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The Secret Hours

The Secret Hours

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The Secret Hours

by Herron, Mick

  • Used
  • Fine
  • Hardcover
  • Signed
  • first
Condition
Fine /Fine
ISBN 10
1399809709
ISBN 13
9781399809702
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Seller rating:
This seller has earned a 5 of 5 Stars rating from Biblio customers.
HINDHEAD, Surrey, United Kingdom
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About This Item

London: Baskerville. Exclusive signed edition. Signed without inscription on the title page by the author. An unread copy. Weysprings Books is a Member of: the IOBA and PBFA, and subscribes to their Codes of Ethics. . Fine. Hardcover. 1st Edition. 1st Printing. 2023.

Reviews

On Nov 4 2023, a reader said:
The Secret Hours is a stand-alone novel by award-winning, best-selling British author, Mick Herron. When the government initiates its inquiry into historical overreaching by the intelligence services, First Desk is dismissive with her PA about its impact, but is nonetheless making contingency plans. One of the civil service staff seconded as secretary to the inquiry believes it will be a launchpad for his career; the other is under no such illusion. First Desk leaves them in no doubt that access to files will be extremely challenging.

Two years on, by day 371 and after 136 witnesses, secretary second chair, Malcolm Kyle is fully resigned to the knowledge that Monochrome, fed only volunteered information from the public, is "a toothless committee, which has wasted all these months chewing empty mouthfuls", when a highly classified file appears in his shopping trolley, a file concerning something that happened in Berlin in 1994. The right thing to do is to send it back to Regents Park, but he and Griselda Fleet, secretary first chair, are just disgruntled enough to put the file before the committee. On whose behalf they are poking this sleeping tiger remains a guessing game.

After two decades in his cottage in North Devon, Max Janacek is almost exactly what he pretends to be, a retired academic. When he disarms the woman breaking into his kitchen, and narrowly escapes her associates, he knows his cover has been blown, but by whom, and why? Certainly not the Park, and the inept effort rules out other intelligence services. And living under the radar all this time means the why must relate to his past.

In early 1994, a smart young civil service officer going under the name of Alison North was sent to Berlin, supposedly a routine secondment, but tasked by David Cartwright with covertly observing the activities of the 2IC in the Berlin Station house, Brinsley Miles. With barely nine months' experience at the Park, Alison was unlikely to uncover anything that might taint a seasoned former joe like Miles. And yet…

While not a Slough House book, fans of the series must read this one, it has important back story on several key characters and will surely be relevant in the next book of the series. The story behind a certain photograph that features in Herron's short story, Standing By The Wall is revealed, and the transcripts of Monochrome sessions, all boring and irrelevant, demonstrate that Herron has a firm grasp on how British government bureaucracy really works.

It takes but a few lines to conclude that First Desk is still Diana Taverner. It is eventually clear just who Alison North is, and even if he is never mentioned by that name, the guy with the mysteriously appearing cigarette who punctuates his speech with farts and tells off colour jokes could be none other than Jackson Lamb, a deduction reinforced by "This monster hasn't the manners of a zoo-bred warthog. Though he does have the looks and the charm, as you've doubtless discovered already" and "Miles can be abrasive. A bit of a foul-mouthed pig. He was trying this identity on for a joke once, and the wind changed, so he stayed like that."

Herron's tightly-plotted tale features political machinations around privatisation, a Regent's Park mole, an executed asset, betrayals, blackmail and a trap to catch a murderer. As always, he gives the reader plenty of dark humour, some marvellous turns of phrase and a very satisfying conclusion. Topical, funny and very clever.

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Details

Bookseller
Weysprings Books, IOBA, PBFA GB (GB)
Bookseller's Inventory #
008472
Title
The Secret Hours
Author
Herron, Mick
Format/Binding
Hardcover
Book Condition
Used - Fine
Jacket Condition
Fine
Quantity Available
1
Edition
1st Edition
ISBN 10
1399809709
ISBN 13
9781399809702
Publisher
Baskerville
Place of Publication
London
Date Published
2023

Terms of Sale

Weysprings Books, IOBA, PBFA

30 day return guarantee, with full refund including shipping costs for up to 30 days after delivery if an item arrives misdescribed or damaged.

About the Seller

Weysprings Books, IOBA, PBFA

Seller rating:
This seller has earned a 5 of 5 Stars rating from Biblio customers.
Biblio member since 2010
HINDHEAD, Surrey

About Weysprings Books, IOBA, PBFA

Weysprings Books is an independent bookseller based in Surrey, UK, exclusively selling on the internet. We specialise in modern first editions. We use internationally accepted terms to describe our books and endeavour to reflect their true condition in our descriptions. We regret that, due to compliance regulations, we are unable to fulfil orders to Germany and France.

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Title Page
A page at the front of a book which may contain the title of the book, any subtitles, the authors, contributors, editors, the...
Fine
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