From the Bookshelf of Reading the Detectives…

Dead Lions (Slough House, #2)

Mick Herron

Start date: December 14, 2018

Finish date: January 4, 2018

Discussion: Buddy reads

Why we're reading this: Second in the popular Slough House series, following on from our buddy read of the first book.
[close] Second in the popular Slough House series, following on from our buddy read of the first book.

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What Members Thought

Jan 29, 2017 Susan rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

This is the second 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. Slough House is presided over by Jackson Lamb, who, although now he appears to be slovenly, unkempt and cruelly sarcastic, 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 respon ...more

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Feb 22, 2019 Susan rated it it was amazing

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Mar 28, 2013 Maine Colonial rated it really liked it

At MI5, if you screw up in a big way––like become a blackout drunk or punch out another agent in the lunchroom or let highly confidential material fall into the hands of the press––then you end up being moved from Regent's Park to Slough House. At Slough House, the "Slow Horses" are given endless, dull paperwork, in hopes they'll give up and resign.

In case the humiliation of becoming a Slow Horse, and the tedium of the work aren't enough encouragement to quit, Slough House boss Jackson Lamb turn At MI5, if you screw up in a big way––like become a blackout drunk or punch out another agent in the lunchroom or let highly confidential material fall into the hands of the press––then you end up being moved from Regent's Park to Slough House. At Slough House, the "Slow Horses" are given endless, dull paperwork, in hopes they'll give up and resign.

In case the humiliation of becoming a Slow Horse, and the tedium of the work aren't enough encouragement to quit, Slough House boss Jackson Lamb turns up the discomfort level with a constant stream of insult, demeaning assignments (like picking up his takeout orders) and crude gross-outs, like aiming his deadly flatulence directly at his charges.

The current denizens of Slough House are made of sterner stuff, though, and won't be pushed into resigning. Or maybe it's just that they're too stubborn or stupid to realize the movers will never be taking them back to Regent's Park.

As the story begins, an old street agent named Dickie Bow is found dead on a bus near Oxford. Lamb figures out that is murder and that it's connected with a Cold War Russian spy named Alexander Popov––who may be real or may be a fiction created by MI5 back in the day. Nobody at Regent's Park would want to be bothered with this, Lamb thinks. They're far too busy spying and conducting disinformation campaigns on each other; probably not all that interested in some washed-up low-level stringer agent from a war they've all but forgotten. Lamb harnesses all the Slow Horses to work on the case; all, that is, except for the two who get a call from the Park to provide protection to a visiting Russian oil baron, Arkady Pushkin, while he's in London for some high-profile meetings and possible recruitment by the Park.

Did you notice that Alexander Popov and Arkady Pashkin have the same initials? One of the Slow Horses, Catherine Standish, does, and that worries her. At first, Lamb is dismissive: "Give me a break. I've got the same initials as . . . Jesus Lhrist, but I don't go on about it. This isn't an Agatha Christie." You'd better believe it isn't an Agatha Christie, and Lamb's crudity isn't the half of it. As Catherine's suspicions ferment, the plot bubbles with sleeper spies, Russian gangsters, riot in the streets, guns, explosions and mayhem in London's newest, loftiest skyscraper.

It can be a little difficult at times to keep all the Slow Horses straight, and the plot loses a bit of steam in the middle, but get past this and enjoy Herron's writing. It's full of style and cynical humor, and the last third has all the punch-your-lights-out action of a movie thriller––though the Slow Horses' nonexistent budget means that chases are on foot or bicycle, and weaponry is in short supply.

Slow Horses, Herron's introduction to the Slough House crew, was a finalist for the Crime Writers Association Steel Dagger Award in 2010.

Note: I received a publisher's review copy of Dead Lions. ...more

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Feb 14, 2019 Susan in NC rated it really liked it · review of another edition

4.5 stars - another excellent thriller with the Slow Horses of Slough House, where MI5 screw-ups go to die - or give up and quit.

This book opens with the death of Dickie Bow, a former Berlin hand who’s been out of the spy biz for decades, but Jackson Lamb, slovenly but brilliant chief of Slough House, is still suspicious. He begins to investigate on his own, as sleazy Spider Webb, an ambitious Regent’s Park suit, seconds a couple Slow Horses to try a little freelancing in bringing a Russian olig ...more

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Apr 13, 2025 Christine PNW rated it really liked it

I'm liking this series better with each book. Off to buy books 3 & 4. ...more

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Dec 29, 2018 Frances rated it really liked it

The second in the Slough House series is every bit as fun and convoluted as the first. This is a British spy thriller, set in the present day and featuring a team of "Slow Horses", failed MI5 agents that have been sent to Slough House and given dull and pointless tasks in the hopes that they will resign. And yet, once again, they find themselves at the centre of a Cold War conspiracy which only they seem able to sort.

Read this series from the beginning! ...more

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May 28, 2022 Marcella rated it really liked it

Shelves: fiction, 2022-100-book-challenge

It seems if I'm going to like any spy novels, it's going to be ones where all the characters are fuck-ups, from the very bottom to the head of MI5. I love how Herron refuses to give us a James Bond hero for River Cartwright: despite his looks, class, family legacy, and position as protagonist that all scream for him to be a hero, he still gets everything hopelessly wrong, and that seems much more like our un-Hollywood reality. The audiobook narrator Michael Healy does a great job with different ...more

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