Slow Horses: Books vs. Series
Slow Horses is Will Smith's 2022 series, adapted from books by Mick Herron. It stars Gary Oldman, Kristin Scott Thomas, Jack Lowden and Saskia Reeves and ran for 6 seasons and 36 episodes on Apple TV.
From Books Adapted
Which books each season covers
Season six combines two books
The first five seasons follow Mick Herron's first five Slough House books in order. Season six combines the next two. The series keeps the title Slow Horses throughout.
| Season | Book |
|---|---|
| 1 | Slow Horses, book one |
| 2 | Dead Lions, book two |
| 3 | Real Tigers, book three |
| 4 | Spook Street, book four |
| 5 | London Rules, book five |
| 6 | Joe Country and Slough House, books six and seven |
| 7* | Bad Actors, book eight |
| 8* | Clown Town, book nine |
| A guide, not an exact match: shows move scenes and storylines between books and seasons. | |
* Announced by Apple, not aired yet. Season six began in September 2026.
Where the book came from
Lamb's behavior hides his past
Lamb's insults and personal habits were in the books before Gary Oldman played him. Herron describes them as a mask for his past. Lamb despises the intelligence world and his own part in it. Herron leaves much of that history unexplored, making the question of what happened to Lamb part of the continuing story.
There's more to the story
There are nine books in the main Slough House story, but the story doesn't end there. Mick Herron has also written shorter Slough House stories, collected in Standing by the Wall, including The List, The Marylebone Drop and The Catch.
How everyone voted
- Books or series, which was better?
- 100% believe the series is better than the books. 1 answer
The books, in order
Details
- Author
- Mick Herron
- Year
- 2010
- Pages
- 400
- Audiobook length
- 12 hr 10 min
- Narrator
- Gerard Doyle
- Series
- Slough House, book 1
After a disastrous training exercise, MI5 officer River Cartwright is exiled to Slough House, where disgraced agents perform tedious work under the abrasive Jackson Lamb. When a young man is abducted and threatened with a public execution, River and his fellow outcasts see a chance to prove they still belong in the field.
Details
- Author
- Mick Herron
- Year
- 2013
- Pages
- 384
- Audiobook length
- 11 hr 25 min
- Narrator
- Gerard Doyle
- Series
- Slough House, book 2
Jackson Lamb becomes suspicious when retired spy Dickie Bow dies on a bus far from his usual haunts. As the slow horses investigate, a routine assignment involving a Russian oligarch draws them into buried Cold War secrets and the possible return of a legendary Soviet agent.
Details
- Author
- Mick Herron
- Year
- 2016
- Pages
- 352
- Audiobook length
- 10 hr 58 min
- Narrator
- Gerard Doyle
- Series
- Slough House, book 3
When Catherine Standish is kidnapped, her captors demand classified information from MI5 in exchange for her release. The slow horses must breach Regent’s Park and steal the requested files, only to discover that the abduction is part of a larger struggle reaching into the highest levels of British intelligence.
Details
- Author
- Mick Herron
- Year
- 2017
- Pages
- 336
- Audiobook length
- 10 hr 32 min
- Narrator
- Gerard Doyle
- Series
- Slough House, book 4
A bombing at a crowded shopping center sends the slow horses searching for the people behind the attack. At the same time, River Cartwright fears that his grandfather David, a retired MI5 legend slipping into dementia, may possess secrets that make him a target.
Details
- Author
- Mick Herron
- Year
- 2018
- Pages
- 368
- Audiobook length
- 11 hr 27 min
- Narrator
- Gerard Doyle
- Series
- Slough House, book 5
A string of apparently random attacks unsettles Britain while MI5 leadership faces political pressure from every direction. At Slough House, Jackson Lamb’s agents are occupied by personal troubles and an attempt on Roddy Ho’s life until the separate crises begin drawing them toward the same threat.
Details
- Author
- Mick Herron
- Year
- 2019
- Pages
- 368
- Audiobook length
- 11 hr 34 min
- Narrator
- Gerard Doyle
- Series
- Slough House, book 6
The agents of Slough House are carrying old wounds as new recruit Lech Wicinski tries to learn who sabotaged his career. When the man responsible for killing one of the slow horses resurfaces, Jackson Lamb sends his team into the winter countryside to settle unfinished business.
Details
- Author
- Mick Herron
- Year
- 2021
- Pages
- 336
- Audiobook length
- 10 hr 13 min
- Narrator
- Gerard Doyle
- Series
- Slough House, book 7
Slough House has vanished from official records, and members of Jackson Lamb’s team are dying under unusual circumstances. As political, financial, and intelligence interests close around them, the slow horses must determine whether their paranoia is justified before more names disappear from the roster.
Details
- Author
- Mick Herron
- Year
- 2022
- Pages
- 368
- Audiobook length
- 10 hr 51 min
- Narrator
- Gerard Doyle
- Series
- Slough House, book 8
A Downing Street adviser disappears, and former MI5 chief Claude Whelan is ordered to find her. His search points back toward Diana Taverner at Regent’s Park just as a senior Russian intelligence officer slips away from his escort, leaving Jackson Lamb and the slow horses to add their own chaos to the crisis.
Details
- Author
- Mick Herron
- Year
- 2025
- Pages
- 352
- Audiobook length
- 12 hr 4 min
- Narrator
- Gerard Doyle
- Series
- Slough House, book 9
While awaiting medical clearance, River Cartwright investigates a missing book from the library left by his late grandfather, former MI5 officer David Cartwright. At Regent’s Park, Diana Taverner tries to contain the consequences of a secret operation from the Troubles, drawing Slough House into a conflict between the Service’s past and future.
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