by Mick Herron
Acknowledgments
My long-time publisher is Soho Press. I’m glad about that. If Joss Whedon created a publishing house, it would be Soho Press. The folk there are smart, keen, funny, insanely knowledgeable about really pointless stuff, supportive, caring, snappy dressers, and almost certainly concealing dark, terrible secrets in their complicated pasts. So thank you Abby Koski, Amara Hoshijo, Carin Siegfried, Daniel Ehrenhaft, Janine Agro, Juliet Grames, Kevin Murphy, Mark Doten, Meredith Barnes, Paul Oliver, Rachel Kowal, Rudy Martinez, and especially Bronwen Hruska. Bronwen: when you’re not around, they sometimes refer to you as “Mama Bear.” I just thought you should know this.
Back in the UK, my editor Mark Richards pointed me in the direction of the dazzle ship—literally; we were standing on a rooftop at the time—and I’m grateful to him for that and much else. Thanks too to the whole of the John Murray team. Yassine Belkacemi is a star.
Juliet Burton has been my literary minder for longer than either of us care to dwell on, and when not scrutinising small print has kept me up to speed with The Archers, shared the pain and glory of being an English cricket lover, and just generally been there when needed. Thank you, dear.
And thank you for various forms of support to Alan Judd, Chris Edwards, Daphne Wright, Helen Giltrow, Jamie Laurenson, MSJ, Nick Smith, Sarah Hilary, Will Smith, my mum, my siblings, their partners and their offspring.
Those hoping to find HMS President on the Victoria Embankment will be disappointed, as it disappeared from its berth a day or so after I finished Spook Street. I have form in this area: setting scenes of novels in locations that are rapidly demolished, redeveloped or removed. Any suggestions as to how I might monetise this talent will be gratefully received.
MH
Oxford, May 2016