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The Secret Hours

The Secret Hours

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The Secret Hours

by Herron, Mick

  • Used
  • Paperback
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ISBN 10
1399800558
ISBN 13
9781399800556
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Umea, Sweden
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About This Item

Trade Paperback. Publisher: Hachette UK Distribution | 2023 | Trade Paperback | 224 p. | This book is brand new. | Language: Engelska --- Information regarding the book: *PRE-ORDER THE NEW NOVEL FROM MICK HERRON, AUTHOR OF THE #1 BESTSELLING SLOUGH HOUSE THRILLERS* 'Herron is at the summit of a new golden age of spy fiction' Sunday Times 'The foremost living spy novelist in the English language' New Statesman Monochrome is a busted flush - an inquiry into the misdeeds of the intelligence services, established by a vindictive prime minister but rendered toothless by a wily chief spook. For years it has ground away uselessly, interviewing witnesses with nothing to offer, producing a report with nothing to say, while the civil servants at its helm see their careers disappearing into a black hole. And then the OTIS file falls into their hands . . . What secrets does this hold that see a long-redundant spy being chased through Devon's green lanes in the dark? What happened in a newly reunified Berlin that someone is desperate to keep under wraps? And who will win the battle for the soul of the secret service - or was that decided a long time ago? Spies and pen-pushers, politicians and PAs, high-flyers, time-servers and burn-outs . . . They all have jobs to do in the daylight. But what they do in the secret hours reveals who they really are. 'All Herron's trademark strengths are here: tension, intrigue, observation, humour, absurdity . . . and pitch-perfect prose' Lee Child, author of the Jack Reacher novels 'A deft knockout of a story . . . Mick Herron is one of the best writers of spy fiction working today' Martin Cruz Smith, author of Gorky Park 'I doubt I'll read a more enjoyable novel all year. The Secret Hours has it all ' Paula Hawkins, author of The Girl on the Train 'The Secret Hours [is] Mick Herron at his best' Michael Connelly, author of Desert Star | We have this book in our store house - please allow for a couple of extra days for delivery.

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
h:strom - Text & Kultur AB / Antikvariat & Bokhandel SE (SE)
Bookseller's Inventory #
BIB-4825249
Title
The Secret Hours
Author
Herron, Mick
Format/Binding
Trade Paperback
Book Condition
Used
Binding
Paperback
ISBN 10
1399800558
ISBN 13
9781399800556
Keywords
spioner, underrättelsetjänst, hemligheter, konflikt, karriär

Terms of Sale

h:strom - Text & Kultur AB / Antikvariat & Bokhandel

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About the Seller

h:strom - Text & Kultur AB / Antikvariat & Bokhandel

Seller rating:
This seller has earned a 5 of 5 Stars rating from Biblio customers.
Biblio member since 2009
Umea

About h:strom - Text & Kultur AB / Antikvariat & Bokhandel

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