Slough House

Slow Horses / C01

Chapter 1

Book 1 Part One 12838 words POV: River Cartwright, Robert Hobden, Roderick Ho, Catherine Standish, Jackson Lamb

Summary

At Slough House in Finsbury, River Cartwright spends the early morning sorting a sack of the journalist Robert Hobden’s rubbish, collected overnight in the rain, spread across Sid Baker’s half of their shared office. Jackson Lamb catches him at it, treats the job as a joke and leaves him to clear up. Across town at Max’s café, Hobden, a columnist the Service has blacklisted from every paper he once wrote for, follows his routine — keys, phone, wallet and a keyring that is really a memory stick laid on the table — while Sidonie Baker, posing as a student writing about media heroes, spills cappuccino over his newspapers. She swaps his stick for a dummy, copies his files to a laptop and swaps the original back. Catherine Standish forces the stuck door open, makes Lamb’s tea and grinds through a property-and-immigration report; Roderick Ho arrives early and tries to work out who is already inside; Min Harper and Louisa Guy come in together after a drink the week before. Sid delivers the laptop; Lamb seals it and the dummy stick in a flash-box and phones Regent’s Park to collect a favour. He then orders River to carry the box to James Webb — Spider — the officer whose wrong colour call wrecked his career. River arrives with a sore hand, is kept waiting, gets no admission of error, and leaves having handed over the laptop in a padded envelope rather than the flash-box, a memory stick in his pocket.

Beats

  • C01S01 · Narrator — Nothing happens yet: the narrator maps Slough House — a Finsbury doorway nobody uses, four floors of yellowing offices — and reveals the name came from a Service joke about Lamb’s banishment.
  • C01S02 · River Cartwright — River is caught sorting Hobden’s rubbish on Sid’s side of the office; Lamb appears without a sound, mocks him, and leaves him to clear it, confirming the errand was partly humiliation.
  • C01S03 · Robert Hobden — Hobden settles into Max’s with his newspapers and lays out keys, phone, wallet and pen — the keyring is a memory stick — while a red-haired woman at the next table goes unnoticed.
  • C01S04 · Roderick Ho — Ho arrives before seven, senses someone already upstairs, catalogues his colleagues’ disgraces, and concludes it must be Cartwright — admitting Sid Baker’s offence is one of two he cannot discover.
  • C01S05 · Robert Hobden — Hobden reflects that the Service blacklisted him from every paper he wrote for, and that he keeps his notes on the memory stick with a dummy as cover — then the redhead speaks to him.
  • C01S06 · River Cartwright — River finishes grading the rubbish and finds nothing at all; he learns Ho and Catherine have arrived, and that Lamb is thumping the ceiling for him.
  • C01S07 · Robert Hobden — Sid opens Hobden with a story about a dissertation on media heroes; flattered and appraising her, he hands over his Guardian supplement.
  • C01S08 · Catherine Standish — Catherine forces the door, makes Lamb’s tea and resumes a report she doubts anyone reads — then sees River walk into Lamb’s office without knocking.
  • C01S09 · Robert Hobden — Sid knocks cappuccino across Hobden’s papers; the fuss and clearing up give her the disturbance she needs, and leave him irritated with a soaked newspaper.
  • C01S10 · Jackson Lamb — Lamb refuses to say what the rubbish was for, laughs at River’s offer to run surveillance, and reminds him of King’s Cross; River leaves with an order to write it up.
  • C01S11 · Narrator — Min Harper and Louisa Guy arrive together and share the kitchen, still circling the drink they had a week ago and the wordless parting that ended it.
  • C01S12 · River Cartwright — Flashback: eight months ago Lamb told River he survives only through his grandfather, that his post is designed to make him quit, and that King’s Cross caused three panic attacks besides his own.
  • C01S13 · Narrator — Moody, not yet in, is described: a former Dog who let a desk-jockey rob him, now arriving hours late and intimidating anyone loitering at the bus stop.
  • C01S14 · Jackson Lamb — Sid returns with Hobden’s laptop and copied files; Lamb seals laptop and dummy stick in a flash-box, and River works out she had Hobden under surveillance while he was sent through bins.
  • C01S15 · Jackson Lamb — Lamb phones an unnamed figure at Regent’s Park, reports the files secured, promises to send Baker, and tells them to use their own people next time.
  • C01S16 · River Cartwright — Sid walks out; Lamb summons River and orders him to deliver the flash-box to Regent’s Park, naming Webb — and River’s stomach drops at the thought of facing Spider.
  • C01S17 · River Cartwright — Walking to Regent’s Park, River rehearses the inquiry’s sixteen errors and invented casualty figures, and concedes his grandfather saved his job; his hand is hurting.
  • C01S18 · River Cartwright — Webb keeps River waiting, refuses to admit the colour mix-up and calls it a fiasco; River leaves having handed over the laptop in a padded envelope, not the flash-box, a memory stick in his scorched hand.

People

  • River Cartwright — Disgraced officer; digs Hobden’s rubbish, then delivers to Webb.
  • Jackson Lamb — Heads Slough House; runs the Hobden errand and belittles River throughout.
  • Sid Baker — Red-haired officer who lifts Hobden’s files at Max’s.
  • Robert Hobden — Blacklisted columnist; target whose rubbish and files are taken.
  • Catherine Standish — Runs the office: door, tea, reports, and the flash-box.
  • Roderick Ho — Arrives first; catalogues colleagues’ secrets, including his own gaps.
  • James Webb — Regent’s Park officer, ‘Spider’; gave River the wrong colours.
  • Jed Moody — Absent ex-Dog, habitually late, violence barely repressed.
  • Min Harper — Left a classified disk on a train; now runs the shredder.
  • Louisa Guy — Arrives with Min; they have drunk together once.
  • Kay White — Mentioned as banished downstairs by Lamb for noise.

Places

  • Slough House — Finsbury building near Barbican; yellow-and-grey offices of the exiled.
  • Max’s cafe — Café near Hobden’s flat; poor coffee, one regular customer.
  • Regent’s Park — Service headquarters; source of the errand and of River’s disgrace.

Lines worth keeping

“Slough House is not in Slough, nor is it a house.” — Narrator, Opens the chapter by refusing both things the name implies.

“I don’t give a ferret’s arse what you heard. You screwed up.” — Jackson Lamb, Lamb’s verdict on King’s Cross, and the reason River is where he is.

“I prefer to call it a fiasco.” — James Webb, Webb’s nearest approach to an admission, converted into a boast.

Threads

  • Plants: Hobden’s keyring is a memory stick, and he carries a dummy as cover.; Hobden is convinced he has a story waiting to break the surface.; River’s hand is injured before he reaches Regent’s Park.; River leaves Regent’s Park with a memory stick in his pocket, and without the flash-box.; Ho cannot discover what Sid Baker was exiled for — one of his two missing secrets.; Lamb tells Regent’s Park ‘you owe me’, implying the op is off the books.
  • Payoffs: Sid’s flattery and spilled cappuccino produce Hobden’s files by mid-morning.; Lamb’s phone call explains why the material goes to Regent’s Park rather than staying put.; The ‘slow horses’ name and Slough House’s purpose are spelled out in the flashback.
  • Continuity: Tuesday, shortly after 7 a.m.; it rained all night and is still raining.; Eight months since King’s Cross, which C00 dates to a January morning.; Inquiry figures: 16 basic errors in 8 minutes; 120 dead or maimed, £30m damage, £2.5bn tourist revenue — all invented.; Actual King’s Cross toll: one stroke, one broken leg, three panic attacks.; Hobden is 56; Catherine Standish will be 50 next year; Moody starts about 9:30, useful by 11.; Flash-box: A4 box-file size, self-locking, magnesium flash if forced.

Characters

Places

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