• The Catch

  • By: Mick Herron
  • Narrated by: Gerard Doyle
  • Length: 2 hrs and 9 mins
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars (211 ratings)

Access a growing selection of included Audible Originals, audiobooks, and podcasts.
You will get an email reminder before your trial ends.
Audible Plus auto-renews for $7.95/mo after 30 days. Upgrade or cancel anytime.
The Catch  By  cover art

The Catch

By: Mick Herron
Narrated by: Gerard Doyle
Try for $0.00

$7.95 a month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $8.60

Buy for $8.60

Pay using card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.

Publisher's summary

British spy master Mick Herron returns with an explosive novella set in the same world as his multiple CWA Dagger-winning Slough House series

John Bachelor is the saddest kind of spy: not a joe in the field, not even a desk jockey, but a milkman - a part-time pension administrator whose main job is to check in on aging retired spies. Late in his career and having lost his wife, his house, and his savings after a series of unlucky choices, John's been living in a dead man's London apartment, hoping the bureaucracy isn't going to catch up with him and leave him homeless. But keeping a secret among spies is a fool's errand, and now John has made himself eminently blackmailable.

©2020 Mick Herron (P)2020 Recorded Books

What listeners say about The Catch

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    128
  • 4 Stars
    57
  • 3 Stars
    23
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    3
Performance
  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    149
  • 4 Stars
    26
  • 3 Stars
    8
  • 2 Stars
    1
  • 1 Stars
    0
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    110
  • 4 Stars
    46
  • 3 Stars
    24
  • 2 Stars
    3
  • 1 Stars
    1

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Excellent story, excellent reader

Mick Herron is the best! This little story gives flesh to a minor character elsewhere.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Nice twist

Poor John Bachelor is a "milkman." He is the handler for former spooks and associates, is such disgrace he doesn't have an office in Slough House. When The Dogs (MI 5 internal affairs) find out he's lost touch with one of his charges, and failed to report it, he needs to find that burglar/blackmailer and reel him in. This story follows a story line from Book 6, Joe Country, updated with a subsequent salacious event. The hint is in the title. Another stellar performance by Gerard Doyle.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

Oh dear.

This is the third (and perhaps final?) short novella involving spies in London not in the main slow horses den. The first two were good but sadly this is poor in several fronts. First the plot is kind of flogging a dead horse (oops!) and it’s as slow (oops again) as molasses. And the denouement is limp. The reading technically is poor - I couldn’t get the volume right. Pity all around.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Entertaining

It was an enjoyable book with a good twist, but didn’t quite have the same punch of the other Slough House books. The narrator, Gerard Doyle was good as always.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

Slow novellas

I wish there was a category for audio production. Gerard Doyle's narration is his usual fine job, but it sounds like he's standing six feet from the microphone -- sort of muffled and fuzzy. I count that as a production issue. Combined with my disappointment in all three novellas, it caused me to ditch this one shortly after starting it. Unlike the Slough House characters, the players in these brief interludes showed me nothing interesting about themselves or their activities. Also, priced too high for just a couple hours of listening. Disappointed in all three.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Honestly, the poor recording

It sounded as if the microphone was swinging like a pendulum through the space in front of the narrator, the levels constantly shifting from too loud too inaudible.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!