Search results for ""Author Mick Herron""

*Discover The Secret Hours, the gripping new thriller from Mick Herron and an unmissable read for Slough House fans**Now a major TV series starring Gary Oldman*'The finest British spy fiction of the past 20 years' MetroSlough House is the Intelligence Service outpost for failed spies, former high-fliers now dubbed the 'slow horses'. Catherine Standish, one of their number, worked in Regent's Park long enough to understand treachery, double-dealing and stabbing in the back, and she's known Jackson Lamb long enough to have learned that old sins cast long shadows. And she also knows that chance encounters never happen to spooks, even recovering drunks whose careers have crashed and burned.What she doesn't know is why anyone would target her.So whoever's holding her hostage, it can't be personal. It must be about Slough House. Most likely, it's about Jackson Lamb. And say what you like about Lamb, he'll never leave a joe in the lurch.He might even be someone you could trust with your life.'Masterful' Daily Mail'A pulsating spy thriller' Daily Express

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*Discover The Secret Hours, the gripping new thriller from Mick Herron and an unmissable read for Slough House fans**Now a major TV series starring Gary Oldman*'A terrific spy novel' Ian RankinTwenty years retired from the Intelligence Service, David Cartwright still knows where all the bones are buried. But when he forgets that secrets are supposed to stay hidden, there's suddenly a target on his back.The 'Old Bastard' raised his grandson to be a hero, not a slow horse. Now, far from joining the myths and legends of Spook Street, River Cartwright is part of Jackson Lamb's team of pen-pushing no-hopers at Slough House. Which doesn't mean he won't ditch everything and go rogue when his grandfather comes under threat.Lamb worked with Cartwright back in the day, and knows better than most that this is no innocent old man. So when a panic button raises the alarm at Intelligence Service HQ, it's Lamb who's called on to identify the body. And it's Lamb who'll do whatever's necessary to protect an agent in peril.'A modern masterpiece' Irish Times'Outstanding' Daily Telegraph

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An Instant Sunday Times Bestseller* and a gripping standalone thriller with a riveting reveal about a disastrous MI5 mission in Cold War Berlin. A dazzling entry-point to Mick Herron's writing and an unmissable read for Slough House fans'Pure class' Ian Rankin'I doubt I'll read a more enjoyable novel all year' Paula Hawkins'Pitch-perfect' Lee Child'Terrific' The Times'Never has a work of popular fiction delighted me more' The Spectator'A thriller of immense brilliance' Sunday TimesTwo years ago, the Monochrome inquiry was set up to investigate the British secret service. Monochrome's mission was to ferret out misconduct, allowing the civil servants seconded to the inquiry, Griselda Fleet and Malcolm Kyle, unfettered access to confidential information in the service archives. But with progress blocked at every turn, Monochrome is circling the drain . . . Until the OTIS file appears out of nowhere. What classified secrets does OTIS 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.*Mick Herron's The Secret Hours was a Sunday Times Number Four bestseller in hardback in the second week of September 2023

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*Discover The Secret Hours, the gripping new thriller from Mick Herron and an unmissable read for Slough House fans**Now a major TV series starring Gary Oldman**THE INSTANT SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER***THE TIMES THRILLER BOOK OF THE YEAR*****WINNER OF THE THEAKSTON OLD PECULIER CRIME NOVEL OF THE YEAR 2022***'A gripping thriller' Ian RankinSlough House - the crumbling office building to which failed spies, the 'slow horses', are banished - has been wiped from secret service records.Reeling from recent losses in their ranks, the slow horses are worried they've been pushed further into the cold, and fatal accidents keep happening.With a new populist movement taking a grip on London's streets, the aftermath of a blunder by the Russian secret service that left a British citizen dead, and the old order ensuring that everything's for sale to the highest bidder, the world's an uncomfortable place for those deemed surplus to requirements. The wise move would be to find a safe place and wait for the troubles to pass.But the slow horses aren't famed for making wise decisions.'The most completely realised espionage universe since that peopled by George Smiley' The Times'An absolute tour-de-force' Sunday Express

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*NOW A MAJOR TV SERIES STARING GARY OLDMAN*''Herron is at the summit of a new golden age of spy fiction'' Sunday TimesSpooks are supposed to be stealthy . . . But those who make a noisy mess of their careers end up in Slough House.This is Jackson Lamb''s kingdom: a dumping ground for spies who''ve screwed up. Once high fliers, they''re now slow horses, condemned to a life of pushing paper as punishment for crimes of drugs and drunkenness, lechery and failure, politics and betrayal. In drab and mildewed offices, these highly trained spies moan and squabble, stare at the walls, and dream of better days - not one of them joined the Intelligence Service to be a slow horse, and the one thing they have in common is their desire to be back in the action.Housed together for the first time in a beautifully crafted boxset, Mick Herron''s Slough House thrillers have been described as ''The most exciting development in

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*Discover The Secret Hours, the gripping new thriller from Mick Herron and an unmissable read for Slough House fans**Now a major TV series starring Gary Oldman*THE INSTANT #1 SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER'Herron is at the summit of a new golden age of spy fiction' Sunday TimesIn MI5 a scandal is brewing and there are bad actors everywhere.A key member of a Downing Street think-tank has disappeared without a trace. Claude Whelan, one-time First Desk of MI5's Regent's Park, is tasked with tracking her down. But the trail leads straight back to Regent's Park HQ itself, with its chief, Diana Taverner, as prime suspect. Meanwhile her Russian counterpart has unexpectedly shown up in London but has slipped under MI5's radar.Over at Slough House, the home for demoted and embittered spies, the slow horses are doing what they do best: adding a little bit of chaos to an already unstable situation.In a world where lying, cheating and backstabbing is the norm, bad actors are bending the rules for their own gain. If the slow horses want to change the script, they'll need to get their own act together before the final curtain.'A pitch-perfect espionage thriller' Sunday Times'This is entertainment of the highest class' Literary Review'[Bad Actors] deserves the bouquets that will come its way, and Herron is building a series with lasting resonance' The Times'One of the most consistently enjoyable literary achievements of the past decade' The Times'The man is a genius' The Spectator

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Two Slough House Novellas**THE DROP**'It is time Mick Herron was recognised in his own right as the best thriller writer in Britain today' Sunday ExpressOld spooks carry the memory of tradecraft in their bones, and when Solomon Dortmund sees an envelope being passed from one pair of hands to another in a Marylebone cafe, he knows he's witnessed more than an innocent encounter. But in relaying his suspicions to John Bachelor, who babysits retired spies like Solly, he sets in train events which will alter lives. Bachelor himself, a hair's breadth away from sleeping in his car, is clawing his way back to stability; Hannah Weiss, the double agent whose recruitment was his only success, is starting to enjoy the secrets and lies her role demands; and Lech Wicinski, an Intelligence Service analyst, finds that a simple favour for an old acquaintance might derail his career. Meanwhile, Lady Di Taverner is trying to keep the Service on an even keel, and if that means throwing the odd crew member overboard, well: collateral damage is her speciality.A drop, in spook parlance, is the passing on of secret information.It's also what happens just before you hit the ground.**THE LIST**'Mick Herron is an incredible writer and if you haven't read him yet, you NEED to' Mark BillinghamDieter Hess, an aged spy, is dead, and John Bachelor, his MI5 handler, is in deep, deep trouble. Death has revealed that the deceased had been keeping a secret second bank account - and there's only ever one reason a spy has a secret second bank account. The question of whether he was a double agent must be resolved, and its answer may undo an entire career's worth of spy secrets.**previously published as two separate editions**

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*Discover The Secret Hours, the gripping new thriller from Mick Herron and an unmissable read for Slough House fans**Now a major TV series starring Gary Oldman**THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER*'Sets a new bar for spy fiction' Financial TimesIn Slough House, the backwater for failed spies, memories are stirring, all of them bad. Catherine Standish is buying booze again, Louisa Guy is raking over the ashes of lost love, and new recruit Lech Wicinski, whose sins make him outcast even among the slow horses, is determined to discover who destroyed his career, even if he tears his life apart in the process.With winter taking its grip Jackson Lamb would sooner be left brooding in peace, but even he can't ignore the dried blood on his carpets. So when the man responsible for killing a slow horse breaks cover at last, Lamb sends his crew out to even the score.This time, they're heading into joe country. And they're not all coming home.'The go-to author for British espionage' Guardian'Bitingly intelligent, light of touch and frequently hilarious' Observer

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*Discover The Secret Hours, the gripping new thriller from Mick Herron and an unmissable read for Slough House fans**Now a major TV series starring Gary Oldman*'To have been lucky enough to play Smiley in one's career; and now go and play Jackson Lamb in Mick Herron's novels - the heir, in a way, to le Carré - is a terrific thing' Gary OldmanSpooks are supposed to be stealthy . . . But those who make a noisy mess of their careers end up in Slough House.This is Jackson Lamb's kingdom: a dumping ground for spies who've screwed up. Once high fliers, they're now slow horses, condemned to a life of pushing paper as punishment for crimes of drugs and drunkenness, lechery and failure, politics and betrayal. In drab and mildewed offices, these highly trained spies moan and squabble, stare at the walls, and dream of better days - not one of them joined the Intelligence Service to be a slow horse, and the one thing they have in common is their desire to be back in the action.So when a young man is kidnapped and held hostage, his beheading scheduled for live broadcast on the net, the slow horses aren't going to just sit quietly and watch. And unless they can prove they're not as useless as they're thought to be, a public execution is going to echo round the world.'The most exciting development in spy fiction since the Cold War' The Times 'The most enjoyable British spy novel in years' Mail on Sunday'The new spy master' Evening Standard

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*From the creator of SLOW HORSES and soon to be a major TV series starring Emma Thompson and Ruth Wilson*''If you haven''t read Zoë Boehm yet, welcome to your next fiction addiction'' Val McDermid, author of Past Lying''Good characterisation, dialogue and a well-paced narrative make this confident first novel frighteningly plausible'' Daily TelegraphIt''s an evening like any other when an explosion rips through the leafy Oxford suburb Sarah Tucker calls home.In the aftermath, a house now stands devastated, with two adults dead and a young girl missing.With the police more interested in keeping the neighbours from rubbernecking than in searching for the missing child, Sarah become obsessed with finding her.She enlists the help of Zoë Boehm''s investigation agency, but Sarah''s and Zoë''s search reveals more secrets than answers, taking them from Oxford''s cobbled streets to the rugged outer reac

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'This tightly plotted tragicomedy will provide a welcome fix for addicts awaiting Herron's seventh Jackson Lamb novel' The Times'Packed with Herron's trademark witty one-liners and sardonic humour . . . it's clear why Herron is a force to be reckoned with and the best thriller writer in Britain today' Daily Express'A slim serio-comic offering . . . It plays out typically cleverly' Sunday TimesIf life in the Intelligence Service has taught John Bachelor anything, it's to keep his head down. Especially now, when he's living rent-free in a dead spook's flat. So he's not delighted to be woken at dawn by a pair of Regent's Park's heavies, looking for a client he's not seen in years. John doesn't know what secrets Benny Manors has stolen, but they're attracting the wrong attention. And if he's to save his own skin, not to mention safeguard his living arrangements, John has to find Benny before those secrets see the light.Benny could be anywhere, provided it serves alcohol. So John sets out on a reluctant trawl through the bars of the capital, all the while plagued by the age-old questions: Will he end up sleeping in his car? How many bottles of gin can he afford at London prices?And just how far will Regent's Park go to prevent anyone rocking the Establishment's boat?

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*Discover The Secret Hours, the gripping new thriller from Mick Herron and an unmissable read for Slough House fans**Now a major TV series starring Gary Oldman*'The new king of the spy thriller' Mail on SundayFrom the Intelligence Service purgatory that is Slough House, where disgraced spies are sent to see out the dregs of their careers, Jackson Lamb is on his way to Oxford, where a former spook has turned up dead on a bus. Dickie Bow was a talented streetwalker once, good at following people and bringing home their secrets. He was in Berlin with Lamb, back in the day. But he's not an obvious target for assassination in the here and now.On Dickie's phone Lamb finds the last message he ever left, which hints that an old-time Moscow-style op is being run in the Intelligence Service's back-yard. Once a spook, always a spook, and even being dead doesn't mean you can't uncover secrets.Dickie Bow might have tailed his last target, but Lamb and his crew of no-hopers are about to go live.'Mick Herron is an incredible writer' Mark Billingham'The spycraft of le Carré refracted through the blackly comic vision of Joseph Heller's Catch-22' Financial Times

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THE INSTANT SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER**A ''Book of the Year'' in The Times, Sunday Times, Guardian, Observer, Daily Telegraph, Spectator, Sunday Express, TLS, Irish Times*''Pure class'' Ian Rankin ''Pitch-perfect'' Lee Child''A powerful standalone spy thriller from a true contemporary master'' Daily TelegraphTrying to investigate the Secret Service is like trying to get rid of the stink of dead badger. Hard.For two years the government''s Monochrome inquiry has produced nothing more than a series of dead ends.The Service has kept what happened in the newly reunified Berlin under wraps for decades, and intends for it to stay that way.But then the OTIS file turns up.What classified secrets does it hold? And what damage will it create?All Max Janácek knows is that someone is chasing him through the pitch-dark country lanes and they want him gone.<

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'Herron is a stylish writer with a mordant sensibility and a deadly wit. He's also a tricky plotter' New York Times Book ReviewWhen Zoë Boehm agrees to track down the gang who knocked over Sweeney's jewellery shop, she's just hoping to break even in time for tax season. She certainly doesn't expect to wind up in a coffin. But she's about to become entangled with a strange collection of characters, starting with suicidal Tim Whitby, who's dedicating what's left of his life to protecting the pretty, battered Katrina Blake from her late husband's sociopathic brothers, Arkle and Trent.Unfortunately for Zoë, Arkle has a crossbow, Tim has nothing left to lose, and even Katrina has her secrets. And death, like taxes, can't be avoided forever.

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'Unexpected and satisfying . . . The engaging heroine never loses her cool, from the melancholy opening to the whirlwind finale, a marvellously extended set-piece' Kirkus ReviewsZoë Boehm has harbored a distinct aversion to death ever since she shot the man intent on killing her. So when Caroline Daniels takes a deadly fall in front of a train and her lover fails to turn up at the funeral, Zoë wants nothing to do with the case. But Caroline's boss is persistent, and as Zoë attempts to unlock the secrets of a woman she's never met while in search of a man who could be anywhere, she starts to wonder if he's found her first. And if he has, will that make her the next victim, or prove to be her salvation from a paralysing fear?

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'Masterful . . . superior entertainment that makes most other novels of suspense appear dull and slow-witted by comparison' Publishers WeeklyWhat should have been a simple pick-up turns into a day-long nightmare for Bad Sam Chapman.When an operational catastrophe puts a gun in the hands of a young man, who then breaks into South Oxford Nursery School and takes a group of hostages, teacher Louise Kennedy fears the worst. But Jaime Segura isn't there on a homicidal mission, and he's just as scared as those whose lives he holds as collateral. As an armed police presence builds outside the school's gates, Bad Sam Chapman - head of the intelligence service's internal security force, the Dogs - battles the clock to find out what Jaime is after. But the only person Jaime will talk to is Ben Whistler, an MI6 accountant who worked with Jaime's lover, Miro. Miro's gone missing, along with a quarter of a billion pounds allotted for reconstruction work in Iraq. Jaime refuses to believe that Miro is a thief - though he's always had his secrets. But then, so does Louise, so do the other hostages - and so do some people on the outside, who'd much rather Jaime was silenced.

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*Discover The Secret Hours, the gripping new thriller from Mick Herron and an unmissable read for Slough House fans**Now a major TV series starring Gary Oldman*THE INSTANT #1 SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER'A pitch-perfect espionage thriller' Sunday TimesIn MI5 a scandal is brewing and there are bad actors everywhere.A key member of a Downing Street think-tank has disappeared without a trace. Claude Whelan, one-time First Desk of MI5's Regent's Park, is tasked with tracking her down. But the trail leads straight back to Regent's Park HQ itself, with its chief, Diana Taverner, as prime suspect. Meanwhile her Russian counterpart has unexpectedly shown up in London but has slipped under MI5's radar.Over at Slough House, the home for demoted and embittered spies, the slow horses are doing what they do best: adding a little bit of chaos to an already unstable situation.In a world where lying, cheating and backstabbing is the norm, bad actors are bending the rules for their own gain. If the slow horses want to change the script, they'll need to get their own act together before the final curtain.*Includes the short story Standing by the Wall: A Slough House Interlude*'The foremost living spy novelist in the English language' New Statesman'This is entertainment of the highest class' Literary Review'The man is a genius' The Spectator

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'A first-rate modern thriller' Daily MailSet in the same world as Mick Herron's bestselling Slough House thrillers, Nobody Walks introduces JK Coe, a fledgling spy who's about to get a harsh lesson in the realities of life on Spook StreetTom Bettany is working at a meat processing plant in France when he gets a voicemail telling him that his estranged 26-year-old son is dead - Liam Bettany fell from his London balcony, where he was smoking pot.Now for the first time since he cut all ties years ago, Bettany returns home to London to find out the truth about his son's death. But more than a few people are interested to hear Bettany is back in town, from incarcerated mob bosses to those in the highest echelons of MI5. And some of them - like JK Coe - will have cause to regret his reappearance.Bettany might have thought he'd left it all behind when he first skipped town, but nobody ever really walks away.

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*Discover The Secret Hours, the gripping new thriller from Mick Herron and an unmissable read for Slough House fans**Now a major TV series starring Gary Oldman*'The best thriller writer in Britain today' Sunday ExpressAt Regent's Park, the Intelligence Service HQ, new First Desk Claude Whelan is learning the job the hard way.Tasked with protecting a beleaguered Prime Minister, he's facing attack from all directions: from the showboating MP who orchestrated the Brexit vote, and now has his sights set on Number Ten; from the showboat's wife, a tabloid columnist, who's crucifying Whelan in print; and especially from his own deputy, Lady Di Taverner, who's alert for Claude's every stumble. Meanwhile, the country's being rocked by an apparently random string of terror attacks.Over at Slough House, the last stop for washed up spies, the crew are struggling with personal problems: repressed grief, various addictions, retail paralysis, and the nagging suspicion that their newest colleague is a psychopath. But collectively, they're about to rediscover their greatest strength - making a bad situation much, much worse.'Mick Herron is the John le Carré of our generation' Val McDermid'Dazzingly inventive' Sunday Times

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*FROM THE AUTHOR OF THE BESTSELLING SLOUGH HOUSE THRILLERS*Mick Herron is 'Britain's finest living thriller writer' (Sunday Express) and author of the bestselling and award-winning Slough House novels. Dolphin Junction captures his trademark tension, humour, and suspense in the form of short fiction, collected here for the first time.When a wife leaves her husband under suspicious circumstances, he sets off in search for her, unprepared for the guilty secrets he's about to drag back into the light.A man is tempted by a luxury apartment with a top-of-the-range kitchen. But there is a heavy price to pay for this glamorous new life.A couple go on a hike through the Derbyshire countryside, to ignore the fact their marriage is on the rocks.And there is a peek into the past of Jackson Lamb, the boss of Slough House, as well as stories featuring the shrewd detective Zoë Boehm and her hapless partner Joe Silvermann.Dolphin Junction displays Herron's craft for deftly plotted storytelling, dark wit, and memorable twists.'Mick Herron is an incredible writer and if you haven't read him yet, you NEED to' Mark Billingham'Mick Herron is one of the finest writers of his generation' Steve Cavanagh

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