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Title:
The
Marylebone Drop
Series:
Slough House
#5.5
Author:
Mick Herron
Rating:
3.5 of
5 Stars
Genre:
Thriller
Pages:
52
Words:
19K
Publish:
2018
This
was another Slow Horses adjacent novella about the same set of
characters from the other novella, The
List. In fact, if you hadn’t read The List, you’d
be lost because the events chronicled there play a direct part of
this story. The main character is a screwup who is definitely headed
to Slough House at some point and so you know this isn’t going to
be a story of blazing success and derring-do.
Grimey, that’s the word that I’m deciding on when it comes to Herron’s body of work. Doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy them, but I don’t come out of them feeling good about myself or anything. I think there’s a danger in indulging in that kind of thinking very often, which is why I’m not racing through these books hell for leather. I am going at a slow, deliberate pace which allows me to enjoy the story, confront the grime and hopeless feeling Herron indulges in and call it out for the lazy lie it is.
And I think that’s enough for this. Man, writing more reviews this month has really seen my words per review just plummet.
★★★✬☆
From the Internet
Plot Summary
The Incident: Retired Cold War asset Solomon Dortmund witnesses a suspected dead drop (or coffee shop brush pass) in Marylebone and reports it to his destitute, low-level MI5 handler, John Bachelor.
The Fallout: The report triggers internal maneuvering by Diana Taverner and pulls in innocent analyst Alec Wicinski. Meanwhile, MI5 operative Hannah Weiss operates secretly as a triple agent for Germany's BND to pass along Brexit intelligence.
Resolution: BND operative Martin Kreutzmer frames Wicinski for child pornography and accidentally causes Solomon's death, while Bachelor ends up squatting in Solomon's flat and Hannah transfers to the Brexit office.
Key Characters
John Bachelor: An impoverished MI5 handler tasked with keeping tabs on retired assets.
Solomon Dortmund: A retired Cold War spy whose sharp eyes spot the initial drop.
Hannah Weiss: An MI5 officer secretly working as a German triple agent.
Alec Wicinski: An MI5 analyst who gets wrongfully dragged into the fallout.
Diana Taverner: Senior MI5 management manipulating bureaucratic committees
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