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thriller
Series · spy thriller
Slough House
The Slough House series by Mick Herron has 13 known books (13 published) and is best read in publication order, starting with Slow Horses (2010).
- Books
- 13 known books (9 novels + 4 novellas)
- Published
- 13
- First published
- 2010
- Status
- ongoing
- Shelved under
- Thriller
- Last checked
Start here: Slow Horses (2010) — then read straight through in publication order.
Reading order
The date order of published books and any announced future entries — the default way to read the series.
- Book 1:
Slow Horses
Slow Horses (2010, 333 pages) opens Mick Herron's Slough House series, introducing the vile, brilliant, permanently flatulent Jackson Lamb and the burnt-out MI5 rejects he runs from a humiliating backwater office. It sets the template the whole series follows: black comedy, Whitehall backstabbing from the real Service at Regent's Park, and a willingness to kill off major characters without warning.
Alternative text for cover: Cover of Slow Horses - Book 2:
Dead Lions
The second Slough House novel, Dead Lions (2013, 364 pages), continues Jackson Lamb's slow horses through another operation that Regent's Park's careerists have botched and need deniable bodies to clean up -- the same dark comic engine that drives the whole series.
Alternative text for cover: Cover of Dead Lions - Book 3:
The List
The List is the first of the series' novellas, a shorter 2015 entry (112 pages) that slots into the reading order between Dead Lions and Real Tigers. Like the other Slough House novellas, it is an optional but rewarding detour, filling in backstory the main novels only gesture at.
Alternative text for cover: Cover of The List - Book 4:
Real Tigers
Real Tigers (2016, 368 pages) is the third full-length Slough House novel, following the disgraced slow horses as Regent's Park's institutional scheming pulls them into another high-stakes operation -- with Herron's usual disregard for which characters survive it.
Alternative text for cover: Cover of Real Tigers - Book 5:
Spook Street
Spook Street (2017, 352 pages) is book four of Slough House, arriving between Real Tigers and London Rules in publication order. It keeps faith with the series' inversion of glamorous spy fiction: Jackson Lamb's second-rate exiles doing the Service's dirty, deniable work.
Alternative text for cover: Cover of Spook Street - Book 6:
London Rules
London Rules (2018, 352 pages) is the fifth Slough House novel, sitting in the reading order just before the novella The Marylebone Drop. Herron's satirical eye for Whitehall backstabbing and his thriller instinct for pace are both on full display as Lamb's slow horses get dragged into another operation gone wrong.
Alternative text for cover: Cover of London Rules - Book 7:
The Marylebone Drop
The Marylebone Drop is a 2018 novella (128 pages) that fits into the Slough House timeline between London Rules and Joe Country. Herron uses these shorter entries to flesh out corners of the story -- including Jackson Lamb's Cold War-era past -- that the main novels don't have room for.
Alternative text for cover: Cover of The Marylebone Drop - Book 8:
Joe Country
Running 352 pages, Joe Country (2019) is the sixth main Slough House novel, following on from The Marylebone Drop. It's another turn of Herron's signature machine: MI5's discarded officers, led by the foul-mouthed Jackson Lamb, pulled from their humiliating desk jobs into a real, unpredictable operation.
Alternative text for cover: Cover of Joe Country - Book 9:
The Catch
The Catch is a short 2020 novella slotting into the Slough House timeline between Joe Country and the seventh novel, Slough House. It's one of several novella-length side entries -- alongside The List, The Marylebone Drop and Standing by the Wall -- that fill in backstory between the main books, and all are collected together in the omnibus Standing by the Wall.
Alternative text for cover: Cover of The Catch - Book 10:
Slough House
Slough House, the seventh main-line novel (2021, 312 pages), takes its title from the series itself -- the humiliating MI5 backwater where Jackson Lamb's screw-ups and burnouts are exiled. It follows The Catch and precedes Bad Actors, continuing Herron's dark-comic run of botched Regent's Park operations and expendable characters.
Alternative text for cover: Cover of Slough House - Book 11:
Bad Actors
Bad Actors (2022, 360 pages) is the eighth Slough House novel, sitting between the seventh book and the novella Standing by the Wall in the reading order. Herron keeps mining Whitehall's scheming careerists for both satire and genuine plot danger, with Jackson Lamb's slow horses once again doing the Service's deniable dirty work.
Alternative text for cover: Cover of Bad Actors - Book 12:
Standing by the Wall
Standing by the Wall is a 2022 novella (312 pages) that falls between Bad Actors and Clown Town in the Slough House timeline, and lends its title to the omnibus collecting all five of the series' novellas. Like the others, it digs into backstory -- notably Jackson Lamb's Cold War years in Berlin -- that the full-length novels leave largely unexplored.
Alternative text for cover: Cover of Standing by the Wall - Book 13:
Clown Town
Clown Town (2025, 335 pages) is the most recent Slough House novel to date, following the novella Standing by the Wall as the ninth full-length entry. It continues the series' dark, unpredictable run of MI5's discarded officers being pulled out of their humiliating desk jobs and into operations that Regent's Park's careerists have quietly botched.
Alternative text for cover: Cover of Clown Town
About the Slough House series
Slough House is where MI5 dumps the officers it can't fire but won't trust with real work: the screw-ups, addicts and burnouts, exiled to humiliating desk jobs under the vile, brilliant, permanently flatulent Jackson Lamb. Mick Herron's spy novels invert the glamorous-espionage template completely -- his "slow horses" are second-rate by design, and the series' dark comedy comes from watching them get pulled into real, high-stakes operations anyway, usually because Regent's Park (the actual Service, run by scheming careerists more dangerous to Lamb's team than any foreign agent) has botched something and needs deniable bodies. Herron writes with a satirist's eye for Whitehall backstabbing and a thriller writer's instinct for pace, and he kills off major characters with a casualness that keeps every book genuinely unpredictable.
It's for readers who want their spy fiction funny, cynical about institutions, and willing to treat its characters as expendable -- le Carre's moral seriousness crossed with a much blacker sense of humour. The series is the basis for Apple TV+'s Slow Horses, starring Gary Oldman as Lamb, which has driven a big surge of new readers to the books.
Frequently asked questions
How many Slough House books are there?
There are 9 main Slough House novels, from Slow Horses (2010) to Clown Town (2025), plus 5 shorter novellas that fit between the novels: The List, The Marylebone Drop, The Catch, The Last Dead Letter, and Standing by the Wall.
What order should I read the Slough House books in?
Publication order, starting with Slow Horses. The novellas slot in at specific points in the timeline (see how_to_read), but they're optional extras -- new readers can start with just the nine main novels.
Is there a new Slough House book coming?
No new novel has been confirmed as of August 2026. Clown Town (2025) is the most recent main-line entry.
Is Slough House the same as Slow Horses?
Slow Horses is the title of the first novel and also the general nickname for Mick Herron's series (and the Apple TV+ show); Slough House is both the building where the disgraced agents work and the title of the seventh novel.
Is the Slough House series related to a TV show?
Yes. Apple TV+'s Slow Horses, starring Gary Oldman as Jackson Lamb, adapts the novels roughly one book per season and has run since 2022.
If you like the Slough House series
Reading order last verified .