Nicholas Lezard

Unfinished business in Berlin: The Secret Hours, by Mick Herron, reviewed

How it all began: Di Taverner, Service legend David Cartwright and the rest of the Slow Horses make themselves known to the reader in an origin story disguised as a follow-up

Rosalind Eleazar and Dustin Demri-Burns in the TV adaptation of Mick Herron’s Slow Horses. [Alamy]
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  • The Secret Hours

    Mick Herron

    Baskerville, pp. 393, £22

During the summer, I noticed a new noise coming from the crowd whenever Ben Stokes or another English player bashed or stroked the ball to the boundary. It wasn’t quite the cheer you’d expect; more an ahhhh of appreciation, as you would deliver to someone who is offering a masterclass in how to win a game when it has, to all intents and purposes, already been won.

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