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.
Publisher: John Murray Press
ISBN: 9781473657359
Number of pages: 256
Weight: 207 g
Dimensions: 199 x 130 x 17 mm
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
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
I was intrigued by the poor reviews This Is What Happened had received and wanted to know what all the fuss was about. I have read both the Slow Horse and Zoe Boehm series, love both, and couldn't see how this... More
A fiendishly clever standalone novel, more of a psychological thriller than a spy novel. While it lacks some of the caustic wit that make the Slough House novels so endearing, Herron's gift for wry observation is... More
The great thing about writing stand-alone novels is that it gives you the chance to introduce new characters and do anything you like with them. There’s no expectation management of the reader involved. So I wasn’t... More
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