SUCKED HARD (FANTASY ADVENTURE HUMOROUS SCI-FI STORY): PART ONE

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. From Publishers Weekly Banished to London's Slough House—the junkyard for disgraced MI5 agents—for botching a high-profile training exercise, River Cartwright spends his days sifting through garbage and transcribing phone conversations in Herron's riveting spy thriller. His boss, Jackson Lamb, who governs Slough House as if it's his own kingdom, makes sure the slow horses know they'll never get back to high-profile work at Regent's Park. River, bored with his tedious assignments, discovers that one of his fellow agents has been lifting information from Robert Hobden, a well-known journalist. When a Muslim teenager is kidnapped and a video promising to decapitate him appears online, River wonders if it's connected to Hobden, who has ties to the extremist British Patriotic Party. Herron ( Smoke & Whispers ) avoids the easy cliché of misfits banding together to right a wrong, instead painting his slow horses as complex characters who are just as fallible as their faster counterparts. From Booklist Slough House is an “administrative oubliette” for British intelligence. Spooks who have screwed up in a big way are assigned there, and no one has ever been returned to real service. In spook speak, the denizens of Slough House are Slow Horses, objects of scorn, “fridge magnets.” River Cartwright, the ostensible protagonist of this crackling good spy thriller-farce, wants to be the first Slow Horse to force his own resurrection to MI5, and he sees his chance when an apparently inept right-wing group kidnaps a Pakistani youth and threatens to behead him on a live webcast. Saying more about the plot might spoil the fun. Herron’s sixth novel is filled with acidic wit and engaging misdirection, and readers will need to adjust to his narrative style; but the rewards are great. Slow Horses is a fine thriller with enough suspense, double-dealing, and mayhem for thriller devotees; but it’s also a wonderfully funny, farcical, deeply cynical skewering of politics, bureaucrats, turf wars, and the Great Game. Welcome to the thrilling and unnervingly prescient world of the Slow Horses. This team of MI5 agents is united by one common bond: They've screwed up royally and will do anything to redeem themselves. This special tenth-anniversary deluxe edition of a modern classic includes a foreword by the author, discussion questions for book clubs, and an exclusive short story featuring the slow horses. "Mick Herron never tells a suspense story in an expected way, which is why his new novel, Reconstruction, reads as much like a puzzle mystery as it does a thriller... unpleasant things are bound to happen, and they do — but not until Herron has finished surprising us... there is no hiding under the desk." - The New York TimesLet us be clear about this much at least: Slough House is not in Slough, nor is it a house...Slough House is Jackson Lamb’s kingdom; a dumping ground for members of the intelligence service who’ve screwed up: left a secret file on a train, blown a surveillance, or become drunkenly unreliable. They’re the service’s poor relations – the Slow Horses – and bitterest among them is River Cartwright, whose days are spent transcribing mobile phone conversations. But when a young man is abducted, and it’s threatened that he’ll be beheaded 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 involved has their own agenda ...And unless the slow horses can prove they’re not as useless as they’re thought to be, a young man’s death is going to echo around the world. Now an Apple Original series streaming on Apple TV starring Gary Oldman and Kristin Scott Thomas. Welcome to the thrilling and unnervingly prescient world of the slow horses. This team of MI5 agents is united by one common bond: They've screwed up royally and will do anything to redeem themselves. This special tenth-anniversary deluxe edition of a modern classic includes a foreword by the author, discussion questions for book clubs, and an exclusive short story featuring the slow horses. London, England: Slough House is where 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 there. Maybe they botched an Op so badly they 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 have in common, though, is they 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. When a young man is abducted and his kidnappers threaten to broadcast his beheading live on the Internet, the slow horses see an opportunity to redeem themselves. But is the victim really who he appears to be? 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 beAnd what's the kidnappers' connection with a disgraced journalistAs the clock ticks on the execution, River finds that everyone has his own agenda 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 theyre 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 bottlenot 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 thereeven 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 whats the kidnappers connection with a disgraced journalist? As the clock ticks on the execution, River finds that everyone has his own agenda. Slough House is a dumping ground for British intelligence agents who've screwed up a case - say by leaving a secret file on a train, or blowing a surveillance. River Carter, 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 is the kidnapper's connection with a disgraced journalist? As the clock ticks on the execution, River find that everyone has his own agenda Intelligence agent River Cartwright, after being banished from high-profile work for incompetence, suspects a prominant British journalist with ties to an extremist party of being behind the kidnapping of a Muslim teenager Intelligence agent River Cartwright, after being banished from high-profile work for incompetence, suspects a prominent British journalist with ties to an extremist party of being behind the kidnapping of a Muslim teenager