This is What Happened
Mick Herron
ISBN: 9781616958619
Published: January, 2018
Pricing
Paperback $15.95
More books by Mick Herron
Description
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.
Twenty-six-year-old Maggie Barnes is someone you would never look at twice. Living alone in a month-to-month sublet in the huge city of London, with no family but an estranged sister...
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.
Twenty-six-year-old Maggie Barnes is someone you would never look at twice. Living alone in a month-to-month sublet in the huge city of 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 infiltrate the establishment and 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.
Media
“Sucks you in from the opening page.... what looks at first like your basic spy thriller morphs into something far different — a tricky game of three-character monte filled with sly twists that Herron reveals with the precision of a high-end Swiss watchmaker.”
–John Powers, NPR's Fresh Air
“Heroic struggles, less-heroic failures and a shoot-out-cum-heist . . . with no let-up in the page-turning throughout. ”
—Esquire
“A funny, stylish, satirical, gripping story . . . Memorably seedy characters, sharp dialogue, complex plot. I’m hooked.”
—The Guardian
“Beautifully written and ingeniously plotted... This dark thriller is rife with the deadpan wit and trenchant observation that Herron's readers relish.”
–Publishers Weekly, Starred Review
“In clipped, stylish prose, Mick Herron’s sly, twisty, bullet-paced narrative tracks Maggie’s journey from a skittish participant in her own life to a reluctant recruit in something diabolical. Suddenly, Maggie’s life becomes a Patricia Highsmith story.”
–Carole E. Barrowman, The Minneapolis Star Tribune
“Takes elements of the familiar spy story, with its secrets and switchback betrayals, and locks them inside a tightly-sealed box of psychological suspense.”
–Reviewing the Evidence
“Mr. Herron cleverly employs the tropes of spy fiction to construct a frightening psychological puzzle. He then transforms the conundrum into yet another unexpected story, one that leaves the reader hoping for a resolution that may or may not materialize.”
–Tom Nolan, The Wall Street Journal
“Like [Herron's] other books, this one resides where escapism and political paranoia meet. Planted firmly in the realm of the possible, his works toy with 21st-century fears and manias: terrorism, government deceit, economic meltdowns and hostage-takers.... That he accomplishes all this while interspersing the hair-raising with the humorous is quite a feat. He’s a trickster, a wit, a cynic, a slippery rogue of a storyteller who is unapologetic about leading the reader astray, but who makes the diversion worthwhile.”
–Helen T. Verongos, St. Louis Post-Dispatch
“Fans of twisty espionage fiction and psychological suspense won’t want to put this book down until they find out what exactly happened.”
–Library Journal
“[Herron's] sentences have no wasted words; they're just long enough to land their punches and leave. The story goes to dark, disturbing places, but not without a sense of humor.”
–Shelf Awareness
“[This is What Happened] has the potential to be the next big thing, like THE GIRL ON THE TRAIN next big thing.... It's an espionage novel, a thriller and a mystery, all rolled into one glorious book that you can and will read in one sitting.”
–Bookreporter
“Draws on [Herron's] incisive spymaster knowledge as well as other imaginative forays, and uses the mean streets of contemporary London to their utmost advantage.”
–The Seattle Review of Books
“Herron’s latest is highly recommended for its unexpected take on an otherwise familiar theme, its characters and setting, and especially for ways Herron takes us down unanticipated narrative roads.”