Mick Herron’s latest nomination

Mick Herron is by far one of my favourite writers, so I was not surprised to see him on this years longlist yet again, which was great because it gave me a chance to read the Slough House books in order. Although as I discovered by the time I got to the middle of the book, it is technically a prequel to Slough House.



When you get so far into a series there are always characters you want to know the back stories to and this was great for that, by instigating a panel of inquiry into the service allowing Mick to take us back to 1994 just after the fall of the Berlin Wall. But who’s story was it that we will be hearing? Well, that’s the fascinating bit that I won’t spoil. It was a great twist that I wasn’t expecting although there were subtle hints there. This alone to Herron fans would justify its inclusion on this years longlist, but will it make the shortlist?



With so many big names and three other former winners also in the list it is going to take a lot for anybody to reach the top. It was well worth the 12 hours of listening although it could have done with some chapter breaks instead of parts as it wasn’t as easy to follow on audio as I would have liked, but despite 2 sections being 3 and 2 hours respectively, I was that gripped and I didn’t really mind this and just broke it up myself into 1/2 hour sections between watching 2 frames of snooker and going back for another 1/2 hour. Using this method and Mick’s gripping ending I was able to read the whole book in just under 2 days which is quite remarkable.



I hope you are as gripped as I was and I wish I could tell you more but if I do it will spoil it.