The List

The List is Mick Herron’s third book in the Slough House series, except this one is a novella which can be read in an hour. I’ve raved about the first two full-length novels, so check out the blog for those reviews. It seems that he has used this book to set up a clever new character for the ensuring stories. In the process, Herron explained the world of spies, double agents, and triple agents. Which of those will Hannah Weiss turn out to be?

Dieter Hess was thought by MI6 to be a double agent. He was an East German who had come over to the West, retired in England. But then Dieter died and of course, “When a spy passes, his cupboards need clearing out.” His papers indicated that he had a previously unknown source of income, something MI6 hadn’t know about, and his handler, John Bachelor was called on the carpet for not knowing about it. By deciphering Dieter’s coded language, Bachelor figured out that Dieter had been running a network of spies. But the list of them did not make sense until Bachelor determined that the list was a “phantom network.” Dieter had just stolen the identities of some apparently innocent folks, all with vague German ties, so he could demand some money to pay them, but then keep the money for himself. His spy retirement funds were so meager, that small amounts of money made a big difference to his quality of life.

Of course, the Germans (allies yes, but there were still these spy things going on) knew the names of Dieter’s alleged spies, and Bachelor wondered if he could use one of them and turn them against the Germans, to create a spy where none had existed before. That’s where Hannah Weiss comes into the story. She was the one who Bachelor chose and she was a willing participant – but what if the whole thing was a setup by the Germans to begin with? That’s where this series of very well written espionage novels seems to be headed.

In the course of this book, Herron further developed the character his main protagonist, Jackson Lamb, and of Diana Taverner, “the ice queen,” one of the bosses at Regent’s Park, the MI6 headquarters. This author and this series get my strong recommendation. I’ve already acquired the fourth book in the series.