Mick Herron

Mick Herron, creator of the bestselling Slough House series, joins us at the Festival for an in conversation about his new spy thriller, The Secret Hours.

Herron’s gripping standalone espionage novel is packed with wry wit and unexpected twists. At its centre is an MI5 case file that reveals the buried history of an off-the-books operation in Cold War Berlin — an operation that ended in tragedy and scandal, whose cover-up has rewritten thirty years of service history. At once unnerving, poignant and laugh-out-loud funny, Herron takes us into a dark world of high action, a spinning moral compass, and hidden motives on every page.

Herron is frequently praised as the best spy writer of his generation, and an heir to the master of espionage John le Carre. His Slough House books, about a team of washed-up spies, has recently been adapted into the critically acclaimed Apple Original series Slow Horses starring Gary Oldman and Kristin Scott Thomas.