I have read this book, and I’m making an attempt at reviewing it properly. That’s my first book review since forever.
Read my thoughts on Reviewing books.
I started reading it about a year or a two ago. And now I finished it!
Motivation
The urge to read this book was after watching TV Series Slow Horses. I have no idea why would I even pay attention to that, as I cannot say I enjoy the show too much.
I commited to watch it, but not because it’s awesome, or anything, but rather because… I already watch it, it’s cheap for me to tune in, and distract from my everyday’s routine.
Perhaps, I was just curious. Since getting a new Kindle book is essentially free for me, I decided to try reading it. That was in the same time I grabbed reading Silo series, too. Both I liked and both I didn’t like either. I think I just desperatey wanted to return to reading, anything, any shit. And these two were the obvious choices.
I gave up on Silo very qickly, and I gave up on this book too. The difference why I continued with reading this one is only because it was on my Kindle. The Silo was on my iPhone, in my iBooks.
I restarted reading from my 2nd Kindle. That’s the one I’ve got for Solomia about a decade ago, and I decided I can throw it in my tiny bag, the one that’s always with me most times. It’s quite compact, the Kindle, and so it’s a pleasure to have on me all the time! Bonus point: Solomia doesn’t like it, and it’s cheap to replace, so I don’t really care about it being broken or damaged in any other way. That helps a lot!
Also, living over a decade with the Kindle Touch, I realised that I really really really like the most basic version! It’s just better in every way. Perhaps by being worse. Less is more, you know.
At some point, I’ve reached some ‘I’ve read half of the book already, so perhaps I should just finish it then?’ point, and… I commited to finish it.
American Publisher
What made me going is the language, the writing style. It’s British enough for me to like it, and so I did.
However, first super weird thing that I noticed: the style is British, the grammar is American.
THE FUCK?!
Turned out, it was published in the US first, and it looks likoe wasn’t published in the UK at all, till some later point. I tried to untangle this mess, but realised I don’t care that muhc.
For the UK edition, look for John Murray (part of Hachette UK). My copy is a Soho Press / Soho Crime edition, it’s the American edition. That doesn’t necessarily mean the text was substantially “Americanized”; publishers can use different house styles, and spelling or punctuation differences alone don’t prove a full localization.
Spy Novels
I’d like to not insult anyone who likes this type of fiction. Well, perhaps, I have never read one before. I assume this one is an exception, meaning they aren’t even spies, the protagonists. Rather some losers.
But I think Spy Novel is some kind of shitty thing. I guess, I have tried to read some previosly. To my memory, I was never satisfied. Perhaps, there are some good ones, and I’m not yet aware of that kind of literature.
But in general, that’s not my cup of tea.
TV Series
It looks like this book is identical to the show. I don’t remember everything from the first film, but to my memory, it was identical, with some minor differences in points of view.
Reading Order
If I’m going to commit to read them all, I need to remember the reading order?
- Also, there are novellas and novels. What’s the difference and what’s the proper order for reading?
The following is copy-pasta from the search / consulting LLMs, but I intend to verify the correctness of this information. So, if I’d find any mistakes, I’d correct-edit them.
A novel is a full-length book; a novella is shorter. The novellas are optional side stories, but reading them in sequence gives you extra character and world details. For a straightforward reading order, follow the main novels and slot the novellas in like this:
| Order | Title |
|---|---|
| 1 | Slow Horses |
| 2 | Dead Lions |
| 2.5 | The List |
| 3 | Real Tigers |
| 4 | Spook Street |
| 5 | London Rules |
| 5.5 | The Marylebone Drop — titled The Drop in the UK |
| 6 | Joe Country |
| 6.5 | The Catch |
| 6.7 | The Last Dead Letter |
| 7 | Slough House |
| 8 | Bad Actors |
| 8.5 | Standing by the Wall |
| 9 | Clown Town |
The fractional numbers are reader-guide shorthand, not official numbering. The Last Dead Letter and The Catch are both short companion stories around Joe Country; sources differ on which to place first, so either order is fine. The four novellas through The Catch, plus Standing by the Wall, are collected in Standing by the Wall: The Collected Slough House Novellas. Check the contents for The Last Dead Letter too, since collections and editions can vary.
You can also skip the novellas and read just the nine novels in numerical order. The related novel The Secret Hours is best saved until after Bad Actors; it draws on the wider Slough House world rather than being the next numbered installment.
Conclusion
I’m not sure I’m going to read them all, theese books. It feels like a chore, a separate big task. That’s wierd: this is pure entertainment. Yet, I’m not really entertained by them.
Not that those are some complicated books that would make you smarter. It’s not Plato or Mark Aurelius. You miss nothing if you’d never read these books, their value is nil. If not negative: it’s a waste of time, mostly. The only reason that I found to read the first book (and perhaps the following books) is to train in English.
Honestly, I have no idea whether I’d go through them all. I think I’m not going to, but I may.
What I like about my new system with the books, there’s no need to have them finished. I can open any book, read for a while, and if I think I don’t want to continue, so be it. That feels like a much better reading system than what I had previously.
I hope to start reading some better books any time soon, but honestly, I’m so exhausted, even this shit feels complicated to me.