Spook Street

A bomb at a Westacres shopping centre kills dozens, and in its aftermath David Cartwright — the O.B., River’s grandfather, once the Service’s best — can no longer tell memory from invention. A death at his house sends River across France on another man’s passport to find out who his grandfather really was, while the Park decides which version of events to tell. Spook Street is the Cold War’s long tail, and the book in which River learns where he comes from.

Spook Street (2017), 16 chapters, 94,121 words.

Prologue — 1,313 words
“So this was what springtime in London was like: the women in knee-length dresses of blue-and-white hoops; the men with dark jackets over sweaters in …”
Chapter 1 — 9,114 words
“Heat rises, as is commonly known, but not always without effort. In Slough House, its ascent is marked by a series of bangs and gurgles, an audible …”
Chapter 2 — 4,663 words
“There was a pub near the church where they’d filmed Shakespeare in Love, and Louisa bagged a table under a diamond-patterned window while River …”
Chapter 3 — 6,404 words
“A mobile phone vibrating on a hard surface sounds like a fart. That this was not an unusual sound in Jackson Lamb’s bedroom, or indeed his vicinity, …”
Chapter 4 — 4,745 words
“The COBRA meeting was well underway when Slough House came to life, if the heavy scraping of its back door counted as life: Roderick Ho, his red puffa …”
Chapter 5 — 12,963 words
“Leafless trees on the skyline resembled plumes of smoke, and the sky itself was a grey dome, holding the world in place. Every so often dark flecks …”
Chapter 6 — 5,722 words
“Emma Flyte said, “There’s nothing to worry about. It’s a routine precaution.””
Chapter 7 — 4,353 words
“Roderick Ho was drinking from a bottle that claimed to hold “smart water,” and Shirley couldn’t work out which annoyed her more: who he was, or what …”
Chapter 8 — 6,406 words
“Bad Sam Chapman put no trust in itchy feelings.”
Chapter 9 — 5,221 words
““And then he got away,” said Shirley.”
Chapter 10 — 4,631 words
“Many a tear has to fall, thought Claude Whelan obscurely; a lyric from a forgotten song, a moment from his past. Long-stemmed glasses on a starched …”
Chapter 11 — 6,219 words
“Some while ago, Shirley had constructed a wall chart based on those signs you see on entrances to building sites: We have gone __ days without an …”
Chapter 12 — 5,919 words
““Well,” Louisa said. “I wasn’t expecting this.””
Chapter 13 — 5,474 words
“Back in Slough House, Shirley was reliving her near-death experience.”
Chapter 14 — 5,506 words
“The rain was never going to stop. It had found a loophole in the weather-laws, and henceforth would fall without interruption, soaking the guilty and …”
Chapter 15 — 5,468 words
“The rain had stopped, which was such a longed-for, such an unexpected outcome, that all around the city people were saying it twice: the rain has …”
Open questions
Question What does the book deliberately leave standing, and which of its answers are only official ones? Evidence Question What the text …
POV map
Question Who sees what, and what does the distribution of viewpoints do to the reader’s knowledge? Evidence Ch Words Sections POVs C00 1,313 …
Structure
Question How is the book built, and what does its shape do that a linear thriller would not? Evidence 16 chapters, 94,121 words, 136 …
Timeline
Question What is the book’s chronology, and where does the text actually pin a date? Evidence When Event Chapter Monday 1 January, 8:47 a.m. …