Preview
  • The Secret Hours

  • By: Mick Herron
  • Narrated by: Gerard Doyle
  • Length: 12 hrs and 48 mins
  • 4.4 out of 5 stars (788 ratings)

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The Secret Hours

By: Mick Herron
Narrated by: Gerard Doyle
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Publisher's summary

A gripping standalone spy thriller from the #1 Sunday Times bestselling author of Slow Horses, with a riveting reveal about a disastrous MI5 mission in Cold War Berlin—an absolute must-listen for Slough House fans.

New from the author of Slow Horses, now an Apple Original series from Apple TV+, starring Gary Oldman and Kristin Scott Thomas.

Two years ago, a hostile Prime Minister launched the Monochrome inquiry, investigating "historical over-reaching" by the British Secret Service “to investigate historical over-reaching.” 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.

©2023 Mick Herron (P)2023 Recorded Books
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What listeners say about The Secret Hours

Average customer ratings
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  • Overall
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    5 out of 5 stars

Just terrific!

A complete delight. Herron is a master of characterization, plotting, and sly humor. I listened to the Audible version—Gerard Doyle is a treasure.

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Excellent !!

Mick Herron does it again, a fantastic stand alone story, with much new insight into characters we’ve come to know in earlier ones. Gerard Doyle here, as before, narrates superbly. Very highly recommended !

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Fantastic

By going into backstory of key slow horses Herron is able to build a careful, intricate story. Loved it.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Slow start but...

Terrific background to the Slough House characters! I didn't realize the books were connected so pleasantly surprised. Jackson Lamp is consistently engaging!

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Fascinating hours

You mustn’t start reading this and draw up a mental list of all the characters you don’t know, or things you don’t understand. After all, you haven’t got all day. This is Spook Street, and you don’t get to know your neighbors by waving over your trilby as you walk your Corgi. It takes time. This said, Herron does far more tying up and checking in than le Carre would have. Jesus! Do readers today need all the mansplaining? Mansplaining is when a man tells a woman something she already knows in a patronizing, condescending manner. Do you need me to repeat that?

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Ingenious plot

All of Heron’s books are great spook stories but also very funny… as is this one. Such original (and insulting) idioms. While the name Jackson Lamb never appears this is a Jackson Lamb story with many of the same cast of characters Diane Taverner as First Desk. Stand alone but kind of a prequel to all the inimitable Jackson Lamb book.

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    5 out of 5 stars
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He does it again

I was a little bored at the beginning and I’m not fascinated by one-offs— I’d miss Lamb too much— but this is ultimately a masterwork. Hang in there if you’re like me— it’s worth it.

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    5 out of 5 stars
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At first I didn’t get where it was going…

…but when the pieces started to come together I enjoyed the backstory for several of our Slow Horses crowd. Well done.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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Herron Continues to Hide Easter Eggs

Love the connection with Slough House characters. Deftly weaves together present and past. Great narration too.

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Great story!

Great narrator and story, though very complicated (I had to listen to parts more than once). But I enjoyed every minute.

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