Second paragraph of third chapter:

‘Does it involve rubbish?’ Lamb asked.

We thoroughly binged all of the TV series of Slow Horses at the end of last year, and I managed to score the complete set of books off eBay for a decent price and am now getting into them (having finished Rivers of London, another unusual Thamesbank-set law enforcement sequence).

The first novel is the one about far right goons who threaten to behead an Asian British kid live on the internet; our heroes, the rejects of the British secret service, are at the forefront of the battle to find the kidnappers and recuse the kid before it is all too late.

The TV show was pretty faithful to the book, which is tense and taut, with some fantastic characterisation, particularly of Jackson Lamb, played so memorably by Gary Oldman. Some of the plot twists are slightly different between page and screen, but the story is very recognisable, and some minor points are explained – for instance, why do Gary Oldman and Kristin Scott Thomas always meet at that bench by the canal?

Well worth getting hold of, even (especially?) if you haven’t seen the show. You can get Slow Horses here.