Dead Lions

Slough House, Book 2

By: Mick Herron

Narrated by: Gerard Doyle

Length: 11 hrs and 25 mins

Publisher's summary

The CWA Gold Dagger Award-winning British espionage novel about disgraced MI5 agents who inadvertently uncover a deadly Cold War-era legacy of sleeper cells and mythic super spies.

The disgruntled agents of Slough House, the MI5 branch where washed-up spies are sent to finish their failed careers on desk duty, are called into action to protect a visiting Russian oligarch whom MI5 hopes to recruit to British intelligence. While two agents are dispatched on that babysitting job, though, an old Cold War-era spy named Dickie Bow is found dead, ostensibly of a heart attack, on a bus outside of Oxford, far from his usual haunts.

But the head of Slough House, the irascible Jackson Lamb, is convinced Dickie Bow was murdered. As the agents dig into their fallen comrade's circumstances, they uncover a shadowy tangle of ancient Cold War secrets that seem to lead back to a man named Alexander Popov, who is either a Soviet bogeyman or the most dangerous man in the world. How many more people will have to die to keep those secrets buried?

©2022 Mick Herron (P)2022 Recorded Books

Great writing, great story

After reading the article about Mick Herron in the New Yorker, I knew I had to have a look. Extremely rewarding experience, including the audio.

Better Paced Than the First One/Great Narrator

I didn't think I would ever read fiction. I read a lot of non-fiction but have trouble with novels.
That said, I love Mick Herron's Slough House series (so far).
This second book is better paced than the first one; many of the things I disliked about the style of the first one (overly long descriptions for example) were absent in this book.

I will agree with those readers who say that, in the end, the resolutions feel a bit anti-climactic. But the characters are so much fun, it doesn't really matter.

The narrator is excellent and does appropriate voice modulation for different characters without resorting to a radio-drama.

Great Story magnificently told

Mick Herron rocks in his own understated yet compelling way. Man, this guy is good.

Great series!!!

I thoroughly loved this series. Tremendous character development of several very unique characters. And the heroes of the book are the underdogs - always fun to root for the underdogs!

My only criticism is the narration. On the one hand, I love his English accent and delivery. But he seldom changes voices for different characters, and it was often difficult to keep track of who was talking. And very often the scene and characters would change, but I didn’t realize it for awhile. I’ve never “jumped back 30 seconds” more often just to figure out who was talking. You have to pay close attention!

But definitely a great series, and I sure hope a book 9 is in the future!

Great story. Better than the show

Great story. Great narration. My only complaint was that the narrator switched storylines quite often without any pause which was very confusing and made me have to rewind a lot. I mostly liked the story better than the Apple TV version of Slow Horses season 2 with a few exceptions. It was very helpful to be listening to this while watching that however! It helped to understand the complexities better.

An Excellent Read

Love, love, love the Slough House series…and Doyle is the perfect narrator! Herron is remarkable; his writing is twisty and quite funny.

the losers save the day... again!

Just as good as the first Conor Lamb & River Cartwright book. It is engrossing, funny, full of pathos and very entertaining.

CHARACTERS!

There is nothing to dislike. This is just plain PERFECT. I only wish it was longer.

Well read by Doyle

In a few words, a great cast of characters, but would be easier to track in a book.

Jackson Lamb Rocks

I grew up in London and think the dialogue, vernacular and sense of humor in Slow Horses is spot on in terms of authenticity. Brilliant characters supported by brilliant writing.