The Secret Hours

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 Telegraph

Trying 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.

WE ALL HAVE JOBS TO DO IN THE DAYLIGHT. IT'S WHAT YOU DO IN THE SECRET HOURS THAT REVEALS WHO YOU REALLY ARE.

'Wonderful . . . high action, a spinning moral compass, and hidden motives on every page' Michael Connelly

*Mick Herron's The Secret Hours was a Sunday Times Number Four bestseller in hardback in the second week of September 2023

Genre: Thriller

"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. If you haven't already been recruited, start with The Secret Hours - all Herron's trademark strengths are here: tension, intrigue, observation, humor, absurdity . . . and pitch-perfect prose." - Lee Child

"The Secret Hours is wonderful. It's Mick Herron at his best, taking us into a dark world where there is high action, a spinning moral compass, and hidden motives on every page. And, oh, yes, the fun - Herron's greatest talent may be the examination of serious things with a perfectly wry sense of humor." - Michael Connelly

"I doubt I'll read a more enjoyable novel all year. The Secret Hours has it all: thrilling action scenes, crackling dialogue, characters to infuriate and beguile, and a neatly intricate plot. And through it all cuts Herron's acerbic wit, its effect heightened by the glimpses he allows us, from time to time, from his world to ours." - Paula Hawkins

"A deft knockout of a story, with an arc of history, written with humor and style. Mick Herron is one of the best writers of spy fiction working today." - Martin Cruz Smith