Summary: 1990s Spook Straße, Berlin: Moscow Rules very much apply

While not quite a Slough House book as readers have come to know them, The Secret Hours is something of a prequel. It tells the story of a questionable British operation in 90s Berlin undertaken by an experienced British intelligence officer known as “Myles”. Readers of the Slough House series will understand the importance of the detail that this particular officer is known to fart a lot.

The story of this operation is told in flashback to an enquiry into malpractices by the intelligence services. Naturally, of course, the ancient history related to this operation has its repercussions in the present. Just because some people are dead, does not mean the past is. As the story evolves, it becomes plain, as Faulkner well understood, that it is not even past.

To say too much more risks exposing some of the deeply satisfying plot twists and narrative sleights of hands that Herron employs in this book. Suffice to say, it is a glorious addition to the Slough House universe and one of the best, to date, in the series.