Slow Horses

Slow Horses employs the action and pacing of a thriller, including the genre expectation of double-crossing and intrigue. The novel heavily utilizes generic tropes as misdirection, subterfuge, and a specifically British espionage jargon. At the same time, however, this novel and the series that follows it upends those conventional tropes, especially to challenge the traditional spy narrative themes of clearly delineated right and wrong, patriotism, and heroism.

Jackson Lamb’s character is reminiscent of previous down-on-their-luck spies in English spy literature, including Maurice Castle in Graham Greene’s The Human Factor or George Smiley in several of John le Carré’s novels. Indeed, Apple TV+’s adaptation of Slow Horses certainly played on the marked influence of the George Smiley novels in casting Gary Oldman, renowned for his 2011 portrayal of Smiley in Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. Unlike Greene or le Carré, Herron does not have a personal background in espionage, and it follows that his creation of a convincing spy world and characters draws on elements of iconic previous works likely to resonate with his audience, as well as independent research.

This sense of shared cultural points of reference is explicit, as Herron makes internal references and allusions to his literary influences in Slow Horses.