A brilliant addition to the Slough House epic. For a while, you wonder where it's going and how it relates to the rest of the books. The a switch flips in the narrative (and in your brain) and you can't stop reading. Fills is key blanks in the history. Spoilers are too easy to give in this, so all I'm saying is you'll not only learn of Jackson Lamb's past, but of others (and they won't be the ones you think they are).

The book opens with a thrilling pursuit, as a man named Max experiences a home invasion. The reader is privy to Max's thinking, and it's clear that he has some background with the intelligence services, even though we learn that he's a retired academic. He's now on the run, and the reader's task is to figure out how Max's story matches up with the other tale Herron is telling, of an MI5 agent, Alison, in cold war Berlin who is sent by David Cartwright to oversee and report back on the work of a somewhat abrasive, difficult agent named Miles. In the present day, decades later, Alison is telling the civil servants on the nearly-defunct Monochrome commission the story of her sojourn there, and how agents died and the situation was rife with betrayals. Of course, all the threads come together at the end and we get a glimpse of the manipulators behind the curtain who are pulling them, and learn whether those individuals will get their comeuppance and who will come out on top.
Herron is a master - of character development, of mood and theme, and of plotting above all. I've loved the Slough House books in varying degrees, but this book - which is really Slough House-adjacent, involving none of Jackson Lamb's present-day agents but clarifying many important questions from prior books - is utterly fantastic. If the Apple TV series tackles this novel, it will be really fascinating to see how they handle the flashbacks and resolve them in the modern storyline. The tagline from Lee Child on the book cover says it better than I could: "Great Britain has a long, rich history of how-it-really-works espionage fiction, and Mick Herron - stealthy as a secret agent - has written himself to the very top of the list." I've reread Slow Horses already, but as I've worked my way through the series, I've become convinced that there are so many little details and asides that I've missed. I rarely re-read series (just because there is so much new fiction out there to discover), but this is one that is worth a second go.
My favorite quote, from Miles to Alison: "You want to serve your country, right? What did you think that involved, dressing up and playing parts? This job is about betrayal. About persuading people to betray other people. Their countries, their friends, those they work for. And in return, we betray them too in the end" (295). It's worth noting that, despite what he says about playing parts, the narrator tells us at the end that "for a moment they were back in their old lives, the ones that had turned out to belong to other people, or at any rate, to no longer belong to them" (349). Everyone has a hidden identity or motive; everyone is playing a part.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing an advance copy in exchange for honest feedback

I loved Mick Herron's SECRET HOURS, but it's inexplicably being billed as a "standalone" when it's very much a "Slough House" novel. The book gets off to a slow start after the first chapter, but once it finally gets going, it's wonderful.

POSSIBLE SPOILER -- And I don't understand why Diana Taverner and Jackson Lamb, who are front-and-center through most of the story, aren't referred to by their names. It seems pointless to me.

Another terrific spy thriller from Herron. Although not billed as part of the Slow Horses series, the novel provides background to the characters in the series. An investigation into the British Secret Service is going nowhere until a file is mysteriously delivered into the “shopping cart” of one of the staff. This leads to an investigation of activities in the Berlin office after the fall of the Wall and the end of the Cold War.

This book! A superb read, which is well paced and well plotted. The writing just gets better and better. This is a great book.

The series (and non-series standalones like this title) goes from strength to strength as a state-of-the-nation novel. Was delighted to interview Mick Herron for The Big Read, Zoomer magazine's featured longread, at publication time.

THE SECRET HOURS is billed as a "standalone spy thriller," but it's more of a SLOW HORSES-adjacent entry. Reading Mick Herron's previous brilliant comic espionage novels would help enormously in appreciating this work. If you have, then THE SECRET HOURS stands among Herron's best work and might even be his masterpiece. It begins in prime Herron country: petty behind-the-scenes backbiting as a top-secret tribunal is established, staffed by disinterested noteworthy names (including a spy novelist that's a juicy send-up of Herron himself) and spearheaded by civil servants who regard the assignment as a career dead-end. Then a file is mysteriously slipped into their hands and a long-buried caper from Berlin in the 1990s in the early days of German reunification is brought to light, with ramifications for present day UK politics and some of the beloved characters from the SLOW HORSES books, here referred to obliquely. Every bit as funny as Herron's other work - as always, the metaphors are choice - and fueled by righteous anger. A delight.

I am a long time fan of Mick Herron’s writing style. His brand of literary flair interwoven with dark world-weary wit and stinging political and social satire has always really appealed to me, and this new standalone novel The Secret Hours does not fail to deliver on that score. If you are more inclined to tell an emperor he is wearing no clothes than standing by polishing a set of rose coloured glasses, then this writing will elicit many wry smiles from you.

But it’s not all clever banter and realpolitik. There are life and death matters at play too, and that’s where The Secret Hours plumbed unexpected depth for me. One of the several alternating first-person narratives takes us back to Berlin in the heady aftermath of reunification, where both vengeance and reinvention were on the menu. When spies are involved, who can a new kid on the block trust? The lies, blackmail and deception kept me turning the pages, eager for the next reveal. And, Herron delivers many in this outing. Continue reading at BookloverBookReviews.com

This book was a tough read for me. It started out with promise. And it ended well, with the story all tied up nicely. But the middle part was a tough read for me. The action seemed to grind to a halt at we were lead through an exhaustive story in flashback. I just found there to be too much extraneous information and mundane details.

Taking a break from the action at Slough House allows Herron some room to get out of London a bit while still circling back to his primary interests and illuminating some helpful background. A superb origin story.

Max Janacek was enjoying his retirement in a small cottage in the English countryside when his past came calling. The skills he used to survive a violent attack were not those of a retired English professor, but those of a man who’d lived his life as another person in another country as a member of Her Majesty’s Secret Service. Serving in Berlin in Cold War Berlin in 1994, he’d made some powerful enemies. Now that they’d finally tracked him down, it was time to reach out to his old employers.
Mick Herron is the finest espionage author of today, and is a worthy successor of John Le Carre. The Secret Hours is a standalone thriller, an insider’s look at the twisted world of MI5, full of intrigue, lies, manipulation, backstabbing, and occasional world-saving heroism. Readers familiar with Herron’s Slough House novels will find hints of what is to come. Names may or may not be familiar, but characters almost certainly will be.
The Secret Hours is on its way to the top of the best seller list. Highly recommended.

Fans of the Slough House series by Mick Herron, will not be disappointed by The Secret Hours, his new standalone. When it comes to writing espionage fiction, Herron is one of the best. His books have intricate plots with overlapping storylines, interesting characters, and a sharp wit, especially when directed at politicians and government bureaucracy.

The first plot thread will immediately grab your attention. The book begins with an introduction to Max Jancek, a retired academic living in a cottage in North Devon. Max has been leading a quiet life for years, but his response when an intruder breaks into his cottage late one night clearly demonstrates that being known as an academic is nothing but a cover for Max. If Max is to elude the people after him, he needs to find out who sent them and why now.

The fast paced action of Max’s storyline, slows as Herron changes focus to the origins of the Monochrome inquiry, the second plot thread. As an example of Herron’s sharp wit, he describes the establishment of the inquiry as being announced with less fanfare than the then-PM’s mini-break at Peppa Pig World. No names are mentioned but we all can remember a cringe-worthy Peppa Pig World visit. Bearing a bit of a grudge from past scrutiny of his actions, the then-PM demands an investigation into the historical over-reach of the intelligence service.

In order to satisfy the PM but with no desire for actual change, a committee is formed for the inquiry. The composition of the committee ensures that there is little chance of anything significant being accomplished. The First Chair is Griselda Fleet. Her husband is addicted to gambling. All he left for Griselda when their marriage came to an end was responsibility for their daughter and a huge debt load. Griselda is determined not to rock the boat as she needs the regular pay cheques.

Herron does a terrific job of conveying that the committee is just going through the motions. The tempo of his writing slows when he writes this section of the book. The cases heard are little more than petty grievances buried under layers of bureaucracy. Even reading the transcripts from their meetings is painfully slow.

Things change dramatically when the Second Chair, Malcolm mysteriously finds himself in possession of secret documents tied to past events in Berlin that occurred after the wall came down. The committee finally has a real case to investigate. This sets off the third plot thread. Herron manages to weave these different storylines into an engaging read. Although this book is considered a standalone, some of the individuals in the Berlin storyline may feel familiar to Slough House fans.

In "The Secret Hours," by Mick Herron, Griselda Fleet and Malcolm Kyle are the unlucky ones chosen to chair Monochrome, an inquiry designed to embarrass the British Intelligence Services by revealing examples of their past failures and misdeeds. Fleet, Kyle, and others on Monochrome's panel interrogate witnesses for two years, but no significant information emerges from what turns out to be a waste of time and money. Therefore, it is shocking when someone unexpectedly comes forward with new testimony. She tells what she knows about a British agent who planned an unauthorized operation in Berlin in 1994 that went up in flames.

Over the years, Herron has entertained us with a series of sardonic novels about Slough House (a purgatory for disgraced spies). His latest work of fiction has the same dark humor as its predecessor, but his dense plot is difficult to grasp. There are so many characters that readers could use an annotated list to keep track of them.

As "The Secret Hours" progresses, we learn about an unsanctioned effort to flush out a brutal killer as well as a more contemporary threat to the integrity of the British government. Ultimately, long-held grudges and the disclosure of scandalous secrets lead to a violent reckoning. Although his descriptive writing is excellent, Herron relies too much on lengthy exposition to get his points across. He leaves us with the impression that England's woes are exacerbated by her self-serving, venal, and incompetent leaders.

THE SECRET HOURS by Mick Herron is a stand-alone spy thriller from a master of his craft; Herron has won numerous awards and is often compared to John LeCarré or even Ian Fleming. In this novel, spies are investigating spies due to the establishment of the politically motivated Monochrome inquiry, staffed by Griselda Fleet and Malcolm Kyle, two civil servants without stellar pasts. The much more exciting parts of the book involve Max, a retired spy suddenly forced to go on the run. All leads back to events in 1990s Berlin. Called "gripping, cryptic, tragic, and suspenseful," THE SECRET HOURS received starred reviews from Booklist, Library Journal, and Publishers Weekly and is an ABA Indie Next Pick for September 2023. The audiobook has an excellent beginning – quite vividly describing a dead badger and Max's escape from his rural cottage. Sadly, it then shifts to bureaucratic politics with little differentiation between characters and is therefore less compelling for a stretch. Overall, though, the text combines Herron's talent for writing action-adventure and amusing, witty satire. Definitely a title that will be enjoyed by readers of spy fiction.

The Secret Hours is a great read. It is a stand alone novel, but it gives a glimpse of the background of some of the characters in Mick Herron's Slow Horses series. This series is also outstanding.
Mick Herron's writing style is colorful, imaginative, thought provoking and humorous. He paints very vivid pictures of every day occurrences such as a rainstorm on window, or someone walking down a street, It is a book to read slowly and carefully, savoring each morsel.
All the characters are well developed and interesting whether liked or not. The story twists and weaves between present day London and Berlin after the fall of the Berlin Wall. Events that took place in Berlin become the focus in present day London. The story line has mystery, suspense, action, betrayal, romance, and humor just to name a few points.
MI5 secrets from a Berlin operation are unfolding after many years. Some characters want revenge, while others want the story to remain buried. Thus begins a very intricate and gripping tale.

Regent's Park is where the British spies work. There are always machinations brewing. A committee entitled Monochrome is convened to investigate past indiscretions. However, Regent's Park pulls their teeth before the meetings even get off the ground, informing Monochrome that no files will be provided from the Park. Meanwhile, in Devon, an older man is driven from his home by a team of assassins. He has no idea why. The day before Monochrome is set to sunset, a file appears that seems to be an operation Berlin from the 1970s that meets the criteria for Monochrome's mandate. A witness is called. Alison Park spent some months in Berlin, investigating a chief spook at Berlin House, who was hell-bent on killing a former Stasi agent. He is spending a lot of the Park's money on his mission. And that operation has now spilled over into the present. This was an interesting novel, with a very complex plot that made it difficult to read. But, once all the characters were lined up, it moved along to a conclusion that was fairly foreseeable. While not a part of the Slough House series, the book read like most of the Slough House books.

Get ready for a fast paced but intellectual dive into post WWII secrets come to light, all set within the structures of the British bureaucracy and intelligence agencies. See my full Good Reads Review here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/5775374560

After my last disastrous expedition into non-Slough House territory (This is What Happened, 2018), I was a little worried where Mick Herron’s new novel might take me. Fortunately it’s more Slough House-adjacent than standalone (though it takes quite a while to get there) and has a similarly enjoyable mix of tradecraft, black humor, and back room politicking though does lack the fuck uppery of our beloved slow horses.

Three stories are woven together and then connect up at the end: Max Janacek, an old spy gone to ground in rural Devon, is dug up by some bad actors and goes on the run; the Monochrome inquiry is set up to investigate Secret Service corruption and over-reaching; and one of Monochrome’s witnesses tells her story of an operation gone pear-shaped in Berlin in the 1990’s.

It is in the latter two threads we meet some familiar faces though they are not going under familiar names, for no real reason that I can see other than to make the reader in the know feel smug. First Desk (who we know as Diana Taverner) is up to her old tricks manipulating politicians and finances to protect her territory. Brinsley Miles is out in the field in Berlin but is instantly recognizable (to old hands) as Jackson Lamb by his habit of making a cigarette appear out of nowhere. There is one other significant character who we know by another name but that would be a spoiler.

Things take time to get rolling and take a very long time to connect up. The Berlin story is the heart of the novel (but not long enough to be a novel in its own right) and is full of post-Wall atmosphere. Our guide (and Monochrome witness) is the pseudonymous Alison North, seconded by David Cartwright for double agent reasons to Berlin. Here she meets up with Miles and they make up a trio with a debonair German, known as Otis, and spend evenings in seedy bars and clubs. Alison gradually finds out what the two men are really up to (and it connects to the background of one of the Slough House novels) and is torn by what she should report to Cartwright. Her decision has devastating repercussions.

As with the last SH book I read (Slough House, 2021), I found the pacing a little odd with a lot of front loaded set up and then a rather hurried resolution. There are some satisfying nifty reveals and some pleasure to be had in seeing a younger Jackson Lamb in the field, so definitely worth a read for Slough House completists. It's also probably an enjoyable spy novel for SH first timers too, though they would miss some of the nuances.

Thanks to Soho Press and Netgalley for the dig

This standalone will satisfy any and all fans of the Slow Horses series. The back story of two of our favorites gets filled in, in the best Herron way possible. As always, smart, funny, thrilling, and a little poignant.