The List: A Novella

Written by Mick Herron

Narrated by Gerard Doyle

Dieter Hess, an aged spy, is dead, and John Bachelor, his MI5 handler, is in deep, deep trouble. Death has revealed that the deceased had been keeping a secret second bank account—and there’s only ever one reason a spy has a secret second bank account. The question of whether he was a double agent must be resolved, and its answer may undo an entire career’s worth of spy secrets.

“Funny, clever … Genuinely thrilling. The novel is equally noteworthy for its often lyrical prose.”—Publishers Weekly, starred review

• Language: English
• Publisher: Recorded Books, Inc.
• Release date: Jul 5, 2019
• ISBN: 9781980046646

Reviews for The List

[Robin Herbert · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I nearly skipped over this excellent novella while reading the series. I tend to find the novellas in series uninteresting, but this was my favorite of the 1st three books in this outstanding series. It's hard to describe without plot spoilers, so I'll simply say that this was a good story that added depth to the overall series, featured the screwballs of Slough House as well as some new characters, had me laughing aloud with hilarious depictions of Jackson Lamb, and filled an evening nicely. A compelling read.

[domingosantos_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

One of those that keeps you guessing right up to the last 50 pages. The ending still has me chuckling! A good read.

[aliceanna-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

A far cry from his other books -- written from a female attorney's perspective (and one who doesn't like the law much either). Martini did a fine job of writing a woman's perspective. He almost had me, but I figured it out. Quite entertaining, as usual.

[susandennis-139327 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Abby Chandlis had written and published three novels and they all died on the shelf. No publisher would touch her. Her latest novel was well worth touching... so she created a pen name and hired a male hunk to play the part of the lawyer. This story is a good tale but is a great look at the world of publishing.

[susiec418 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

After several attempts to read this book, once I got past the first couple of chapters, Martini drew me in with the romance of the publishing business along with the dark side of the business. The sex-appeal of Jack certainly didn't hinder! Once I understood the publishing business, everything fell into place. The need for a pseudoname, looking for the right "look" for the jacket picture, to marketing for film was fascinating and addictive. I quickly fell into "lust" with Jack, and didn't want to believe he would manipulate Abbey. Martini has a very surprising way of presenting and climaxing the plot. Really enjoyed the story and will look for more of his work.

[lynngood · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Under the name of Gable Cooper, Abby Chandlis has penned a novel worth six million dollars. When Jack enters her life, Abby is convinced he is perfect to pose as the fictitious author. The success of her novel rockets Jack into stardom, then Abby begins to suffer a series of deadly accidents

[datrappert · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Short and minor novella in the Slough Horses series, which only peripherally involves the inhabitants of Slough House. When an MI5 "asset" who long before passed on information from East Germany dies of natural causes, an unknown bank account turns up. Where did the money come from, and was the asset compromised? The result of the investigation and the speculation at the end is interesting and probably more realistic than the two Slough House novels I have read so far--but far less entertaining.

[aliceap-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

The List is a novella length story which revisits our friends in Slough House but focuses primarily on some new recruits to the team as well as the fallout from the bombshell that occurred in the previous book (don't worry no spoilers here). The best bits were inevitably those revolving around Jackson Lamb, the fearless leader of this ragtag gang of misfits. When a spy/informant from the old days dies, it is discovered that he had been playing shadow games and keeping secrets from his handler. Can this mistake be hushed up and rectified or are they all in greater danger than they originally feared? Lots of talk about the 'craft' of being a spy in this one which was interesting but I think its short length hampered the storyline.

[ken5me5old5mate · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This review is repeated for all the books in the Slough House series:
Slow Horses
Dead Lions
The List
Real Tigers
Spook Street
London Rules

I’m on holiday in Australia and like all good holidays I came with a pile of books. Also like all good holidays, the books are pure escapism writing. It doesn’t matter if you don’t finish it, missing a page or two will not spoil the plot, not remembering a word of it the next day? well that marks it as a really good holiday read.

I devoured this series, one every two days and loved every minute of them all. haven’t found the last one yet but ave got all the ones that came before including the novella, The List. You could pick any one of them up and read it and it wouldn’t matter if you hadn’t read the preceding ones, they all work individually but just like soup, steak and syrup pudding they work best in the right order.

The setting is a dingy, run down building in a dingy, run down part of London. It is called Slough House and the people in there are referred to as Slow Horses. They are all members of the Secret Service who have fucked up one way or another and are no longer suitable for active service, but cannot be sacked without falling foul of the Employment Act, yes it even applies to spies.

So they are banished to Slough House and given menial, mind numbing repetitive, pointless, soul destroying, work to do until they eventually give up and leave. Except, some of them don’t leave. Everyone pretty much knows exactly how everyone else fucked up big time to be in Slough House except for their boss, one Jackson Lamb, no-one knows how he ended up here or even suspects that he bargained his place here in exchange for doing a nasty job that was necessary at the time. He could best be described as cunning, nasty, abrasive, insulting, crude, ill-mannered and very politically incorrect, except that he spent the majority of his time in the service behind the wall working undercover in Soviet, Cold War territory, something that very few came back from alive.

The books are a series of events that befall the occupants of Slough House. You soon get a feel for the characters and the James Bond meets Coronation Street situation. But them some of them die and some of them don’t. From book to book you never know who will be around at the end of the book. The characters of Jackson Lamb had me laughing out loud on many occasions, making me realise how seldom this happens!

The real enemies are seen mainly to be those within the Secret Service and their political masters and the ends they will go to secure what they see as their rightful place in history. Right and Wrong are easily mistaken for each other and beyond a certain point it depends where you stand as to what you call which. The guns are seldom in the right hands and the good guys quite often don’t make it.

The incidental characters are easily seen for the current political muppets they are based upon, a particularly evil Boris Johnson is never far from the plot. Also current events, Brexit and so on. In discussing the seemingly unbelievable factors in the current case it only takes Jackson Lamb to point out that Tony Blair is now a Peace Envoy for everyone to grasp that nothing can be dismissed as highly unlikely.

If this ever gets turned into a Netflix series I will buy a television just to watch it!

[eyejaybee · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Mick Herron has tapped a rich mine with his stories about the ‘slow horses’, the aspiring officers of the intelligence service exiled for their respective faux pas to Slough House where they fall under the chaotic, and often vitriolic, management of Jackson Lamb. Lamb himself has little more than a walk-on role in this novella, but he doesn’t need to be there for long to make his presence felt. He is characteristically brutal when he encounters JK Coe, newly appointed to the service, who has been coerced by John Bachelor, an old hand (though not of Lamb’s prehistoric vintage) to investigate a series of names uncovered in the home of a recently deceased East German double-agent.Herron’s touch is marvellous. He blends elements of great comedy with carefully crafted plotlines, but never allows one aspect to compromise the other. His books stand up on their own as high quality spy fiction, while their humour puts them in a cast of their own.

[pgchuis · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A former East German asset, Dieter Hess, dies a natural death, but MI5 discovers that he has a bank account of which they knew nothing and has secretly been paid 18,000GBP. Hess' minder, John Bachelor is charged with finding out if Hess had indeed been working for the Germans. He discovers a list of names and asks a new recruit, JK Coe, to look into how they might be connected. Coe seeks help from Jackson Lamb at Slough House...Very short, but perfectly formed. An excellent ending.

[rowingrabbit · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A great little shortie between books that introduces a character who will appear in book #4 of the series.