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  • The Secret Hours

  • By: Mick Herron
  • Narrated by: Sean Barrett
  • Length: 12 hrs and 41 mins
  • 4.8 out of 5 stars (50 ratings)

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The Secret Hours

By: Mick Herron
Narrated by: Sean Barrett
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Publisher's Summary

A new standalone novel from 'Britain's greatest living thriller writer' and author of the bestselling Slough House series, now a TV series starring Gary Oldman.

An Instant Sunday Times Bestseller

*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 listen for Slough House fans.*

A BBC Radio 4 Book at Bedtime

Two 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.

©2023 Mick Herron (P)2023 Hodder & Stoughton Limited

Critic Reviews

'I doubt I'll read a more enjoyable novel all year' Paula Hawkins

'Pitch-perfect' Lee Child

'Terrific' The Times

What listeners say about The Secret Hours

Average Customer Ratings
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    5 out of 5 stars

Hooked from the first sentence.

So satisfying to learn the backstories of my favourite spooks. Thank you Mick Herron. Can't wait for the next book.

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3 people found this helpful

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

A must for all Slough House readers.

This is gold. A weaving together of the background and minds of many familiar characters. Classic subtle twists in story development and a slow revealing of the nature of the past to the present.

I will be re-reading this a few times.

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3 people found this helpful

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

Another Mick Herron winner

Excellent story and as always Sean Barrett 's narration is first class. Unfortunately the sound editing left a lot to be desired.....surely a Mick Herron book, narrated by Sean Barrett (what a team) is worthy of more than this? Can't wait for the next book.

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2 people found this helpful

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Awesome

Great story, great narration! Standalone but a small part of the Slow Horses excellent world

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1 person found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Excellent and very satisfying.

This adds to the Slough House series in a sophisticated and interesting way. it is rare for a story adjacent to another strong story line to enhance the first one, but this certainly does. Very good indeed. A soy story for grown ups.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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One of his best

Loved it! One for the Slough House fans Herron deserves to be ranked with Le Carre and Fleming

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1 person found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Just too good!!!!!!

Getting the inside story on our loved slow horses is genius.
More please - I can’t live without more Mick Herron spook brilliance!!!!

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1 person found this helpful

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Fantastic

I loved the story from the beginning and enjoyed the ride to the end. All round outstanding.

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1 person found this helpful

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Another Ripper of a read

Clever & twisty filled with insightful wit & humour. This is a wonderful addition to the nuances of Slough House. Fantastic narration.

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    4 out of 5 stars
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Great backstory to familiar characters

Loved the writing and the performance (thank you for bringing such drama to JL’s character) - leas action driven than previous books - but more of the intrigue.

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  • Nunbro
  • 06-12-2023

Slow house prequel

A must read for all slow house fans. Best read if you are familiar with the previous Slough house books.

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  • Megan
  • 12-11-2023

Mick Herron At His Best

From the master of the modern spy story, comes another hit-out-of-the-Park. I loved this ‘Slough House’ offshoot. Whip-smart, very funny, and a riveting (back) story for fans of the series. No-one can describe the mood of a city quite like Mick Herron can. And no one can be Jackson Lamb quite like Sean Barrett can. Bravo! 👏

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    2 out of 5 stars
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  • Liz
  • 17-10-2023

Tedious

I've loved Mick Herron's previous books but I just couldn't get into this one. I persevered to about halfway and returned it. Sean Barrett as always is an excellent narrator.

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  • Overall
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  • Anonymous User
  • 07-10-2023

Best ever

Though it need you've read some of the earlier books to get a grip of some of the other spooks. It got me laughing out loud, which a can't remember the other books really did.

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  • Jude dickens
  • 25-09-2023

Great story but partially recycled?

Really enjoyed this but at times I knew what was coming. Some of the paragraphs/scenarios were familiar as if I had read them before. I’ll have to go back to his other books to check…

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  • Bonnie
  • 23-09-2023

Clever af

Although it is billed as a 'standalone' novel, if you haven't read the Slough House series you wouldn't catch a bunch of the references and jokes. And you want to catch them because they are clever and illuminating. This is a fabulous story, perhaps my favourite of the series. I loved getting to meet Jackson Lamb when he was young, I want more! And of course the narration is first class, as always.

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  • Lilith
  • 20-09-2023

Always a pleasure!

Halfway through the book- I’m prying there will be next instalment before I’m done - alas…

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  • williamschef
  • 16-09-2023

Ignore the early reviews.. they were caught off guard.

Couple of points to address..

Mick Herron’s world of The Park, the service and all that revolves around it will never be dull.
Sean Barret is probably the greatest narrator.

Admittedly, ‘ The secret hours ‘ starts, pretending to be a stand alone novel, set within the same world as the slow horses. But and this is a huge but… it’s a lie. This is cannon to all the slow horses’ novels. Diane Taverner ( although never named) is MVP of this book. I love the mythology of Jackson Lamb’s world and this book answers a lot of previously asked questions; Molly Doran, Lamb in Berlin etc.

Brilliant.

And I love that Cartwright was referred to in the present tense.

Recently a narrated was changed on another series.. 6 books in. DO NOT CHANGE SEAN BARRET ON MICK HERON BOOKS. HE IS THE VOICE OF THE SLOW HORSES.

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  • Steve Garbutt
  • 15-09-2023

Early reviews so far are rubbish

First - Sean Barrett will always be immaculate as Mick Herron’s characters. He is MH’s Michael Jayston and there no higher praise for this type of novel than that. BUT. - first 2/3 hours needs to be re-edited. Coughs, missed lines, reiterations, I noticed and I’m a fan - so get it sorted out please. The story - well if you’re not a Slow Horses fan, I don’t know. It fills in lots of gaps for us, many of which we already sort of knew. I suppose I could get away with this as a stand alone but wouldn’t have the impact that it does be side I know all of the characters already. Nice to see Dickie Bowe’s back story and always good to see John Batchelor involved. For a fan - brilliant bar the above, for a new comer - do the MH cannon in order rather than this as a stand alone.

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  • Alex
  • 14-09-2023

let down!

His Slough House series was excellent and he became a one click author... but this is just a disappointment. If you took out everything that made Slough House great, this is what you would be left with. Pity!

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  • George
  • 15-09-2023

Awful narration

Very disappointed , this narrator is usually excellent but this effort is appalling , the last Nesbo book narration was not very good but this is woeful , l can only assume that age has finally caught up with him , am returning this as it’s just not fit for purpose , very sad .

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6 people found this helpful

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  • Dilly Dally
  • 21-09-2023

Brilliant brilliant brilliant

Such a clever book! Like a beautiful spiderweb that has drawn in and tidied up all the loose bits left behind at the end of the previous slough house books, I just loved it! I would like an insight into MH workings to know more about how he keeps tracks on all the story lines and all the characters over so long and how he manages to weave them all into each other..., genius! If anything at all, I would just like to have heard something about Catherine Standish's past, but maybe for another time!
As usual Sean Barrett's narration is spot on and yes there are a few editing issues in the first few hours but quite frankly, who cares???

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5 people found this helpful

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  • Amazon Customer
  • 15-09-2023

Poor can’t listen to it.

Was really looking forward to this book. But very poor can’t listen to it gutted

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  • Audible Fan
  • 14-09-2023

Disappointing

I had high hopes for this but it was very lacking, there were no interesting characters or great lines. The early part of the book was boring.

The narrator did a good job but quality control was lacking as some lines were repeated.

If you like slow horses just ignore this book as it adds little to the world created and seems like a wasted opportunity.

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  • Amazon Customer
  • 15-09-2023

An absorbing listen

A Mick Herron story and Sean Barrett narration - dream team. We get to learn about history not being bygones and something about modern diplomacy being more about business.

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    3 out of 5 stars
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  • Wendy
  • 11-12-2023

Disappointing

I love all Mick Herron’s books and although this was OK it was a bit of a letdown after the last excellent Slough House. It’s billed as a standalone novel however I think it would be quite confusing if you’d never before heard of Molly Dorman or Jackson Lamb or knew what had happened previously to Charles Partner etc. The beginning and the end were both good but the middle was quite slow. As usual the narration was excellent. Please bring back Roddy Ho and the others for next time.

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  • william huntingdon
  • 11-12-2023

Suspenseful.

Enjoyed the characters and endless twists and turns. Very evocative of post wall Berlin. Great start in rural Devon.

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