Dead Lions

Slough House, Book 2

De: Mick Herron

Narrado por: Gerard Doyle

London’s Slough House is where the washed-up MI5 spies go to while away what’s left of their 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, or got in the way of an ambitious colleague. Maybe they just got too dependent on the bottle—not unusual in this line of work. One thing these failed spies have in common, though, is they all want to be back in the action.

Now the Slow Horses have a chance at redemption. An old Cold War–era spy is found dead on a bus outside Oxford, far from his usual haunts. As the agents dig in to their fallen comrade’s circumstances, they uncover a shadowy tangle of ancient Cold War secrets. How many more people will have to die to keep those secrets buried?

©2022 Mick Herron (P)2022 Recorded Books

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 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.

As good as Slow Horses! Strongly recommended.

Mick Herron is brilliant. Listened to two of the series, looking forward to the rest. Great reader too.

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!

Excellent

Terrific narration—almost like watching it unfold visually—this has become my favorite spy series ever

Better than the first book!

This book is more exciting than the first which does not take anything away from the first book. We now know the characters better! This book has one of the best plots I have read in a long time. Also the humor makes this book easy to read as well as a serious plot and a commentary on modern times. Great book! Great plot! Great characters! most of all great narration!

This series is great!

Slow Horses book series and TV series are really exciting. I love Herron’s sarcastic sense of humor, can make for bursts of laughter(scaring my dogs😂) Although Jackson Lamb’s constant berating got a bit much at times but god he has some great zingers! I watched the TV series first,they stick pretty well to the books. It is so well done had to go searching for more waiting for next season. Sometimes got a little confusing so listening/watching cleared a lot up. Starting book 3 & forward while waiting for season 4. One of the BEST book to TV ever done.

Hoping the entire series is this good!

If you’ve watched the excellent Apple+ series, Slow Horses, you’ll be hard pressed to visualize anyone other than Gary Oldman as you read Dead Lion scenes involving the brilliant curmudgeon, Jackson Lamb. And that’s a good thing. In fact, I found myself remembering all of the faces of the Slough House MI5 agents, and my reading experience was improved by it. Author Mick Herron writes with biting wit and clever plotting. I hope Apple continues to produce every book in the series.

One of the most oddly charming facets of this particular book in the series is the fact that Lamb speaks with graphic disdain about every one of his agents as they struggle to prove themselves better than their reputations. Yet he makes a single comment in the book that indicates his true, protective feelings toward them. That’s the subtle, intelligent writing Herron consistently demonstrates. I look forward to revisiting Slough House in the future, and, despite the rather rough language throughout Dead Lions, I definitely recommend the read.

I’ll add that Gerard Doyle does a terrific job with the narration, never distracting from the story, regardless of how many characters he voices.

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.