The Secret Hours

Two years ago, a hostile Prime Minister launched the Monochrome inquiry, investigating historical overreaching by the British Secret Service. Monochromes mission was to ferret out any hint of misconduct by any MI5 officerand 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 MI5s formidable First Desk did not become Britains 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 bustand Griselda and Malcolm are stuck watching as their career prospects are washed away by the pounding London rain.Until the eve of Monochromes shuttering, when an MI5 case file appears without explanation. It is the buried history of a classified operation in 1994 Berlinan operation that ended in tragedy and scandal, whose coverup has rewritten thirty years of Service history.The Secret Hours is a dazzling entry point into Mick Herrons body of work, a standalone spy thriller that is at once unnerving, poignant, and laughoutloud funny. It is also the breathtaking secret history that Slough House fans have been waiting for.