by Patrick Ogle
The List and the Marylebone Drop (aka The Drop) by Mick Herron are novellas from the world of Slough House.
Anyone who has had a conversation with me about books in recent memory almost certainly heard me wax eloquent about Herron. Well, maybe they just heard me jabber on about Herron.
Same difference.
I have read every Slough House book and the one related but not actually Slough House book. I thought they were all pretty close to great. I think the one or two I was lukewarm on had less to do with the books and more to do with the fact I read them in such close succession. It is like binging a series. Once you watch 12 episodes in a row it sort of gets to be a bit much. Then, in these books, there was also the fact that characters I didn't want to die, died.
Mostly I left time between the books because I didn't want them to end. I wanted Herron to have a slew of them in the can so I could read on and on and on.
I am now left with the novellas which are also good but I'd hesitate to call them great. They are mostly stories about side characters from the other books. The novellas fill in the gaps of some of the novels and expand upon stories and characters. We find out what set the wheels in motion to send some of the luckless denizens of Slough House to their doom (literally and figuratively). Sometimes I had the idea that Herron excised these from the book and expanded upon them but I do not KNOW this to be true. The details here are interesting but the expanded stories would have brought the novels to a screeching halt.
It is still fun but I feel like I read these the wrong way.
Don't read them AFTER you've finished the series. Read them in order and how they fit in with the novels. You can do a search and find numerous websites with the order of the novels and novellas. One is this site, Book Series in Order. The good thing is that when you start the series you have two books before you get to the first novella so you will know whether the book is your cup of tea (or Talisker Scotch as the case may be).
My impression of these books would have been considerably different if I'd read them in order and I wish I had. Also the photo here is of the collected novellas. No need to buy them in dribs and drabs. Just buy them all after you've read Dead Lions.
The List and the Marylebone Drop (aka The Drop) by Mick Herron are novellas from the world of Slough House.
Anyone who has had a conversation with me about books in recent memory almost certainly heard me wax eloquent about Herron. Well, maybe they just heard me jabber on about Herron.
Same difference.
I have read every Slough House book and the one related but not actually Slough House book. I thought they were all pretty close to great. I think the one or two I was lukewarm on had less to do with the books and more to do with the fact I read them in such close succession. It is like binging a series. Once you watch 12 episodes in a row it sort of gets to be a bit much. Then, in these books, there was also the fact that characters I didn't want to die, died.
Mostly I left time between the books because I didn't want them to end. I wanted Herron to have a slew of them in the can so I could read on and on and on.
I am now left with the novellas which are also good but I'd hesitate to call them great. They are mostly stories about side characters from the other books. The novellas fill in the gaps of some of the novels and expand upon stories and characters. We find out what set the wheels in motion to send some of the luckless denizens of Slough House to their doom (literally and figuratively). Sometimes I had the idea that Herron excised these from the book and expanded upon them but I do not KNOW this to be true. The details here are interesting but the expanded stories would have brought the novels to a screeching halt.
It is still fun but I feel like I read these the wrong way.
Don't read them AFTER you've finished the series. Read them in order and how they fit in with the novels. You can do a search and find numerous websites with the order of the novels and novellas. One is this site, Book Series in Order. The good thing is that when you start the series you have two books before you get to the first novella so you will know whether the book is your cup of tea (or Talisker Scotch as the case may be).
My impression of these books would have been considerably different if I'd read them in order and I wish I had. Also the photo here is of the collected novellas. No need to buy them in dribs and drabs. Just buy them all after you've read Dead Lions.
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