I've read (and watched): Slow horses

After watching Slow Horses in streaming, last night I turned the last page on the first book and, well...

First of all, reading the following phrase (finally catching the meaning from the TV Show) made me nod so deeply that I almost cracked my neck:

“If Moscow rules meant watch your back, London rules meant cover your arse, Moscow rules had been written on the streets, but London rules were devised in the corridors of Westminster, and the short version read: someone always pays."

Overall, it's a great spy story book, even though I found that the story is more about social drama and business cutthroats and less about espionage than I thought. So dear reader, if you thought about approaching this book thinking of a spy story like James Bond, with martinis (shaken, not stirred), beautiful blonde girls waiting to be seduced and a clear villain, well, better get another book, for this book is about shit, common and regular shit. Namely, the shit that happens in a governative agency, with insufferable cunts that plays by the London rules (Diana Taverner or James Webb anyone?) and not-so-innocent people caught in the middle, with dead eyes and an even dead-er spirit. It's about a "background" story, allow me this one, of a kidnapping and all the ruckus that happens around it.

It's about the underdogs, shunned by the company, actually making it for the first time in a long while, while having a few moments of glory. It's about failures and people feeling like shit, going over and over through their own mistakes.

I must admit that when I watched the TV Show I thought that Gary Oldman exaggerated the character of Jackson Lamb (and definitely had fun while doing so), but reading the book made me understand that no, it wasn't an exaggeration, it was a faithful and magistral representation of the character.

I loved all about this book, from the characters (some slightly changed from their representation in the TV show, others way different) to the story. Can't wait to read the second book!