Struan Loy

Who they are

A slow horse with a taste for commentary — the one who speculates aloud during the video screenings. Lamb calls him a three-minute weak link, and is right.

What they want

Back inside. He is the character for whom Slough House is unbearable rather than merely unfair, and that makes him purchasable.

Book 1 — Slow Horses

• C04 — Snipes his way through the first viewing of the hostage video.
• C11 — Among the horses to be collected; found missing.
• C12 — Broken by Diana Taverner in a basement interview room: shown Alan Black’s photograph, offered a part in the solution, and turned.
• C16 — One of the two whose statements Taverner wants Lamb to co-sign.
• C17 — Dead, and one of the two whose desks were stripped in a hurry.

Tells

The running commentary, the need to be the one who saw it first. He is written as likeable enough that his betrayal costs something.

Open questions

What he told Taverner, and whether he believed he was saving himself rather than condemning the others.