The Catch

By: Mick Herron

Narrated by: Gerard Doyle

British spy master Mick Herron returns with an explosive novella set in the same world as his multiple CWA Dagger-winning Slough House series

John Bachelor is the saddest kind of spy: not a joe in the field, not even a desk jockey, but a milkman - a part-time pension administrator whose main job is to check in on aging retired spies. Late in his career and having lost his wife, his house, and his savings after a series of unlucky choices, John's been living in a dead man's London apartment, hoping the bureaucracy isn't going to catch up with him and leave him homeless. But keeping a secret among spies is a fool's errand, and now John has made himself eminently blackmailable.

©2020 Mick Herron (P)2020 Recorded Books

Excellent story, excellent reader

Mick Herron is the best! This little story gives flesh to a minor character elsewhere.

Nice twist

Poor John Bachelor is a "milkman." He is the handler for former spooks and associates, is such disgrace he doesn't have an office in Slough House. When The Dogs (MI 5 internal affairs) find out he's lost touch with one of his charges, and failed to report it, he needs to find that burglar/blackmailer and reel him in. This story follows a story line from Book 6, Joe Country, updated with a subsequent salacious event. The hint is in the title. Another stellar performance by Gerard Doyle.

Great subplot to series as a whole

Compelling story that continues the tale of John Bachelor, a spy so bad he doesn’t even warrant being a Slow Horse

excellent twist

excellent twist. ready for Book 7. performance excellent. Slough House is one of my favorite series.

Well done

Another installment in the Slough House series, short tale of a sad player in the Parks games. We've heard of him before and I hope we will again.

Oh dear.

This is the third (and perhaps final?) short novella involving spies in London not in the main slow horses den. The first two were good but sadly this is poor in several fronts. First the plot is kind of flogging a dead horse (oops!) and it’s as slow (oops again) as molasses. And the denouement is limp. The reading technically is poor - I couldn’t get the volume right. Pity all around.

Entertaining

It was an enjoyable book with a good twist, but didn’t quite have the same punch of the other Slough House books. The narrator, Gerard Doyle was good as always.

Substantial setup for future novels

Avid Slough House fan looking for background on past and future events. These short stories are required reading for future events.

Slow novellas

I wish there was a category for audio production. Gerard Doyle's narration is his usual fine job, but it sounds like he's standing six feet from the microphone -- sort of muffled and fuzzy. I count that as a production issue. Combined with my disappointment in all three novellas, it caused me to ditch this one shortly after starting it. Unlike the Slough House characters, the players in these brief interludes showed me nothing interesting about themselves or their activities. Also, priced too high for just a couple hours of listening. Disappointed in all three.

Honestly, the poor recording

It sounded as if the microphone was swinging like a pendulum through the space in front of the narrator, the levels constantly shifting from too loud too inaudible.