The Secret Hours
The Instant Sunday Times Bestselling Thriller from the Author of Slow Horses
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4.5 • 160 Ratings
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- £4.99
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- £4.99
Publisher Description
THE INSTANT SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER*
*A 'Book of the Year' in The Times, Sunday Times, Guardian, Observer, Daily Telegraph, Spectator, Sunday Express, TLS, Irish Times*
'Pure class' Ian Rankin 'Pitch-perfect' Lee Child
'A powerful standalone spy thriller from a true contemporary master' Daily Telegraph
Trying to investigate the Secret Service is like trying to get rid of the stink of dead badger. Hard.
For two years the government's Monochrome inquiry has produced nothing more than a series of dead ends.
The Service has kept what happened in the newly reunified Berlin under wraps for decades, and intends for it to stay that way.
But then the OTIS file turns up.
What classified secrets does it hold? And what damage will it create?
All Max Janácek knows is that someone is chasing him through the pitch-dark country lanes and they want him gone.
WE ALL HAVE JOBS TO DO IN THE DAYLIGHT. IT'S WHAT YOU DO IN THE SECRET HOURS THAT REVEALS WHO YOU REALLY ARE.
'Wonderful . . . high action, a spinning moral compass, and hidden motives on every page' Michael Connelly
*Mick Herron's The Secret Hours was a Sunday Times Number Four bestseller in hardback in the second week of September 2023
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
Mick Herron’s best-selling Slough House series of novels—stylishly adapted into Apple TV+ drama Slow Horses—are the freshest, funniest spy fiction around. Think John le Carré chain-smoking, swearing and gossiping outside a Soho pub. With The Secret Hours, Herron delivers a mesmerising stand-alone thriller, set in the same fictional universe—and with cameos from several delightfully familiar characters. As two civil servants conduct a controversial inquiry into the British Secret Service itself, it sets off a chain of events involving retired spooks, car bombs, bitten noses, dead badgers and flashbacks to Berlin in the aftermath of the Wall’s fall. Herron masterfully weaves a web of intrigue across two timelines, thrumming with his trademark paranoia, political satire, head-spinning plot twists and dryly witty dialogue. Amid all the corrupt conspiracies and fake identities, who is the traitor within MI5? And is our entire intelligence ecosystem under threat? You’ll have a rollicking ride finding out.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Herron departs from his bestselling Slough House series for a riveting standalone thriller that combines modern political machinations with Cold War–era spy craft. New leadership in the British parliament results in the official cancellation of Monochrome, an infamously ineffective two-year-old inquiry meant to expose historical misconduct by MI5. Griselda Fleet and Malcolm Kyle, the civil servants who led the inquiry, are devastated: the embarrassment of Monochrome has all but eliminated their chances for future employment. Not long after Monochrome's cancellation, however, a stranger slips Malcolm an official file revealing an off-the-books Cold War–era MI5 operation that ended badly in 1994 Berlin. Griselda and Malcolm begin to investigate, and then testimony from the agent assigned to surveil Berlin station chief Brinsley Miles uncovers a new conspiracy to infiltrate British intelligence—which the once-disgraced civil servants are now uniquely positioned to thwart. Herron toggles between present-day London and Cold War–era Berlin, crafting memorable, morally complex characters along the way, without sacrificing any of his trademark humor (the book's opening sentence: "The worst smell in the world is a dead badger"). Espionage fans of all stripes will devour this exemplary outing.
Customer Reviews
Lots of loose ends tied up
Loved it. Ties a lot of previous storylines together so well. You need to read the Slow Horses series first (time well spent).
The art is in the detail.
Wonderfully descriptive, the small details brought to life. Read the Slow Horses series before reading this and the characters will be alive as they appear.
Highly recommended.
Good ‘prequel’ to the Slough House series
The Jackson Lamb series are simply excellent so it was with some trepidation that I started this slightly tangential prequel to the excellent Slough House genre. I need not have feared though as this is a really good standalone novel, albeit also acting as a bit of a prequel to some of the Jackson Lamb associated characters. It’s well worth the read with the traditional humour, good plot and treachery.