Lame Horses

Mika Gerron has been called the "John Le Carré of our time" and a new hope of British literature, compared to Raymond Chandler and Kingsley Amis, Evelyn Waugh and Graham Greene, Elmore Leonard and Joseph Heller. Gerron's novels are a... "funny, bordering on farce, brilliantly cynical caricature of politicians, officials, infighting, and the Great Game" (Booklist), while the "lame horses," also known as the weaklings from Slough House, are disgraced counterintelligence operatives punished "for addiction to drugs, alcohol, or debauchery; for intrigue and betrayal; for dissatisfaction and doubts; and also for unforgivable blunders." Overseeing them is Jackson Lamb - the "Falstaff of our days" (Sunday Times) and "one of the most monstrous characters in contemporary literature" (Bernard Cornwell). But as it is known, there are no former "bureaucrats," and each weakling, engaged in meaningless paperwork, dreams of justifying themselves, returning to operational work in Regent's Park. And when terrorists kidnap a teenager and threaten to behead him live on "YouTube," the weaklings are not going to sit idly by…
 
A television series (two seasons at once) based on the first books of the "Slough House" cycle was put into production, with filming taking place in 2020–2021. Gary Oldman played the role of Jackson Lamb, and the series also featured Jack Lowden, Olivia Cooke, Jonathan Pryce, Kristin Scott Thomas, and Christopher Chung. The director of the first season was James Hawes ("Merlin," "Black Mirror," "Doctor Who," "The Alienist," "Raised by Wolves").