Listen free for 30 days

Listen with offer

  • Standing by the Wall

  • A Slough House Interlude
  • By: Mick Herron
  • Narrated by: Sean Barrett
  • Length: 1 hr and 6 mins
  • 4.3 out of 5 stars (122 ratings)
Offer ends May 1st, 2024 11:59PM GMT. Terms and conditions apply.
£7.99/month after 3 months. Renews automatically.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Standing by the Wall cover art

Standing by the Wall

By: Mick Herron
Narrated by: Sean Barrett
Get this deal Try for £0.00

Pay £99p/month. After 3 months pay £7.99/month. Renews automatically. See terms for eligibility.

£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £7.99

Buy Now for £7.99

Pay using card ending in
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.

Listeners also enjoyed...

Down Cemetery Road cover art
The Insider cover art
Smoke and Whispers cover art
The Last Voice You Hear cover art
Why We Die cover art
My Name Is Nobody cover art
The Seal of Confession cover art
Hero Forged cover art
The Holy Thief cover art
Schrödinger's Caterpillar cover art
The Scarlet Papers cover art
The Photographer cover art
Ratking cover art
Swan Songs cover art
Differently Morphous cover art
The Stranger Times cover art

Summary

A Slough House Christmas short story from the Sunday Times number one bestseller of Bad Actors.

Here in Slough House, the intelligence service's home for inept spies, it's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas.

Roddy Ho is used to being the one the slow horses turn to when they need miracles performed, and he's always been Jackson Lamb's Number Two. So when Lamb has a photograph that needs doctoring, it's Ho he entrusts with the task. Christmas is a time for memories, but Lamb doesn't do memories—or so he says. But what is it about the photo that makes him want to alter it? How would the slow horses cope if Roddy Ho didn't exist? And most importantly of all, are the team having Christmas drinks, and if so, where?

Standing by the Wall offers a glimpse into the kind of seasonal merriment you might expect at Slough House, where the boss generally marks the festive season with an increase in hostilities. But then, this is the secret service, not Secret Santa. And the slow horses aren't here to enjoy themselves.

Roddy Roddy Roddy? Ho Ho Ho!

©2022 Mick Herron (P)2022 Hodder & Stoughton Limited

What listeners say about Standing by the Wall

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    86
  • 4 Stars
    16
  • 3 Stars
    4
  • 2 Stars
    7
  • 1 Stars
    9
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    91
  • 4 Stars
    3
  • 3 Stars
    5
  • 2 Stars
    1
  • 1 Stars
    5
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    70
  • 4 Stars
    15
  • 3 Stars
    9
  • 2 Stars
    3
  • 1 Stars
    7

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

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

Hmmmf

I love the Slough House books, the characters, wit and narration are superb. However I do very much resent having to keep buying the prologue as a separate tiny book like this. This means of fleecing me of an extra Audible credit is a good cash making scheme from whoever came up with the idea (probably Lamb himself).

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

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

9 people found this helpful

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

Waste of money

How can Audible justify the full price for this book - it’s a taster. Don’t buy

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

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

7 people found this helpful

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

Barely over an hour long

This should have been described as a short story. A waste of an audible credit..

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

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

5 people found this helpful

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

Waste of money

Should be in a collection of short story book with 5/6 others for the money. Audio rip off I'm afraid. Obviously love the characters but just feel cheated

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

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

4 people found this helpful

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

Hints of the Past, Pointers to the Future

I was delighted to read and listen to this short dip into Slough House at Christmas, like a section lifted from a larger novel or an hors d'oeuvre before the main course. Traces of Lamb's murky past and his connection with Molly Doran are interspersed with the familiar office politics and a drop-in visitor to the gloomy building on Aldersgate Street.
Set some weeks, or perhaps a couple of months after Bad Actors, Roddy Ho, with his usual misplaced Rodfidence, sees himself as Jackson Lamb's right-hand man and is set a technical task at 4pm on Christmas Eve, just as the other Slow Horses are debating a venue for their festive drinks.
Lamb states that he "...doesn't do memories" but the secrets of the past will certainly come back to haunt him and perhaps affect the future of all at Slough House as a monochrome photograph is returned to a file marked "Pending".
Read with his accustomed, brilliant skill by the excellent Sean Barrett, this is another little peek behind the veil of Jackson Lamb's former life, which enticingly only adds to his mystery...

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

Less is more

I love the idea of people basing their review score on how long a book is. Like Shakespeare is only considered a renowned author because the plays were at least nice and long. This tells you more about Jackson Lamb than some of the other books in the series. You see something here that might not be visible elsewhere. The fact you see more about him in an hour than in titles ten times longer is an illustration of the skill of the author. It reveals more because it feels like a tiny window through which you have seen something interesting. Makes you think, doesn't it

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
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars
  • L
  • 18-03-24

Brilliant as always !

Great short story . Another layer to Jackson Lamb , such a fabulous character
Of course Sean Barrett is amazing .

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
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

Outraged

I am furious with audible for this ripoff it’s way too short to be considered a book deeply disappointed to be fleeced by a brand that I expected so much better of. Shame on you!!

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

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

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

Depression

One of the most depressing stories I’ve listened to, didn’t have the humorous touch of the tv show

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

Intriguing!

Bring on the next book. As always the end always leaves me wanting more. Just love Seans delivery he’s superb at setting the characters and scene.

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

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!