Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time


Quick Thinking (Also: yay, full cannonball!)

Slow Horses by Mick Herron

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River Cartwright is an MI5 prodigy; his grandfather was a famed higher-up in the organisation and he’s set to follow in the man’s footsteps. He’s nearly done with his training when his final exercise goes drastically wrong and before long, he is banished to Slough House, an MI5 outpost where those who have fallen into disgrace are sent. It’s unclear what the Slow Horses, as Slough House’s employees are known, do all day, except that it is tedious and senseless work. But then a young […]

The Spy Zoo

The Secret Hours by Mick Herron

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I picked up this book because it wasn’t supposed to be connected to the Slow Horses series. But I’ve read in other places that it might be? I don’t know, use your own judgment if you want to avoid the most minute of spoilers. Some writers are like exercising: you just have to push through the initial strain in order to get the good stuff. I hate exercising but I can’t think of a better example. I’ve tried Slow Horses several times and I can’t focus on Herron’s style. […]

Spies Vs. Spies

Slow Horses by Mick Herron

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In New York City, teachers charged with misconduct whose cases are still pending are not allowed in the classroom but also can’t be fired. They are instead assigned to a “reassignment center” that is commonly called the rubber room. The teachers stuck in the rubber room don’t have any real work to do, but they must show up day after day until their cases are resolved or they quit in frustration. Mick Herron’s Slow Horses, the first novel in the series of the same name, […]

double dipping with Rivers of London and River Cartwright

Amongst Our Weapons by Ben Aronovitch

Slow Horses by Mick Herron

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Once again, I am unhappy because I am all caught up in the Rivers of London universe. BUT- I thoroughly enjoyed this entry, and I was lucky enough to be able to dive right in to another irreverent British crime series! Amongst Our Weapons, the latest from Ben Aaronovitch, is a return to form. After the strange (but not entirely off-putting) Douglas Adams worship of False Value we have returned to the archaic and architectural weirdness of the rest of the Rivers of London series. It has […]

How do you decide which jerk to root for?

Slow Horses by Mick Herron

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This book is odd for two main reasons: there’s not one main character but a group; and none of them are really likeable. I know I’ve said this before, but I need at least one likeable character to root for! So this was an interesting read, but I don’t think I’ll seek out others in the series. The Slow Horses are MI5 agents who have been disgraced by mistakes and shuffled off to Slough House – a place for spies who have embarrassed themselves, but […]

2017 Ruins Everything.

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Slow Horses is not a bad book. If I’d read it a few years ago, I might’ve liked it enough to read the whole series. Alas, I read it in 2017 and my attempt to find some harmless escapist fiction was thwarted by a book that hit uncomfortably close to home. The “slow horses” referenced in the title are disgraced MI5 agents. Any agent who’s botched a mission is sent to Slough House to push papers around and monitor extremist websites. There are no ops […]



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