Slow Horses books: How to read the Jackson Lamb novels in order

The show's cast includes Gary Oldman, Jack Lowden, Kristin Scott Thomas and Jonathan Pryce, with the latter getting a bigger role in this season's run, which features a particularly personal story for River.

Read on for everything you need to know about how to read the Jackson Lamb novels in order.

Is Slow Horses based on a book?

Yes – the television series is based on the Slough House series, a long-running collection of books featuring the brilliant but irascible Jackson Lamb, who's played on screen by Gary Oldman.

The first season of Slow Horses was based on the first book in the series, while the second season was based on the follow-up book, Dead Lions. Season 3, likewise, was based on the third book in the series, Real Tigers, with season 4 being based on the fourth book, Spook Street.

“Slow Horses was very faithful to the plot of the original book. That's probably less true in the next one for a variety of reasons,” Mick Herron told RadioTimes.com at the time of season 2's release. "All the big changes to plots have been made with either my happy agreement or, sometimes, at my suggestion.

"There will be changes, but for me the important things are the characters and the tone, which elides between comedy and sometimes tragedy.

"I've been very happy with the approach they're taking, and I certainly don't require the plotting to be step-to-step in line with the book, because what would be the point of that in the long run? We want to be more creative and carry on being creative with the adaptation."

How many books are there in the Slough House series?

There are currently eight books in the Slough House series, with the most recent being released on 10th May 2022.

Here's the full list of Slough House novels in order.

1. Slow Horses (2010)
2. Dead Lions (2013)
3. Real Tigers (2016)
4. Spook Street (2017)
5. London Rules (2018)
6. Joe Country (2019)
7. Slough House (2021)
8. Bad Actors (2022)

Alongside the eight novels, Herron has also written four novellas in the series - The List (2015), The Marylebone Drop (2018), The Catch (2020) and Standing by the Wall (2022).

Meanwhile, Herron's novels Reconstruction (2008), Nobody Walks (2015) and The Secret Hours (2023), while not officially part of the series, take place in the same world and include some of the same characters.

We don't yet know if Slow Horses’ success will see these spin-off books also brought to screen. "There haven’t been discussions about filming them, but it certainly remains a possibility," said Herron back in 2022. "For the time being, it's the Jackson Lamb series which is being focused upon."

More recently, Showrunner Will Smith called The Secret Hours "a wonderful book", and said "there's definitely an opportunity to do a shorter-run [series] or a film or something".

Meanwhile, new star Tom Brooke, who plays the character JK Coe, has said he would be "game" for a spin-off telling the story of Nobody Walks, which includes his character's backstory.

Does Jackson Lamb feature in all of the novels?

Lamb appears in all of the Slough House novels, meaning there should be plenty of scope for Gary Oldman to return as the character time and again. However, in an exclusive interview with RadioTimes.com, Oldman revealed that Herron hadn't always intended it to be that way.

Oldman explained: "Lamb was never originally going to appear. Lamb was up somewhere on the eighth floor, or the seventh floor or somewhere in the building and that he was such a sort of legend that people talked about him, but he never appeared.

"And Mick said that he wrote one scene with Lamb and once he gave him the voice, he went, 'Oh no, this guy's too interesting,' and that's how the whole thing shifted - which is fascinating to me that he was going to be an off-stage character."

Will the Apple TV+ series adapt more of the books?

It will indeed. When the series was first announced, Deadline reported that 12 episodes were being shot, with the latter six focusing on the second novel, Dead Lions.

In June 2022, Apple TV+ announced that Slow Horses would also be returning for a third and a fourth season.

Subsequently, a fifth season was announced on its own. However, just because the sixth season hasn't officially been confirmed, that doesn't mean it won't happen.

Showrunner Will Smith has suggested he and the team could be up for adapting all eight books in the series, as well as the upcoming ninth novel, but admitted it "depends on what Apple wants and what the appetite is".

He continued: "I definitely have the kind of leave-them-wanting-more rather than the outstay-your-welcome instinct. But the world of the show is there to be mined."

Herron previously told RadioTimes.com that he’d be "delighted" if his whole run of novels did get adapted.

He said at the time: "I'd be delighted if that does happen – everybody seems to be happy with the work done so far, but we've no way of knowing what the future holds. I don't know – but I do know that barring some unforeseen catastrophes, books one to four will be on television screens within the next couple of years."

Slow Horses season 4 is streaming now on Apple TV+, with new episodes every Wednesday – sign up to Apple TV+ now.

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