In honor of the 10th anniversary of the release of Slow Horses in 2010 Soho Press has put out an updated edition of the paperback edition with new cover art, a new preface written by Mick Herron, a list of discussion questions and a short story previously unreleased in the United States.
The cover art is updated to be in line with the recent US hardcover releases.
Herron’s preface is five pages that go into where the idea for the series came from and how it grew into what it’s become. The most interesting comment is when Herron states that Slough House “was to become my address for – quite likely – the rest of my writing life.” For those who have wondered if Herron might be getting tired of writing about these characters or have a final ending in mind for the series, this is welcome news.
After the novel we get to the rest of the extras. There are seven discussion questions for book clubs aimed specifically at the US audience. Most of them were fine but the last did make me laugh – Is Jackson Lamb a good boss? Who might be answering yes to that particular question? I suppose it’s helpful if members of a book discussion group need to weed out people they would never want to have as their supervisor.
The short story included is The Last Dead Letter, which appeared in the UK as an extra for the Waterstones special signed edition of Joe Country. The story is a pretty substantial 35 pages and well worth reading. You even get a little previously unheard backstory for Jackson Lamb.
Rounding out the special edition is an excerpt from the next book, Dead Lions.
If you weren’t able to pick up the special UK edition Joe Country, this is a nice inexpensive option to read it. UK readers can pick it up with free worldwide shipping from the Book Depository otherwise US readers can find their preferred book vendor here. If you’ve already read the short story, you’re fine to skip picking it up for yourself. However, with all of the included extras it’s the perfect version to pick up as a Christmas gift for someone you care about.
Happy Anniversary to Mick Herron and his slow horses!
You can find my full look at Slow Horses here and listen to the Slow Horses episode of the podcast Barbican Station here.
Hi, Jeff.
I far prefer the UK covers. Do you know if this deluxe paperback will be likewise issued by the UK publishers? (Incidentally, the new UK covers of the paperbacks all have a “branding” Slough House sigil, which really louses up the cover art…)
Thanks for the notice; I wanted to read the short story (The Last Dead Letter), but didn’t want o buy the Waterstones hardback if it could be had in paper.
David,
I like the UK covers better as well, but the last couple of US covers are starting to win me over, at least a little. I guess I’m attracted to shiny objects.
I have not heard of something similar being released in the UK. Given the short story was a Waterstones exclusive for Joe Country, I would bet the special introduction being released in the Waterstones edition of Slough House is a reworking of this preface, so the content isn’t there for a deluxe Slow Horses. But happy to be proven wrong!