Moon Over Soho by Ben Aaronovitch
Nov. 14th, 2011 10:02 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
quippeThe Blurb On The Back:
My name is Peter Grant, and I’m a Detective Constable in that mighty army for justice known as the Metropolitan Police (a.k.a. the Filth). I’m also a trainee wizard, the first such apprentice in fifty years. Officially I belong to ESC9, Economic and Specialist Crime Unit 9, otherwise known as ‘The Folly’, also known as the unit that nice, well-brought-up coppers don’t talk about in polite company.
When I was a kid, I was in charge of changing my dad’s records while he lounged around drinking tea – that’s how I know my Argo from my Tempo. And that’s why, when Dr Walid called me down to the morgue to listen to a corpse, I recognised the tune as ‘Body and Soul’ – something violently supernatural had happened to the victim, strong enough to leave its imprint on his corpse as if it were a wax cylinder recording. The former owner of the body, Cyrus Wilkinson, was a part-time jazz saxophonist and full-time accountant who had dropped dead of a heart attack just after finishing a gig.
He wasn’t the first, but no one was going to let me exhume corpses to see if they were playing my tune, so it was back to old-fashioned police legwork, starting in Soho, the heart of the scene, with the lovely Simone – Cyrus’ ex-lover, professional jazz kitten and as inviting as a Rubens portrait – as my guide. And it didn’t take me long to realise there were monsters stalking Soho, creatures feeding off that special gift that separates the great musician from someone who can raise a decent tune. What they take is beauty. What they leave behind is sickness, failure and broken lives.
And as I hunted them, my investigations got tangled up in another story: a brilliant trumpet player, Richard ‘Lord’ Grant – my father – who managed to destroy his own career. Twice.
That’s the thing about policing: most of the time you’re doing it to maintain public order. Occasionally you’re doing it for justice. And maybe, once in a career, you’re doing it for revenge.
Several months after RIVERS OF LONDON, Peter’s more magically skilled and investigating cases for ESC9 but feels guilty about Lesley, whose injuries require extensive surgery and prevent her speaking. He’s dealing with a nasty vagina dentate when Dr Walid introduces him to Cyrus Wilkinson, a jazz musician who died of a heart-attack but whose corpse is emitting the tune ‘Body and Soul’.
Intrigued by the vibrant Simone, Cyrus’ lover, the two embark on a passionate affair, but the closer he gets to the truth, the more he discovers links to his father’s failed jazz career. Worse, his investigation leads to the discovery of black magic deep in the heart of Soho, the results of which will see Mother Thames’s daughter Tyburn make her vendetta against ESC9 all too personal …
Ben Aaronovitch’s sequel to RIVERS OF LONDON didn’t work quite as well for me as the first book but is still an entertaining read.
The biggest problem is that the central mystery’s telegraphed far too early and suffers from Peter deliberately ignoring the most obvious answers for no obvious reason. Given that the different plot strands hang off the central mystery, it did affect my enjoyment of the book. I also found Tyburn and her machinations against ESC9 too heavy handed. Rather than a genuine threat, she came across as a foot-stamping caricature whose actions seemed to be ultimately self-defeating. This doesn’t tie in with the idea of her being a powerful woman with her own ends and I don’t quite buy her personal enmity towards Peter.
That said, I enjoyed the way Aaronovitch introduces the concept of a secret cabal of dark magicians. The scenes in the Soho lair are genuinely disturbing and set up an interesting and dangerous counterpoint to ESC9. I also enjoyed Lesley’s development – although she plays a smaller role in the story and provides a source of guilt for Peter, she isn’t cowed by her experience and is set up for a key role in the next book. The best scenes though remain those involving Molly who with her love of raw meet and unwillingness to leave The Folly clearly has her own dark secrets that I really look forward to reading.
In conclusion, although I didn’t enjoy this as much as RIVERS OF LONDON, it’s still an engaging read and there’s enough set-up to make me really look forward to the next book.
The Verdict:
I didn’t think that this was as good a read as RIVERS OF LONDON - mainly because the central mystery was just too obvious. But there are some great elements here, including a final set-up that promises good things for book 3. It’s definitely one of those series that I intend to keep up with.
My name is Peter Grant, and I’m a Detective Constable in that mighty army for justice known as the Metropolitan Police (a.k.a. the Filth). I’m also a trainee wizard, the first such apprentice in fifty years. Officially I belong to ESC9, Economic and Specialist Crime Unit 9, otherwise known as ‘The Folly’, also known as the unit that nice, well-brought-up coppers don’t talk about in polite company.
When I was a kid, I was in charge of changing my dad’s records while he lounged around drinking tea – that’s how I know my Argo from my Tempo. And that’s why, when Dr Walid called me down to the morgue to listen to a corpse, I recognised the tune as ‘Body and Soul’ – something violently supernatural had happened to the victim, strong enough to leave its imprint on his corpse as if it were a wax cylinder recording. The former owner of the body, Cyrus Wilkinson, was a part-time jazz saxophonist and full-time accountant who had dropped dead of a heart attack just after finishing a gig.
He wasn’t the first, but no one was going to let me exhume corpses to see if they were playing my tune, so it was back to old-fashioned police legwork, starting in Soho, the heart of the scene, with the lovely Simone – Cyrus’ ex-lover, professional jazz kitten and as inviting as a Rubens portrait – as my guide. And it didn’t take me long to realise there were monsters stalking Soho, creatures feeding off that special gift that separates the great musician from someone who can raise a decent tune. What they take is beauty. What they leave behind is sickness, failure and broken lives.
And as I hunted them, my investigations got tangled up in another story: a brilliant trumpet player, Richard ‘Lord’ Grant – my father – who managed to destroy his own career. Twice.
That’s the thing about policing: most of the time you’re doing it to maintain public order. Occasionally you’re doing it for justice. And maybe, once in a career, you’re doing it for revenge.
Several months after RIVERS OF LONDON, Peter’s more magically skilled and investigating cases for ESC9 but feels guilty about Lesley, whose injuries require extensive surgery and prevent her speaking. He’s dealing with a nasty vagina dentate when Dr Walid introduces him to Cyrus Wilkinson, a jazz musician who died of a heart-attack but whose corpse is emitting the tune ‘Body and Soul’.
Intrigued by the vibrant Simone, Cyrus’ lover, the two embark on a passionate affair, but the closer he gets to the truth, the more he discovers links to his father’s failed jazz career. Worse, his investigation leads to the discovery of black magic deep in the heart of Soho, the results of which will see Mother Thames’s daughter Tyburn make her vendetta against ESC9 all too personal …
Ben Aaronovitch’s sequel to RIVERS OF LONDON didn’t work quite as well for me as the first book but is still an entertaining read.
The biggest problem is that the central mystery’s telegraphed far too early and suffers from Peter deliberately ignoring the most obvious answers for no obvious reason. Given that the different plot strands hang off the central mystery, it did affect my enjoyment of the book. I also found Tyburn and her machinations against ESC9 too heavy handed. Rather than a genuine threat, she came across as a foot-stamping caricature whose actions seemed to be ultimately self-defeating. This doesn’t tie in with the idea of her being a powerful woman with her own ends and I don’t quite buy her personal enmity towards Peter.
That said, I enjoyed the way Aaronovitch introduces the concept of a secret cabal of dark magicians. The scenes in the Soho lair are genuinely disturbing and set up an interesting and dangerous counterpoint to ESC9. I also enjoyed Lesley’s development – although she plays a smaller role in the story and provides a source of guilt for Peter, she isn’t cowed by her experience and is set up for a key role in the next book. The best scenes though remain those involving Molly who with her love of raw meet and unwillingness to leave The Folly clearly has her own dark secrets that I really look forward to reading.
In conclusion, although I didn’t enjoy this as much as RIVERS OF LONDON, it’s still an engaging read and there’s enough set-up to make me really look forward to the next book.
The Verdict:
I didn’t think that this was as good a read as RIVERS OF LONDON - mainly because the central mystery was just too obvious. But there are some great elements here, including a final set-up that promises good things for book 3. It’s definitely one of those series that I intend to keep up with.
