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Reconstruction
In CWA Gold Dagger winner Mick Herron's chillingly plausible first standalone, “there is no hiding under the desk” (The New York Times Book Review).
When a gunman breaks into South Oxford Nursery School and takes a group of hostages, teacher Louise Kennedy fears the worst. But Jaime Segura isn’t there on a homicidal mission, and he’s just as scared as those whose lives he holds as collateral. As an armed police presence builds outside the school’s gates, the only person Jaime will talk to is Ben Whistler, an MI6 accountant who worked with Jaime’s lover, Miro. Miro’s gone missing, along with a quarter of a billion pounds allotted for reconstruction work in Iraq. Jaime refuses to believe that Miro is a thief—though he’s always had his secrets. But then, so does Louise, so do the other hostages—and so do some people on the outside, who’d much rather Jaime was silenced.
From the Trade Paperback edition.
When a gunman breaks into South Oxford Nursery School and takes a group of hostages, teacher Louise Kennedy fears the worst. But Jaime Segura isn’t there on a homicidal mission, and he’s just as scared as those whose lives he holds as collateral. As an armed police presence builds outside the school’s gates, the only person Jaime will talk to is Ben Whistler, an MI6 accountant who worked with Jaime’s lover, Miro. Miro’s gone missing, along with a quarter of a billion pounds allotted for reconstruction work in Iraq. Jaime refuses to believe that Miro is a thief—though he’s always had his secrets. But then, so does Louise, so do the other hostages—and so do some people on the outside, who’d much rather Jaime was silenced.
From the Trade Paperback edition.
353 pages, Kindle Edition
First published April 1, 2008
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About the author
Mick Herron
57 books5,613 followersMick Herron was born in Newcastle and has a degree in English from Balliol College, Oxford. He is the author of six books in the Slough House series as well as a mystery series set in Oxford featuring Sarah Tucker and/or P.I. Zoë Boehm. He now lives in Oxford and works in London.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 281 reviews
October 8, 2022
Usually I rate anything Mick Herron writes as five stars because he is that good. However this stand-alone book did not start off well for me.
The story tells of Louise Kennedy, a teacher at a Nursery School in Oxford. A day which seems to begin normally suddenly unravels as Jaime Segura arrives in the building and takes everyone present hostage. At first it appears to be a random choice but as events progress underlying currents are exposed, and some people are revealed to not be what they seem.
My main problem was how long Herron took to build up the situation at the school. I always enjoy the way he writes but maybe I have been accustomed to being entertained by a character like Jackson Lamb and I was missing the Slow Horses. Anyway things got much better when Segura demanded to see, of all people, an accountant from M16 called Ben Whistler.
And now the twists and turns, red herrings and deceits began to multiply and most of the time I had no idea who was honest and who was not. The last chapters were brilliant and unexpected. If I could I would give it 4.5 stars.
The story tells of Louise Kennedy, a teacher at a Nursery School in Oxford. A day which seems to begin normally suddenly unravels as Jaime Segura arrives in the building and takes everyone present hostage. At first it appears to be a random choice but as events progress underlying currents are exposed, and some people are revealed to not be what they seem.
My main problem was how long Herron took to build up the situation at the school. I always enjoy the way he writes but maybe I have been accustomed to being entertained by a character like Jackson Lamb and I was missing the Slow Horses. Anyway things got much better when Segura demanded to see, of all people, an accountant from M16 called Ben Whistler.
And now the twists and turns, red herrings and deceits began to multiply and most of the time I had no idea who was honest and who was not. The last chapters were brilliant and unexpected. If I could I would give it 4.5 stars.
December 21, 2017
Three quarters of this book revolves around a hostage situation. Patience is needed to get through this, and I can understand some readers faltering here, especially if they don’t like or understand Mick Herron's writing style.
I really like the writing style. It’s wry and meandering. It’s different. I get absorbed in it. I love Herron's Slough House series, and two or three of the characters in that series appear here, but this is definitely a stand alone. Now, other than those known characters, no one is who you think they are in this book. Herron led me astray and I happily went.
The remainder of the book clears things up. I’m not totally certain about the ending. I would have preferred a more complete explanation beyond that point, but I have to accept it as is.
I really like the writing style. It’s wry and meandering. It’s different. I get absorbed in it. I love Herron's Slough House series, and two or three of the characters in that series appear here, but this is definitely a stand alone. Now, other than those known characters, no one is who you think they are in this book. Herron led me astray and I happily went.
The remainder of the book clears things up. I’m not totally certain about the ending. I would have preferred a more complete explanation beyond that point, but I have to accept it as is.
February 4, 2019
Reconstruction is the fourth novel by award-winning British author, Mick Herron, and his first stand-alone novel. When Louise Kennedy turns up for work at South Oxford Nursery School on an April Tuesday, she's expecting the usual mundane work day. What she's not expecting is for Eliot Pedlar and his twin boys to be forced into the school's gate at gunpoint by a desperate young man.
As he aims his gun at these four hostages, the dark-skinned man asks Louise if she is the “lady”. Soon after the school’s cleaner stumbles into this fraught scene, Ben Whistler, an MI6 accountant is summoned. It seems that he is a colleague of one Miro Weiss, another Service accountant and the gunman’s lover, now missing for three weeks, along with a large sum of money. (And you thought accountants were boring!)
While the local police have a sniper aiming a weapon at the door, information about both the gunman and the hostages is not being shared by the Service. But Heckler and Koch in the gunman’s hand belongs to the now hospitalised Neil Ashton, one of the Service’s Dogs, and Top Dog, Bad Sam Chapman is hanging around the area like a nasty smell. Are the hostages random, or are they somehow involved?
The title is relevant in a myriad of ways, including that this is a reconstruction of the day’s events, and what led up to them, in intricate detail. Fans of Herron’s novels will appreciate his technique, his slow build up to a dramatic climax, although the minute level of detail, repetition and measured pace may irritate some readers. Still, every so often, he cuts the tension with a drop of black humour. There are plenty of red herrings, and there are so many twists towards the end that it might be wise to book the chiropractor.
Bad Sam Chapman, whom fans of Herron’s Jackson Lamb series will recall from Spook Street, is a key character and this book details the circumstances of his dismissal from the service: his descriptor is well deserved (or is it?) Jed Moody’s actions will see him later placed at Slough House (Slow Horses) and Nick Duffy gets a mention, so it’s almost a prequel for this series. For the astute reader there is also a subtle reference to Herron’s Oxford Investigations series. While there is a lot more tension in this book than in the Jackson Lamb books, and not quite as much humour, it’s still an excellent dose of British spy fiction.
As he aims his gun at these four hostages, the dark-skinned man asks Louise if she is the “lady”. Soon after the school’s cleaner stumbles into this fraught scene, Ben Whistler, an MI6 accountant is summoned. It seems that he is a colleague of one Miro Weiss, another Service accountant and the gunman’s lover, now missing for three weeks, along with a large sum of money. (And you thought accountants were boring!)
While the local police have a sniper aiming a weapon at the door, information about both the gunman and the hostages is not being shared by the Service. But Heckler and Koch in the gunman’s hand belongs to the now hospitalised Neil Ashton, one of the Service’s Dogs, and Top Dog, Bad Sam Chapman is hanging around the area like a nasty smell. Are the hostages random, or are they somehow involved?
The title is relevant in a myriad of ways, including that this is a reconstruction of the day’s events, and what led up to them, in intricate detail. Fans of Herron’s novels will appreciate his technique, his slow build up to a dramatic climax, although the minute level of detail, repetition and measured pace may irritate some readers. Still, every so often, he cuts the tension with a drop of black humour. There are plenty of red herrings, and there are so many twists towards the end that it might be wise to book the chiropractor.
Bad Sam Chapman, whom fans of Herron’s Jackson Lamb series will recall from Spook Street, is a key character and this book details the circumstances of his dismissal from the service: his descriptor is well deserved (or is it?) Jed Moody’s actions will see him later placed at Slough House (Slow Horses) and Nick Duffy gets a mention, so it’s almost a prequel for this series. For the astute reader there is also a subtle reference to Herron’s Oxford Investigations series. While there is a lot more tension in this book than in the Jackson Lamb books, and not quite as much humour, it’s still an excellent dose of British spy fiction.
December 9, 2020
Reconstruction is the fourth novel by award-winning British author, Mick Herron, and his first stand-alone novel. The audio version is read by Anna Bentinck. When Louise Kennedy turns up for work at South Oxford Nursery School on an April Tuesday, she's expecting the usual mundane work day. What she's not expecting is for Eliot Pedlar and his twin boys to be forced into the school's gate at gunpoint by a desperate young man.
As he aims his gun at these four hostages, the dark-skinned man asks Louise if she is the “lady”. Soon after the school’s cleaner stumbles into this fraught scene, Ben Whistler, an MI6 accountant is summoned. It seems that he is a colleague of one Miro Weiss, another Service accountant and the gunman’s lover, now missing for three weeks, along with a large sum of money. (And you thought accountants were boring!)
While the local police have a sniper aiming a weapon at the door, information about both the gunman and the hostages is not being shared by the Service. But Heckler and Koch in the gunman’s hand belongs to the now hospitalised Neil Ashton, one of the Service’s Dogs, and Top Dog, Bad Sam Chapman is hanging around the area like a nasty smell. Are the hostages random, or are they somehow involved?
The title is relevant in a myriad of ways, including that this is a reconstruction of the day’s events, and what led up to them, in intricate detail. Fans of Herron’s novels will appreciate his technique, his slow build up to a dramatic climax, although the minute level of detail, repetition and measured pace may irritate some readers. Still, every so often, he cuts the tension with a drop of black humour. There are plenty of red herrings, and there are so many twists towards the end that it might be wise to book the chiropractor.
Bad Sam Chapman, whom fans of Herron’s Jackson Lamb series will recall from Spook Street, is a key character and this book details the circumstances of his dismissal from the service: his descriptor is well deserved (or is it?) Jed Moody’s actions will see him later placed at Slough House (Slow Horses) and Nick Duffy gets a mention, so it’s almost a prequel for this series. For the astute reader there is also a subtle reference to Herron’s Oxford Investigations series. While there is a lot more tension in this book than in the Jackson Lamb books, and not quite as much humour, it’s still an excellent dose of British spy fiction.
As he aims his gun at these four hostages, the dark-skinned man asks Louise if she is the “lady”. Soon after the school’s cleaner stumbles into this fraught scene, Ben Whistler, an MI6 accountant is summoned. It seems that he is a colleague of one Miro Weiss, another Service accountant and the gunman’s lover, now missing for three weeks, along with a large sum of money. (And you thought accountants were boring!)
While the local police have a sniper aiming a weapon at the door, information about both the gunman and the hostages is not being shared by the Service. But Heckler and Koch in the gunman’s hand belongs to the now hospitalised Neil Ashton, one of the Service’s Dogs, and Top Dog, Bad Sam Chapman is hanging around the area like a nasty smell. Are the hostages random, or are they somehow involved?
The title is relevant in a myriad of ways, including that this is a reconstruction of the day’s events, and what led up to them, in intricate detail. Fans of Herron’s novels will appreciate his technique, his slow build up to a dramatic climax, although the minute level of detail, repetition and measured pace may irritate some readers. Still, every so often, he cuts the tension with a drop of black humour. There are plenty of red herrings, and there are so many twists towards the end that it might be wise to book the chiropractor.
Bad Sam Chapman, whom fans of Herron’s Jackson Lamb series will recall from Spook Street, is a key character and this book details the circumstances of his dismissal from the service: his descriptor is well deserved (or is it?) Jed Moody’s actions will see him later placed at Slough House (Slow Horses) and Nick Duffy gets a mention, so it’s almost a prequel for this series. For the astute reader there is also a subtle reference to Herron’s Oxford Investigations series. While there is a lot more tension in this book than in the Jackson Lamb books, and not quite as much humour, it’s still an excellent dose of British spy fiction.
January 25, 2026
Featuring Bad Sam Chapman who makes an appearance in the Slow Horses series, Reconstruction was an entertaining proto-Jackson book that certainly scratched an itch, much like Jackson himself, until I get my hands on Clown Town .
It did get off to a slow start and did drag a tad at the beginning of the siege. This was probably because I thought that this part of the novel to be a tad overwritten.
However, once things got going it all picked up nicely although I wasn't entirely liking the closing scene of the book.
These are minor criticisms, however, as I did enjoy the book but has kept my rating hovering between three to four stars.
3.75 stars.
It did get off to a slow start and did drag a tad at the beginning of the siege. This was probably because I thought that this part of the novel to be a tad overwritten.
However, once things got going it all picked up nicely although I wasn't entirely liking the closing scene of the book.
These are minor criticisms, however, as I did enjoy the book but has kept my rating hovering between three to four stars.
3.75 stars.
January 16, 2024
The book that came before the Slow Horses started. Now I have only one issue with this book. When was it published? Originally it appears 1982 and re-released in 2008. So I'm very confused. It makes zero difference to the story which is a prequel to Slow Horses and features Bad Sam Chapman who is met again in the Slough House series.
At this point in time Bad Sam is head of the Dogs and he's facing a career changing day. The night before his colleague Neil Ashton was in a car accident leaving him hooked up to machines, a Spook has "gone missing" with a quarter of a billion quid and now his boyfriend has turned up at a nursery in Oxfordshire to hold people at gunpoint while demanding to see Ben Whistler, a spook accountant but still an accountant at heart. Even Ben has no idea whats going on.
The book centres around the hold up for the main part but once Ben arrives we get the background. The question is who is telling the truth? Who is the lady at the nursery really and where has the money disappeared to?
It's a joy to be back in the land of the inept spy. This isn't quite Slow Horse calibre but it doesn't have Lamb so the essential revolting ingredient is missing but Bad Sam is just as uncouth at times so we're getting there. Quite a few laughs to be had but the plot is the driver in this book and its worth a read just for the twists. Smart writing as usual.
At this point in time Bad Sam is head of the Dogs and he's facing a career changing day. The night before his colleague Neil Ashton was in a car accident leaving him hooked up to machines, a Spook has "gone missing" with a quarter of a billion quid and now his boyfriend has turned up at a nursery in Oxfordshire to hold people at gunpoint while demanding to see Ben Whistler, a spook accountant but still an accountant at heart. Even Ben has no idea whats going on.
The book centres around the hold up for the main part but once Ben arrives we get the background. The question is who is telling the truth? Who is the lady at the nursery really and where has the money disappeared to?
It's a joy to be back in the land of the inept spy. This isn't quite Slow Horse calibre but it doesn't have Lamb so the essential revolting ingredient is missing but Bad Sam is just as uncouth at times so we're getting there. Quite a few laughs to be had but the plot is the driver in this book and its worth a read just for the twists. Smart writing as usual.
January 2, 2021
A noise escaped her lips again; something between a whine and a prayer for mercy. She hoped they’d all come out of it alive, but if there could only be one survivor, she wanted it to be her…anyone would feel the same. Not everyone would admit it.
Reconstruction, a standalone novel, penned prior to the author’s “Slow Horses” series, opens with a long-distance truck driver in a layby outside Oxford, noticing the arrival of a car with two men, a third figure on foot approaching. The two men get out and the third makes a run for it, when suddenly a 4WD hits the taller of the two – a gun goes missing.
The figure on foot sets out for a nursery school, taking the early arrivals hostage – Judy, the irascible cleaning lady, Eliot, a father with twin boys, and Louise, one of the teachers who, after a career in banking and an unsatisfactory affair with her boss, has returned to teaching. Their captor is foreign national, Jaime Segura, a sometime lover of Milo Weiss – an MI6 forensic accountant missing for several weeks – along with a large amount of money. The men in pursuit are MI6 “dogs” – Bad Sam Chapman and Neil Ashton.
(Bad Sam) lit up while waiting for the woodentop on duty to locate someone who understood the game’s rules: that a spook was a picture card, while a local plod was a two.
Fearing of his life, Segura asks the police negotiator for MI6 accountant, Ben Whistler, the only man Milo Weiss told him to trust. With Ben Whistler inside the nursery school with a bugged mobile phone, the narrative switches between the hostages, gunman and unlikely hero, the Oxford police operations, including a marksman, a media circus clambering for a news bite and dispensing theories and rehashing old-news items instead. Don’t forget the fox – an image burned in Louise’s mind. Then there’s the machinations behind the scenes at MI6.
“What we really don’t need,” Barrowby went on, “is for anyone to point the finger at our own accounting systems. It’s one thing being made to carry the can for a misguided war. It would quite another if we’re caught robbing the corpse afterwards.”
About 80% of the book takes place across a single morning, with a lot of people waiting around. The exception is Bad Sam Chapman, recalled to Vauxhall Cross, his instincts telling him that the nursery school was not chosen at random, and he tries to find out all he can while the hostage situation reaches its inevitable and sad conclusion.
I read this one over several days, author Mick Herron beguiling with hints and lulling readers with phrases – minor characters playing their part only to disappear within pages. Only later that same day, with the scene moved to London, that the real story emerges.
Verdict: a masterpiece of misdirection.
Reconstruction, a standalone novel, penned prior to the author’s “Slow Horses” series, opens with a long-distance truck driver in a layby outside Oxford, noticing the arrival of a car with two men, a third figure on foot approaching. The two men get out and the third makes a run for it, when suddenly a 4WD hits the taller of the two – a gun goes missing.
The figure on foot sets out for a nursery school, taking the early arrivals hostage – Judy, the irascible cleaning lady, Eliot, a father with twin boys, and Louise, one of the teachers who, after a career in banking and an unsatisfactory affair with her boss, has returned to teaching. Their captor is foreign national, Jaime Segura, a sometime lover of Milo Weiss – an MI6 forensic accountant missing for several weeks – along with a large amount of money. The men in pursuit are MI6 “dogs” – Bad Sam Chapman and Neil Ashton.
(Bad Sam) lit up while waiting for the woodentop on duty to locate someone who understood the game’s rules: that a spook was a picture card, while a local plod was a two.
Fearing of his life, Segura asks the police negotiator for MI6 accountant, Ben Whistler, the only man Milo Weiss told him to trust. With Ben Whistler inside the nursery school with a bugged mobile phone, the narrative switches between the hostages, gunman and unlikely hero, the Oxford police operations, including a marksman, a media circus clambering for a news bite and dispensing theories and rehashing old-news items instead. Don’t forget the fox – an image burned in Louise’s mind. Then there’s the machinations behind the scenes at MI6.
“What we really don’t need,” Barrowby went on, “is for anyone to point the finger at our own accounting systems. It’s one thing being made to carry the can for a misguided war. It would quite another if we’re caught robbing the corpse afterwards.”
About 80% of the book takes place across a single morning, with a lot of people waiting around. The exception is Bad Sam Chapman, recalled to Vauxhall Cross, his instincts telling him that the nursery school was not chosen at random, and he tries to find out all he can while the hostage situation reaches its inevitable and sad conclusion.
I read this one over several days, author Mick Herron beguiling with hints and lulling readers with phrases – minor characters playing their part only to disappear within pages. Only later that same day, with the scene moved to London, that the real story emerges.
Verdict: a masterpiece of misdirection.
June 27, 2020
Rounding to 5.
I’m a true Herron fan. This book is the last (I saved it as long as I could) in a series he wrote before his current breakout Slow Horses series, but I find the two series equally good. Clever, relentlessly engaging, the humor as dry as can be. Delightful through the head-scratching last paragraph.
I’m a true Herron fan. This book is the last (I saved it as long as I could) in a series he wrote before his current breakout Slow Horses series, but I find the two series equally good. Clever, relentlessly engaging, the humor as dry as can be. Delightful through the head-scratching last paragraph.
March 11, 2025
A standalone story, with the familiar feel.of London and the Secret Service as the backdrop to a hostage situation. Twists and turns and Herron's familiar humour make this an easy read, and sits nicely alongside the Slow Horses series.
January 3, 2018
Nicely done! I always enjoy the way Mick Herron builds characters with such ease. As Reconstruction unfolds, we are introduced to the lives of a number of seemingly unconnected characters. Most of them connect over a hostage situation and as this unfolds we gradually learn truths - and untruths about each. The mystery ends with a bit of an “alrighty then” or “who’d a thunk?!” But, I liked it!
May 8, 2020
Early-career Herron, not up to his later books. His delight in toying with the reader like a cat playing with a mouse is too much in evidence. He likes to spin things out with lengthy descriptions in minute detail of the surroundings (I got really bored with the school and the park), then break and skip to another viewpoint just as you reach a critical point. Fine if not overdone, but it is overdone here. The first two thirds are very slow, to the point of irritation. Lots of backstory of characters who in the end turn out to be unimportant (but of course red herrings are an effective part of his technique too, used to better effect later).
But there's a very smart twist that I didn't see coming. Unfortunately the last few pages go rapidly downhill, and I just didn't find the shock ending plausible. If you're new to him, start with the Slough House series (some of whose characters appear here).
But there's a very smart twist that I didn't see coming. Unfortunately the last few pages go rapidly downhill, and I just didn't find the shock ending plausible. If you're new to him, start with the Slough House series (some of whose characters appear here).
May 15, 2022
⭐⭐⭐⭐+1/2 - much as I love Mick Herron, I subtracted 1/2 because of his infuriating ending. Not to mention the fact that I'm still not sure who were the good guys and bad guys. I think I may need to read it again in the future; but then, I plan to read a lot of his books again in the future, perhaps the entire Slough House series. They are the type of books that are hard to digest in one reading, and I think I'll enjoy a reread, especially the earlier ones.
If you read this, try to pay attention; it's not easy to follow at times, as it skips all over the place constantly, without warning. So sometimes, it's hard to know who's point of view we're hearing. And if you like neat or happy endings, be prepared to be infuriated or confused... or possibly delighted, depending on your preferences.
If you read this, try to pay attention; it's not easy to follow at times, as it skips all over the place constantly, without warning. So sometimes, it's hard to know who's point of view we're hearing. And if you like neat or happy endings, be prepared to be infuriated or confused... or possibly delighted, depending on your preferences.
February 9, 2017
Ah swoon! The contemporary spy novel is in good hands with Mick Herron. Reconstruction is smart, tense, twisty, and filled with a well-developed cast of characters. The plot is well-constructed and the prose is artful.
July 27, 2019
Confusing, scattered and disappointing, especially after his superb Slough House series. Littered with a labyrinth of minor characters that the author admits at the start is "busy". Herron likes to play tricks on readers, but this time he's outfoxed himself - and unfortunately one of his loyal fans.
May 26, 2022
I have read everything else by Mick Herron and enjoyed them all immensely but this one was horrible. It read like an exercise in literary technique for a Creative Writing class.
October 25, 2025
As I've mentioned with other of his earlier books, Herron once again over-plots the hell out of his story…but then again, maybe Spook World really is this complicated — what do I know? But that aside and after a mildly slow kickoff, this was a real page-turner of a hostage story (take a note, Frederik Backman's Anxious People). I mean, it's only 2-3 pages before the intentionally ambiguous ending* that we finally figure out just who's good and who's bad — a most welcome but far too rare thing in a suspense story.
Reconstruction is a prequel of sorts to Herron's "Slow Horses" books in that it features former "Top Dog" Bad Sam Chapman; additionally, a single mention of "the Crane brothers" also ties this into Down Cemetery Road, the first book in the author's other, earlier "Oxford Mysteries" series — so they both DO exist in the same universe! That raises the delightful possibility of future crossover characters; who wouldn't love to see Jackson Lamb spar with Zoë Boehm? Or better yet, bring the wonderful character of Win (Why We Die) to Slough House! Now, THAT would be something.
* While the ending isn't really clear here, Emma Flyte does more-or-less fill us in on how this story wrapped up, (at least she does so in the TV series; can't remember if she does in the book as well).
Reconstruction is a prequel of sorts to Herron's "Slow Horses" books in that it features former "Top Dog" Bad Sam Chapman; additionally, a single mention of "the Crane brothers" also ties this into Down Cemetery Road, the first book in the author's other, earlier "Oxford Mysteries" series — so they both DO exist in the same universe! That raises the delightful possibility of future crossover characters; who wouldn't love to see Jackson Lamb spar with Zoë Boehm? Or better yet, bring the wonderful character of Win (Why We Die) to Slough House! Now, THAT would be something.
* While the ending isn't really clear here, Emma Flyte does more-or-less fill us in on how this story wrapped up, (at least she does so in the TV series; can't remember if she does in the book as well).
March 14, 2018
Typical Herron. Just when you think you’ve got it all figured out—BAM! He hits you with a twist you did not see coming. Add to that the clever writing*, and he’s one of my favorites.
*...he was Civil Service; they could take his life but they’d never take his annual leave....
(Heads up: This is much more important than it sounds.)
*...he was Civil Service; they could take his life but they’d never take his annual leave....
(Heads up: This is much more important than it sounds.)
July 8, 2021
This book was hard work. Not as good as the Slough House series. Way too much descriptive text on the people involved in the plot, some of it irrelevant. Many will not be able to stick with it. A good twist at the end but that’s as good as it gets.
January 24, 2026
Nowhere near as good as the Slough House stuff - a lot of repetition and very little humour, but I will persist with him.
January 13, 2025
very thrilling Slow Horse adjacent spy thriller.
February 20, 2025
It’s a mark of how quickly technology changes that in Reconstruction, published in 2008 (which really doesn’t seem that long ago) the latest in portable tech devices is the BlackBerry. Tech plays a big part in the story, which centres on an audacious plan from bad actors within the security services to siphon off a vast amount of money from the even vaster sums that are swirling around the post-war reconstruction of Iraqi infrastructure. That this ends up in a siege in an Oxford nursery school shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise - this is a Mick Herron novel, after all. In a typically fast moving plot that wrong foots its readers more times than you would think possible, Herron delivers a gripping and highly entertaining precursor to his Slough House series, the first of which, Slow Horses, appeared just a couple of years after this.
February 12, 2020
Nice little thriller...actually quite an old book, picked it up on one of the paperback tables in Waterstones. Good pace, easy read. May well go and read some more Mick Herron.
November 8, 2016
I read a lot of books, as anyone who sees my posts know, and this has been the first book in a while that I thought I wouldn't be able to finish it was so confusing, not my type of mystery(?), and uninteresting. I still can't figure out certain characters...what was their job...spy? FBI? CIA? Whatever they have in England? Were they good guys or bad guys? No clue. I think the main thing happening was there was a lot of money that was stolen, first by a guy named Miro, and then a Ben Whistler was helping him, in order to get a part of the money. But then a Sam Chapman and Neil Ashton come into the picture, running after a guy named Jamie Segura, who was a boyfriend to Miro. Was he a terrorist? Neil gets hit by a car, Jamie takes Neil's gun, and proceeds to go to a nursery school of all places to hold whoever was there hostage. In deciding whether I should continue reading or not, I thought the characters like Louise Kennedy, a teacher, and her fling, Eliot, the father of twin boys, and Judy, the cleaning woman, would become a more exciting plot, but it just got more confusing. Eliot and his boys didn't even have to be in this book. So after the hours and hours of the nursery school being held up, and hours of Ben talking to Jamie to let the people go, it turns out Ben took the money? Or was it Louise?
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 16, 2021
An intriguing story which, on the surface, seems to be about a lone gunman holding a teacher, a cleaner, a parent and his two children hostage at a nursery school in Oxford. Then, a 6th person arrives - someone the gunman has specifically asked for - and as the plot unfolds, we learn that there is so much more to this tale.
Mick Herron weaves together various strands of the plot as we learn about the lives of those involved, so much so that we can almost read the minds of the main characters - the hostages, the senior police officers waiting outside and at least one agent from MI6 whose partner's gun is now in the hands of the man inside the nursery. Outside the media is speculating about terrorism as police marksmen ready themselves for action.
Gradually, we discover the real reasons for this "hostage situation" and they're not as straightforward as they seem. The story which has been drifting along starts to speed along to the final chapters with a couple of twists that I guarantee you won't see coming.
A must read for fans of the author's "Slough House" series.
Mick Herron weaves together various strands of the plot as we learn about the lives of those involved, so much so that we can almost read the minds of the main characters - the hostages, the senior police officers waiting outside and at least one agent from MI6 whose partner's gun is now in the hands of the man inside the nursery. Outside the media is speculating about terrorism as police marksmen ready themselves for action.
Gradually, we discover the real reasons for this "hostage situation" and they're not as straightforward as they seem. The story which has been drifting along starts to speed along to the final chapters with a couple of twists that I guarantee you won't see coming.
A must read for fans of the author's "Slough House" series.
December 20, 2022
Like many others, I've learned about Herron because of Slow Horses on Apple tv. I'm hoping all the Jackson Lamb books are made, so instead of reading those, I decided to try another of his series, called, I think, the Oxford series. This one is apparently the 5th so I started out of order. Lots of twists and turns, and also mostly terrific character development, with nothing and no one exactly as it seems, and indeed, the final twists and turns came as a surprise to me.
September 5, 2017
Mick Herron's Slough House books are as brilliant as a crime series can be but this one-off is a little lacking. Three quarters or more deals with a hostage situation in a nursery school and there's not much there. The last quarter races to its conclusion with some nice twists and turns but hardly worth the effort.
December 9, 2022
As another review said, this book got infinitely better once Ben Whistler appeared. Slow start. Exhilarating ending.
May 17, 2018
'Reconstruction' is one of those books that occasionally irritates me- everything just isn't as it seems. However, the writing is so good and the plot twists so expertly handled that I marveled at its construction after I completed it.
This will be a tough one to avoid spoiling. The story is of a young man who, almost accidentally, takes several hostages at a nursery school. He demands to speak to an MI6 (British version of the CIA) accountant (not a real 'spook', in his words) who quizzically has no apparent connection to him. Meanwhile, the local police and various other agencies, who are unsure as to whether the hostage taker is a terrorist, become involved and surround the building. As the CIA guy arrives and begins to speak to the young man who's holding the hostages, the story begins to take shape and its layers are peeled back until the truth, at the end, is exposed. I thought I had it all figured out but, alas, I did not.... I didn't particularly like the abrupt ending, but I think we can all guess what happened.
I'm a huge fan of Herron's writing and character development. 'Reconstruction' is yet another great example of those talents. There's a little overlap with his 'Slough House' series with a couple characters, but mostly it's a standalone novel and the characters are outstanding. This is a fine mystery that'll have you scratching your head at its conclusion.
This will be a tough one to avoid spoiling. The story is of a young man who, almost accidentally, takes several hostages at a nursery school. He demands to speak to an MI6 (British version of the CIA) accountant (not a real 'spook', in his words) who quizzically has no apparent connection to him. Meanwhile, the local police and various other agencies, who are unsure as to whether the hostage taker is a terrorist, become involved and surround the building. As the CIA guy arrives and begins to speak to the young man who's holding the hostages, the story begins to take shape and its layers are peeled back until the truth, at the end, is exposed. I thought I had it all figured out but, alas, I did not.... I didn't particularly like the abrupt ending, but I think we can all guess what happened.
I'm a huge fan of Herron's writing and character development. 'Reconstruction' is yet another great example of those talents. There's a little overlap with his 'Slough House' series with a couple characters, but mostly it's a standalone novel and the characters are outstanding. This is a fine mystery that'll have you scratching your head at its conclusion.
March 15, 2025
A bit of a slow start but it didn’t disappoint.
November 4, 2025
Audiobook brilliantly read by Julia Franklin; her reading alone = a 5 star performance. The story centres on a hostage situation in an Oxford nursery school. The short siege is examined in forensic detail which could have made for a tedious read as we see things from multiple points of view including all the hostages, the local police chief and his marksman, MI6, the negotiators and er… overflying birds. Meanwhile Bad Sam Chapman, head of The Dogs at internal security, is determined to prevent opprobrium falling upon the secret service who are inadvertently responsible for arming the perpetrator. Am I terribly wicked for wishing on more than one occasion that Jaime would shoot all the hostages (except Louise), especially the incredibly annoying 3 year old twin boys? And I write as the father of three boys.
Prepare for your expectations to be dismantled.
Prepare for your expectations to be dismantled.
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