggest that these books be read in order – the first being “Slow Horses,” followed by “Dead Lions.” This is a very believable world of spooks, politics, double dealing, conspiracy, intrigue and naked ambition; all wrapped up with very British concerns of saving money, muddling through, often with no discernable plan, and wrapping the intention to win at all costs in the politest language possible. Savagery, but all done with a smile, and very dark humour. At the centre of every web is the magnificent Jackson Lamb, who suddenly emerges from his seeming stupor to take on his superiors and take back what he considers to be rightfully his.
Despite the fact that Slough House is seen very much as the place where the losers of the Secret Service are made to regret the way their career has collapsed, it is also, very obviously, a thorn in the side of those in power. These include new Home Secretary Peter Judd (who bears more than a little resemblance to a current politician), the head of the Park, Ingrid Tearney and her second in command, Diana Taverner. However, all of these political, and power players, have their own agenda and, in order to gain the upper hand, Lamb must outmanoeuvre them all. This series has been my first great series discovery of 2017 and I am so glad that I finally got around to reading the first novel. -
A real page turner!
& this was very welcome as I have just had a DNF on a very turgid book!
Slough House has two more operatives- although I am using 'operative' in the loosest sense of the word. Slough House is where failed MI5 spies go to finish out their working days - or hopefully take the hint & retire gracefully from the field.Nobody left Slough House at the end of a working day feeling like they'd contributed to the security of the nation. They left it feeling like their brains had been fed through a juicer.
This time one of the more likeablepen pushersoperatives has been kidnapped & Jackson Lamb's failures prove that they still have their guts, ambition & a certain crazy loyalty. I found the book nearly impossible to put down.
My only quibbles are that Lamb is getting ever more gross (seriously it sounds like the man never takes a shower) & that most of the Slow Horses (with the exception of Jackson, River & Catherine) seem to speak with the same voice. It does make it hard to distinguish between the characters.
https://wordpress.com/view/carolshess... -
I just adore Mick Herron’s subtle, dry humor that shines through this story. In this book, one of their own has been kidnapped. The Slow Horses of Slough House must come together to rescue her from a soldier, bent on revenge. That involves stealing classified intel from HQ at Regent’s Park.
I love Herron’s group of misfits. Each has had a failure that has brought them to Slough House, but they also have their individual strengths. Each has their dream of escaping Slough House and returning to Regent’s Park. All except Jackson Lamb, who oversees them and harbors no such illusions. He is brilliant but is just a disgusting human being, between his racism, misogyny and horrible personal habits.
Herron writes a romping great story. I’m not a big fan of “spy thrillers” but this series is the exception to the rule. I loved the different convolutions and the changing sense of who the bad guy was. I’m so happy there are several more in this series to entertain me before I’m stucking waiting for each new one to arrive.
Gerald Doyle is perfect as the narrator. -
What does the third installment of Mick Herron's Slough House Series deliver? Great well paced writing; fully realized characters; intrigue; suspense; humor; and sharp, sly wit.
All the Slow Horse characters from Dead Lions return. Each has an opportunity to shine here, and Catherine gets a leading role. The overall plot involves a lot of adversarial scheming from Diana Taverner and Ingrid Tearney and the interference of the Home Secretary's own stratagems. Oh, and Roddy Ho is attempting to have a love life.
Underlying this thriller is the theme of addiction--gambling, drugs, adrenaline rush, power, and alcohol. Herron takes us into the mind of Catherine Standish as she is locked in a room with a bottle of wine. Interspersed throughout the tale of her colleagues' efforts to find and rescue her and all the political machinations throughout the Service, are Catherine's thoughts letting us in on her memories of her recovery and the message that the line between sobriety and not is very thin.
While the underlying theme is serious, the story careens along with Herron's signature plot twists, drollness, and brilliantly sketched characters (that I have become attached to).
I highly recommend joining the Slough House crew for this wild ride as the tale reveals who the real tigers are.
Publication 2016 -
Catherine Standish was shocked to bump into an old flame as she left Slough House for home, but when she became aware of being followed, she did her best to out maneuver her foe. But suddenly she was surrounded and being bundled into the back of a black van. The subsequent journey wasn’t pleasant, chained and bound as she was, but it was when she was in the room by herself that she became frightened. Why had she been kidnapped? And why did they want to know a person’s name?
Slough House, the home of failed, disgraced MI5 spooks was where Catherine worked. They all had their problems – Catherine was a recovering alcoholic – but with Jackson Lamb at the helm the agents would do their best to infiltrate Regent’s Park and uncover the conspiracy which threatened Catherine, Slough House and beyond.
Real Tigers is the third in the Slough House series by Mick Herron, and the best I’ve read so far IMO. Humerous and dark, the odious Jackson Lamb stands out among his colleagues. The twists and turns are littered with dry wit and sarcasm – the plot is complex and entertaining. Recommended to fans of spy thrillers.
With thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for my digital ARC in exchange for an honest review. -
Three books in and still in love with this series. What makes this series stand out, alongside compelling twisty plots and expertly rendered spy seediness, are the characters. Collectively and individually flawed failures who stumble their way from one mistake to the next disaster. Only the descent into a sort of OTT action film shootout scene at the end here, while exciting, seems oddly out of place in the world Herron has created. Straight onto the next one.
-
The Slough House series is to spy thrillers what the Murderbot series is to science fiction: reliably witty and entertaining. The kind where it's always nice to have one waiting when you need a book you can count on to lift you out of reading (or life) doldrums.
Slough House is a dumping ground for MI5 agents who have messed up their careers in irredeemable ways. Jackson Lamb was a top operative during the Cold War but is now the slothful, sarcastic leader of these half dozen men and women who dream of somehow, someday, making it back to the big leagues. Now they simply shuffle useless paperwork.
When the opportunity for action arises, each of these misfits balances their remaining skills against their personal demons as they try to prove themselves worthy of reinstatement. All of this is done against the backdrop of the internal machinations of the powers that be at MI5 - and Jackson Lamb.
Some of the Slow Horses (as the Slough House folks are known) are more appealing than others, but Herron makes us care about them all at some level. The action is wickedly fast, and the writing is wickedly (and relentlessly) funny.
“Nobody left Slough House at the end of a working day feeling like they'd contributed to the security of the nation. They left it feeling like their brains had been fed through a juicer.”
“And I thought he was one of your cleverer boys.”
“Mind like a razor,” Lamb agreed. “Disposable.”
“Besides, if his party stood for anything, it was for defending the right of the strong to flourish, which meant preventing the weak from taking up unnecessary space.”
If you liked the first and second books in the series, you will like this one. Herron offers enough backstory that you could start the series here, but then you would miss the fun of the first two volumes. -
Another fabulous instalment in this gritty and well written series. Never a wasted word, and I think I liked this one more than the preceding titles because it specifically deals with one of their own so closely, kidnapped in an attempt stemming from the very top of the Secret Service.
Jackson Lamb is his usual self, gruff, crude, rude.. what more is there to say about this guy. Simply a brilliant character who never succumbs to pressure. In any scene where any other young and fit operative is in a perilous situation they would be sneaking, stealthy, and immaculate. Lamb is literally farting, stops to light a cigarette. It is all about the appeal of someone so awful, but so outstanding – somehow! He can get so much done, with such insight, by doing so seemingly little.
As always Standish’s alcoholism is discussed widely, an element in the kidnapping used in a clever way, but I wasn’t taken in, convinced of her true nature and lessons learned. Also, as some excellent background into her character, we learn of a past mentor and the way in which Lamb smashes anything good to smithereens.
Jackson Lamb is quick to sack some of his team, admittedly under duress, but these unfortunate ones think what the heck, what have they really got to lose, and jump back in trying to find their kidnapped fellow slow horse. Even though surface level hatred is always there between all of them in their confusing lacklustre malevolent way. I suppose there is no way to be any different given their unfortunate leader.
In every step, it seems to be on every page the expected references as to the failure of these slow horses, but it seems they can always challenge this assumption (mostly by arrogant and corrupt folk) that they will always come on top. It is almost like the reader expects them to fail as they do anything in the field. This is how the Slow Horse concept carries on to the page so well.
Each character has massive defects but put them all together they form a team who are compelling and one that I continually look forward to reading.
As I listen to this series, I don’t note down quotes which I appreciate time and time again. It is brilliantly entertaining and so very clever. The plotting is layered and complex, the tension and suspense a constant companion.
Mostly what we witness of Lamb is arrogance and poor social skills, much flatulence and awfulness, but when it comes down to it, he is smart, will get the job done, all with zero fanfare or extravagance. Almost, but not at all, anti-climatical. This is the brilliance of it all. Nor will he accept to be wronged, personally or his team. This is the gold, don’t you think?
I listened to this on the uLibrary platform and (thankfully) it has improved immeasurably.
Seán Barrett narrates to perfection, as he does with the Harry Hole series which I love as well. -
This series is really growing on me. Who can resist the slow horses, the failed MI-5 agents, these anti-Bonds? All of them desperately want to be back in the espionage game and not pushing paper after boring paper over in Slough House, a facility so obscure many members-in-good-standing of MI-5 don’t even know it exists. So when any excuse presents itself, they fall all over themselves to get out there and try to kick some butt.
For me, it’s the characters that really make these stories work. I can’t help but root for River Cartwright, who ended up at Slough House when a practice op that he was running was sabotaged by a frenemy and went horribly wrong. I’m cheering for him to finally be able to prove his worth and go back to the main office. All the denizens of Slough House have some horrible failure in their backgrounds—alcoholism, gambling addiction, a reliance on cocaine, you name it. And then there’s my favourite—Rodney Ho, who is just so obnoxious that no one wants him in their office. Rodney has no social skills, a vivid fantasy life, and the ability to work the internet like no one else in the office. If you’re a Criminal Minds fan, think of him as a male version of Garcia with no redeeming human graces. His misguided attempts to blackmail the other slow horses or try to attract romantic attention provide the light moments in these thrillers.
Of course, there is always Jackson Lamb, the rather revolting supervisor of this motley lot. Messy, rude, bigoted, and able to produce a reeking fart at will, he is about as far from the Bond ideal as you can get, and yet he proves himself a very capable agent on many occasions. One of the reasons that I keep reading is to figure out exactly how Lamb got to this situation.
If you’re tired of professional spies wearing slick clothes and drinking sophisticated cocktails, give the Slough House bunch a try. I think you’ll be totally entertained. -
November 7, 2023 Update Final Trailer is up for "Slow Horses" Season 3 based on "Real Tigers". Starts streaming as of November 29, 2023. Watch the trailer
here."I need a team of good agents, but I just have the Slow Horses. - Jackson Lamb.
December 30, 2022 Update Teaser Trailer is up for "Slow Horses" Season 3 to be based on Slough House Book 3 "Real Tigers". Was shown at the end Season 2 episode 6 and is also on YouTube
here.
June 1, 2022 Update Apple TV+ series 'Slow Horses' renewed for Seasons 3 and 4, to be based on Books 3 'Real Tigers' and 4 'Spook Street'. Story at
Variety.
Slow Horses Redux
Review of the Recorded Books audiobook edition (January 2016) narrated by
Gerard Doyle of the original Soho Crime hardcover (January 2016)“Minister, precisely what is this about?”
“Well, it’s quite simple, Dame Ingrid. Tell me, are you familiar with the term ‘tiger team’?”
Dame Ingrid lowered her teacup.
“Oh dear,” she said.
... [later] ...
“A tiger team,” Ingrid Tearney said.
“A tiger team.”
“I know perfectly well what a tiger team is,” she told him.
That feeling she was getting now was of Judd’s fingers round her throat.
Tiger teams were hired guns, essentially. Hired not to wipe out your enemies but to test the strength of your own defences. You set a tiger team to launch a simulated attack: recruited hackers to stress-test security systems, assigned a wet-squad to put a bodyguard team through its paces, and so on. Earlier that year, she had herself overseen a Service-propelled assault on one of the city’s major utility providers, to verify concerns that the capital’s infrastructure was dangerously vulnerable to attack.
- excerpt from Real Tigers.Lamb threw River’s phone back at him. “Monteith’s crew was a tiger team. Hired by Judd. And you, you moron, played right into his hands.”
Marcus said, “So who whacked him?”
“That’s the thing about tigers, isn’t it? Some of them turn out to be real.”
“So who were they testing?” River asked. “Us or the Park?”
Lamb stared at him for what felt like a full minute and, Lamb being Lamb, might well have been, before starting to laugh. Still being Lamb, this was a full-body exercise: his frame shook, and his guffaws filled the room. Head flung back, he looked like an evil clown. Where a shirt button had popped, a hairy patch of stomach winked at the room.
“Jesus wept,” he said at last. “Sorry, but that is just so fucking funny. Us or the Park. You’ll be wanting a licence to kill next.” He wiped his eyes on his sleeve, and humour vanished. “Do you seriously think Judd wants to test how effective or secure Slough House is? He wants this place packed into a skip, and when I say ‘this place,’ I’m including you comedians.” - excerpt from Real Tigers.
Reading Mick Herron's Slough House books in quick succession does help you to stay familiar with the subplots which would be harder to remember if the previous one had been read a year ago. Book 3 Real Tigers has a commonality with Book 1 Slow Horses in that the main plot is instigated 'in-house.' Home Secretary Peter Judd (the Cabinet minister in charge of the Security Services) has arranged a 'tiger attack' which caused the kidnapping of Slough House's Catherine Standish with agent River Cartwright being blackmailed into a plot as he tries to rescue her. Cartwright is caught attempting to breach the security of MI5's Regent's Park head office due to the blackmail and Judd's real goal becomes clear, the disgrace and closure of Slough House. The kidnap plot goes wrong though and the 'tigers' turn real with a plot of their own.
Jackson Lamb, the slovenly & flatulent head of Slough House's motley crew, is all too familiar with the ways and means of bureaucratic backstabbing and incompetence. He marshals his forces to defuse the situation, to restore Cartwright's career and to rescue Standish. Will Minister Judd, First Desk Ingrid Tearney and Second Desk Diana Taverner be able to stop him?
The agents of Slough House, aka the "Slow Horses," are a group from the MI5 Security Service who for various reasons (e.g. bungled field assignments, alcoholism, poor social skills, etc.) have been shunted aside from head office or field operations and sent to work at their off-site location, a pre-retirement resting stop of paper pushing & electronic surveillance to keep them out of the way of their supposed betters.
I am especially enjoying this series now with having the background of seeing Season 1 of its television adaptation. The dark humour and the regular themes of the underdogs winning out against the monolith of cold-blooded bureaucracy is a real treat. The narration by regular Gerard Doyle in this audiobook edition was excellent as always.
Trivia and Links
Real Tigers could be the basis for a Season 3 of the Apple TV+ series Slow Horses (2022 - ?), if the show is renewed after Season 2. You can watch the Season 2 trailer (based on Book 2 "Dead Lions") on YouTube
here. You can watch the Season 1 trailer (based on Book 1 "Slow Horses") on YouTube
here. -
Consistently funny, and thrilling enough to keep me reading long past my bedtime. After the very implausible events of Dead Lions, the plot here returns to at least a semblance of verisimilitude, and also concentrates on London: it all felt more solid and you sense that the series has hit its stride now. I continue to find Herron's writing, with its constant intercutting between different events and engineered cliffhangers, somewhat artificial, but I can't deny that it's effective. The political background is so much fun: I had to keep double-checking that this was in fact written in 2018, so accurate is the portrayal of ‘Peter Judd’, Herron's stand-in for the loathsome Boris Johnson, who would go on to fulfil all of Herron's darkest predictions of his personality. (I did feel some confusion however, since this book also makes a couple of references to London's ‘Boris bikes’, apparently implying that Johnson himself exists in this world…? Don't think about it too hard.) These make such nice palate-cleansers between other books, and I am deliberately pacing myself so I'll always have one on hand when I need one.
-
I have really come to love this series. Slough House is where the 'slow horses' are put out to pasture. Failed spooks are given boring and repetitive work in the hope that they will resign. But every now and then something comes along that shakes up their world. In this case Catherine Standish, a recovering alcoholic, is kidnapped by a former soldier. To have her released he wants 'someone she trusts' to break into Regents Park (where the real spooks work) and steal a file. She picks River Cartwright and he gets pretty close, but no cigar!
But because nothing is ever as it seems the former soldier is not the one pulling the strings. There is an elaborate plot afoot involving the new Home Secretary, Peter Judd, an odious man with higher ambitions and the head (Dame Ingrid Tearney) and second desk of MI5 (Diana Taverner). Things soon go to shit and the leader of the slow horses, the foul mouthed and foul farting Jackson Lamb, must go in to bat for his troops. Much as he disparages them internally, no one outside gets to mess with his people. Lamb still has his finger on the pulse and in every pie and seeks to outwit the real spies at their own game.
The dialogue is exquisitely sharp and often darkly humorous. I love the characters. Failed as they are they all have certain strengths and can pull together, under the dubious leadership of Lamb, to protect their own. The cast of characters seems to change slightly with each book which helps to keep it fresh, but they are certainly what makes this series so awesome. -
![Terence M - [Quot libros, quam breve tempus!]](https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/users/1712357414i/6658001._UY200_CR4,0,200,200_.jpg)
3.5-Stars - I liked it more than not
Real Tigers (Slough House, #3) by Mick Herron
Audiobook - 10:49 Hours - Narration by Seán Barrett
The following will serve as my review for "Real Tigers":
Extracts from my listening activity:
June 28, 2022 - @ 50%. "I have reached CD 06, half-way through my return to the "Slough House" series, and I am delighted with this story so far. Of interest is the fact that, in my opinion, none of the 'good guys' individually is really likeable, yet one easily becomes committed to the 'good guys' as a group" (Audible Audio Edition)
July 8, 2022 – @ 92%. "I am afraid that the goings-on of the "Slow Horses" all became a bit tedious by the time I had listened to 10 hours of this book. Mostly I liked it, but the implausibility of the plot/storyline started to get to me and I was tiring of the rudeness and corny humour of Jackson Lamb and his crew. The narration by Seán Barrett was excellent." (Audible Audio Edition) -
Tercera novela de espías perteneciente a la serie de La casa de la ciénaga, que es el lugar al que van a parar los agentes del MI5 condenados al ostracismo, a desempeñar tediosos trabajos burocráticos con la esperanza de que se aburran y dejen el servicio.
Me lo paso pipa leyendo estas novelas, donde siempre se lía muy gorda, la acción no decae y los personajes son estupendos, con un Jackson Lamb a la cabeza que no puede ser más zafio, grosero y asquerosito, pero también muy efectivo.
Muy entretenido! -
It’s a spy house full of losers, has-beens, outcasts, discards. Author Herron writes a cast of baggage-ridden characters that seem irredeemable. They are so full of flaws they actually become engaging. Verbal barbs come pecking down like a hail storm while the plot becomes more complicated. There are so many plot changes I can’t remember what I originally thought was going on.
This latest in the series is a mixture of British politics and subterfuge which goes to show that clandestine and deceitful actions aren’t limited to the international spy game. It’s a very complicated plot and a slightly different take on spies vs terrorists.
3 stars for plot cohesiveness. 5 stars for writing. 4 stars because humor and the ending. -
This is the 3rd book in the 'Slough House' series by author Mick Herron. Slough House is a dumping ground for British intelligence agents who have messed up a case. The "slow horses," are given menial tasks rather than be trusted on bigger cases.
The more I read of this series the more I like it. Another adventure for the rejected spies that is full of humour and a decent plot. On to the next book in the series.
I would like to thank Net Galley and John Murray Press for supplying a copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review. -
I think this series is getting better and better. The writing is reliably sharp and funny, the pace is breakneck, the characters are becoming people that I care about, and the plot is entirely believable - not that I know much (anything) about the world of espionage, but I do know a thing or two about working in a hyper-political government department...
All the action takes place over a period of about 40 hours, starting at knock-off time on the day that Standish runs into her past. By lunchtime two days later, there are bodies all over the place and the landscape at MI5, and Slough House in particular, may have changed forever.
In the wrap-up there are two key questions left unanswered for me, which just makes me want to get my hands on #4 ASAP. -
“So. It seems your crew had themselves quite a little party yesterday.”
“You know what it’s like. Sun’s shining, school’s out. Seemed a shame to keep them cooped up inside.”
“Quite a lot of bodies littering our facility near Hayes.”
“Sounds like my local,” Lamb said. “Saturday nights get a bit hectic.”
Bit of an understatement from Jackson Lamb: this episode has the highest body count in the series so far.
Mick Herron continues to use zoology analogies for his titles. His slow horses who played dead lions in their second outing as they hunted for sleeping cicadas must prove themselves real tigers to survive the third attempt to redeem their failed careers in the Secret Service. The boss of their zoo garden, Jackson Lamb, has serious doubts about their abilities and is not coy about airing them, motivational-wise:
“An ex-soldier with a screw loose versus you lot. A bunch of losers with fewer moves than an arthritic tortoise. Wonder how this is going to pan out?”
>>><<<>>><<<
Slough House is fast becoming my favourite modern spy series. Of course, this is the only modern spy series that I am currently reading, but still ...
I find myself looking forward to the outrageous behaviour and politically incorrect zingers from Jackson Lamb, a veritable black belt in sarcastic delivery. His style rubs off on the other residents of Slough House, who in turn slag each other off in imitation of the boss. Their rundown office houses a sorry collection of failed spies put out to pasture away from MI5 headquarters in London and forced to drudgery and pointless work on a daily basis in the hope they will throw in the towel and resign.
By this third episode, I have come to enjoy the company of River Cartwright, Louisa Guy, Catherine Standish, Shirley Dander, Marcus Longridge, even geeky and smarmy Roddy Ho.
The real merit of Mick Herron is to somehow turn these sorry clowns into human beings, to find the way the black comedy of their fumbling ways becomes an earnest struggle to solve major crises that threaten either MI5 or the country at large.
This happens mostly when the pratfalls and the vile banter become deadly, a reminder that a spy still has to put his or her life on the line in service to their country.
“You’ll be fine. Getting shot’s like falling off a log. It doesn’t take practice.”
Despite Jackson Lamb’s casual dismissal, his slow horses are closer than ever to final and brutal retirement when they become pawns in the struggle for power between the Service heads, the government and freelance security agents. To simply survive, they must put away personal depression and character shortcomings in order to become a team.
Fat chance of that!
What it mostly felt like was an unholy mess, but there was nothing unusual about that.
>>><<<>>><<<
For those readers unfamiliar with the series, who might find my zoology-intensive introduction confusing, a tiger team is spy jargon for a team of undercover operatives sent to infiltrate a secure facility in order to test its vulnerabilities.
One of the slow horses, probably considered by the secret sponsors of the operation as the most vulnerable cogs in the system, is kidnapped in order to force another slow horse to attempt to steal confidential documents from the MI5 headquarters.
Of course, the first victim is the only reliable and level-headed resident of Slough House [Standish] and the poor sap who falls into the trap is the eager to prove himself Cartwright, who always jumps before he thinks.
We are left with the drunken master Lamb, depressive Guy, gambling Marcus and drug dependent Shirley to save the day, while Ho fiddles as usual with his computers.
Paperwork was how the Service, like every corporation, ran. Paperwork, not clockwork, kept the wheels turning. And this happened because nobody had yet thought of a convincing way of stopping it happening; or not convincing enough to convince a civil servant. Who were notoriously set in their ways, and displayed all the flexibility of a rhinoceros in a corridor.
The key to the case is to be found in the new secret facility for storage of sensitive MI5 documents. The tiger team is going rogue, refusing to hand over the hostage and killing their own boss. They are demanding now access to the Grey Files, a compendium of far-fetched conspiracy theories. Lamb’s team is assigned as babysitters but, once again, they are just pawns in a bigger three-sided game between the First Desk Ingrid Tierney, Second Desk Diana Taverner and Home Secretary Peter Judd, whose fictional biography steers hilariously and slanderously close to that of a certain Boris J.
>>><<<>><<<
I put the book on the fast track, because I just got hold of the third season of the Apple TV adaptation. I’m glad for my decision, because the lecture was fast and hilariously chaotic while the TV version makes several changes in the script that kept in the scandalous verbiage of Jackson Lamb, with Gary Oldman as a solid cast choice, but toned down some of the more anti-establishment and less sensitive sections from the book.
I plan to continue with the book series, and with season four of the streaming movie. -
Favorite quotes:
"Fate was the kind of attack dog you didn't want to taunt."
"Lamb was as tightly wrapped as a fart in a colander."
"Even fast horses finish at the knacker's yard. That slow horses get there first was one of life's little ironies. He finished his tea and reached for his phone."
"Computers talk to each other [...] that's what they are for. Your generation can't boil an egg without going online. You rely on them for everything. But you tend to overlook their major function which is that they store information, but only in order to divulge it."
"Electronic poaching had replaced the nuclear threat as the big fear. The Service like to steal but it hated being robbed."
"He's in MI-5 not the Famous Five" is a reference to the series of books about five child sleuths who enjoyed adventures by Enid Blyton. Also, "You're in the Secret Service, not the Secret Seven" refers to another of Enid Blyton's highly popular series about a younger set of child sleuths.
I was truly impressed by the descriptions and self-talk of a recovering alcoholic provided with wine while in captivity. She reasons, "Eating would disturb the unity of the tray. If she ate the sandwich, the apple, or the flapjack, or drank the water she would bring the wine into focus. So it was best if she left things as they were allowing the wine to blend into the background. If she continued not to notice it its threat would be neutralized, it would offer no danger." It was tantalizing waiting to see if she would cave while truly cheering her on and wanting her to hold out and hold on to the success she had achieved thus far.
"They sat in silence, their anger trying out different shapes."
Here is an example of place and atmosphere setting that I enjoyed so much: "They stood for a moment, breathing hard, as yet another train went past, casting brief slices of light through the gaps in the breeze-block wall, and rustling through the litter with its draught. And then it was dark once more, and the air hung heavy with heat, and the distant wail of the city throbbed and stammered." -
I read
Mick Herron's
Real Tigers (2016) (Slough House #3) in 2018 and then, as part of a reread of the entire series, reread it in 2022. Second time round it was better than ever.
If you love
John le Carré's Smiley books then you will find much to love in
Mick Herron's Slough House series which contain the similar level of clever and compelling prose, memorable characters, and deftly handled plots.
Jackson Lamb, the head of Slough House, is a magnificent creation. Think of a brutal Falstaff in charge of a bunch of misfits and losers but one who, despite his appearance and attitude, is astute and a person to be reckoned with.
In
Real Tigers (Slough House #3) Lamb gets dragged into more high level machinations between his boss, head of 'Second Desk' Diana Taverner, and his boss's boss Dame Ingrid Tierney, the head of the service. Factor in the Boris Johnson-esque Peter Judd, currently Home Secretary, but with an eye on the PM's role, and the scene is set for some classic Jackson Lamb moments and another wonderful Slough House tale.
Jackson Lamb's team of "slow horses" get dragged straight into dangerous territory when one of their colleagues, Catherine Standish, is kidnapped by a former soldier and held hostage. This is the cue for another original and surprising plot, filled with some great twists, a sense of jeopardy, and some splendid humour.
These Slough House books have got the lot and, as I'm discovering, repay multiple reads.
5/5
London's Slough House is where disgraced MI5 operatives are reassigned to spend the rest of their spy careers pushing paper. But when one of these “slow horses” is kidnapped by a former soldier bent on revenge, the agents must breach the defenses of Regent’s Park to steal valuable intel in exchange for their comrade’s safety. The kidnapping is only the tip of the iceberg, however, as the agents uncover a larger web of intrigue that involves not only a group of private mercenaries but also the highest authorities in the Security Service. After years spent as the lowest on the totem pole, the slow horses suddenly find themselves caught in the midst of a conspiracy that threatens not only the future of Slough House, but of MI5 itself.
