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This is What Happened by Mick Herron

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This is What Happened

Publisher
John Murray Press
Publish Date
5 July 2018
Run Time
7 hours 34 minutes
Format
Audiobook

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What to expect

From CWA Gold Dagger winner Mick Herron comes a shocking, twisted novel of psychological suspense about one woman's attempt to be better than ordinary.

Something's happened.

A lot of things have happened.

If she could turn back time, she wondered how far she would go.

Twenty-six-year-old Maggie Barnes is someone you would never look at twice. Living alone in a month-to-month sublet in London, with no family but an estranged sister, no boyfriend or partner, and not much in the way of friends, Maggie is just the kind of person who could vanish from the face of the earth without anyone taking notice.

Or just the kind of person MI5 needs to thwart an international plot that puts all of Britain at risk.

Now one young woman has the chance to be a hero - if she can think quickly enough to stay alive.

(P)2018 Hodder & Stoughton Limited

Critics Review

  • An ingenious standalone psychological thriller from Mick Herron . . . a compelling and claustrophobic three-hander

    Guardian

  • A spine-crawlingly creepy portrait of cruelty and of loneliness . . . springing twist after brilliant twist as he practically dares his reader to try to put the book down . . . very impressive

    Observer

  • Patrick Hamilton seems the main influence in this story of broken lives epitomising a society coming apart, both in his studies of London's losers and in his seminal depiction of gaslighting that foreshadows how Maggie is imprisoned and controlled

    Sunday Times

  • Herron delivers a chilling psychological thriller . . . An in-one-sitting read

    Sunday Times Crime Club

See more reviews
  • Imagine John Fowles's The Collector rewritten by Ruth Rendell . . . you'd be nuts not to feast on this clever black comedy

    Evening Standard

  • Part spy thriller, part creepy psychological thriller, the slick twists and elegant prose make this a super read

    Sunday Mirror

  • A beautifully written and ingeniously plotted standalone from Herron . . . this dark thriller is rife with the deadpan wit and trenchant observation that Herron's readers relish

    Publishers Weekly

  • There is, quite simply, no current thriller writer who enjoys better word-of-mouth than Mick Herron, whose sardonic series of Jackson Lamb espionage novels have accrued a devoted following. The unassuming Maggie Barnes is an improbable enlistee for MI5 - but she may be able to save the UK from a devastating plot

    FT, Summer Reads

  • John Fowles's The Collector rewritten by Ruth Rendell

    Independent I

  • A cat-and-mouse psychological thriller about the people who fall through London's cracks. Perfectly crafted, beautifully written, I started it in the morning and it was dark when I looked up

    Erin Kelly

  • Intriguing and filled with surprises . . . reads like John le Carre rewriting Alice in Wonderland

    The Spectator

  • Mick Herron is a genius . . . This is What Happened has an utterly blindsiding twist which had me gasping for joy at its audacity. A good introduction to Herron for those who haven't tried the Slough House books, and a delight for those who have

    Bookseller

  • There are more twists than a 1960s dance marathon in this unsettling tale, along with plenty of Herron's delicious dark humour

    Daily Express

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Details

Author
Mick Herron
Narrator
Imogen Church
Duration
7 hours 34 minutes
Release Date
5 July 2018
ISBN
9781473660304
Format
Audiobook
Publisher
John Murray Press
Genre
Crime and / or mystery fiction, Thriller / suspense fiction

Synopsis

From CWA Gold Dagger winner Mick Herron comes a shocking, twisted novel of psychological suspense about one woman's attempt to be better than ordinary.Something's happened. A lot of things have happened. If she could turn back time, she wondered how far she would go.Twenty-six-year-old Maggie Barnes is someone you would never look at twice. Living alone in a month-to-month sublet in London, with no family but an estranged sister, no boyfriend or partner, and not much in the way of friends, Maggie is just the kind of person who could vanish from the face of the earth without anyone taking notice.Or just the kind of person MI5 needs to thwart an international plot that puts all of Britain at risk.Now one young woman has the chance to be a hero - if she can think quickly enough to stay alive.(P)2018 Hodder & Stoughton Limited

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