Overview

"Something happened in 1994 Berlin that forever changed MI5. Very few know that story and those who do will do anything to keep it secret. Two years ago, a hostile prime minister launched the Monochrome inquiry, investigating ""historical over-reaching"" by the British Secret Service. Monochrome's mission was to ferret out any hint of misconduct by any MI5 officer--and allowed Griselda Fleet and Malcolm Kyle, the two civil servants seconded to the project, unfettered access to any and all confidential information in the Service archives in order to do so. But MI5's formidable First Desk did not become Britain's top spy by accident, and she has successfully thwarted the inquiry at every turn. Now the administration that created Monochrome has been ousted, the investigation is a total bust--and Griselda and Malcolm are stuck watching as their career prospects are washed away by the pounding London rain. Until the eve of Monochrome's shuttering, when an MI5 case file appears without explanation. It is the buried history of a classified operation in 1994 Berlin--an operation that ended in tragedy and scandal, whose cover-up has rewritten thirty years of Service history. The Secret Hours is a dazzling entry point into Mick Herron's body of work, a standalone spy thriller that is at once unnerving, poignant, and laugh-out-loud funny. It is also the breathtaking secret history that Slough House fans have been waiting for."

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Reviews

"""[For] how-it-really-works espionage fiction...tension, intrigue, observation, humor, absurdity...and pitch-perfect prose."" -- ""Lee Child, #1 New York Times bestselling author"" ""A perfect entry point into the eccentric world of civil servants and spies that Herron's Slough House series so wittily portrays."" -- "" Washington Post"" ""A riveting standalone thriller that combines modern political machinations with Cold War-era spy craft...without sacrificing any of his trademark humor."" -- ""Publishers Weekly (starred review)"" ""Belly-laugh spy spoof on one side, elegiac state-of-the-nation satire on the other, with a thin, taut line of polished prose between."" -- ""Financial Times (London)"" ""Gerard Doyle performs...with such dry resignation that it is often laugh-out-loud funny...Doyle's vocal control is masterly, his pacing, range, and attention to detail a perfect match for Herron's, which is highest praise. Winner of the AudioFile Earphones Award."" -- ""AudioFile"" ""Herron at his best, taking us into a dark world where there is high action, a spinning moral compass, and hidden motives on every page...with a perfectly wry sense of humor."" -- ""Michael Connelly, New York Times bestselling author"" ""Jam-packed with the kind of acidic insults fans of Slow Horses love."" -- ""Minneapolis Star Tribune"" ""There's wit and suspense on almost every page of The Secret Hours, where the good guys are bad, the bad guys are worse, and the reader is in luck."" -- ""Seattle Times"" ""Thrilling action scenes, crackling dialogue, characters to infuriate and beguile, and a neatly intricate plot. And through it all cuts Herron's acerbic wit."" -- ""Paula Hawkins, New York Times bestselling author"""

Author Information

Mick Herron, British novelist and short story writer, is the author of the Slough House espionage series, four Oxford mysteries, and three standalone novels. His work has won the CWA Gold Dagger for Best Crime Novel, the Steel Dagger for Best Thriller, the Theakston's Novel of the Year Award, the Palle Rosenkrantz Prize, the Ellery Queen Readers Award, and the USC Libraries Scripter Award. His works have been nominated for the Macavity, Barry, and Shamus Awards. He was born in Newcastle and studied English at Oxford. Gerard Doyle has appeared in London's West End in The Hired Man and in Shakespeare's Coriolanus and The Winter's Tale, and has toured nationally and internationally with the English Shakespeare Company. He has appeared on Broadway in The Weir and on television in New York Undercover and Law and Order. Mr. Doyle is also an award-winning audiobook narrator.

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