Catherine Standish is the unassuming assistant to Jackson Lamb, the irascible head of the intelligence agents who have failed in their duties. When she doesn't show up for work one morning, even Lamb realizes she's missing. In addition, she has been kidnapped by a former lover. But Catherine's abduction is just the tip of the iceberg of a much larger conspiracy, against MI5 and even the Prime Minister.
This time the team of professional British espionage spoilers known as slow horses, managed by Jackson Lamb, is faced with a bizarre internal conspiracy to discredit MI5 and shut down Marsh House itself, home of the slow horses. "Like many evils, this one also started with guys wearing suits... That getting rid of a corpse is always a drag. Fortunately, he has some slow horses who are going to do it for him."
A spy novel that reflects the society in which we live: it reflects how power corrupts all who allow themselves to be corrupted and what we are capable of in order to secure and exercise that power over others. In this novel, the author shows us his vision of British society, perhaps we should say of its government. Characters obsessed with erotic pleasure abound, and there are some brief explicit descriptions.