Whispers Underground by Ben Aaronovitch
Dec. 23rd, 2012 11:30 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
quippeThe Blurb On The Back:
In Tufnell Park, North London, a pair of railway tracks dive under a school, taking trains to and from Kings Cross. Wet, filthy, dangerous. Lovely place. And one Sunday before Christmas a sweet (sort of) kid called Abigail took me and my long suffering colleague Lesley May down there to look for a ghost.
We found one.
And that was that, I thought, because come Monday I get to do some proper policing. Person Unknown has been stabbed to death on the tracks at Baker Street tube. Magic may have been involved. And sure enough, in the blood; vestigia, the tell-tale trail magic leaves.
Person Unknown turns out to be the son of a US senator and before you can say ‘International incident’, FBI agent Kimberley Reynolds and her firmly held religious beliefs are on my case.
And down in the dark, in the tunnels of London’s Underground, the buried rivers, the Victorian sewers, I’m hearing whispers of ancient arts and tortured, vengeful spirits …
It’s three months after MOON OVER SOHO. Peter Grant is still working for ECD9 and learning magic and now he has the company of fellow apprentice Lesley May, who’s still recovering from the events in RIVERS OF LONDON and wears a mask to hide her ruined face. When a young man is stabbed to death at Baker Street station, Peter’s called to evaluate the scene for magical involvement and gets a big hit of vestigia. But this investigation isn’t going to be an easy one. The victim’s the son of a US senator, which means that FBI agent Kimberley Reynolds is shadowing the case and her religious beliefs mean that she’s not in the mood to hear talk about magic.
Peter’s investigation will take him into the tunnels beneath London and deep into London’s past as he discovers forgotten crafts, forgotten people and vengeful ghosts …
The third in Ben Aaronovitch’s PETER GRANT SERIES is another fast-paced, witty book with plenty of action and a twisting mystery. I was a little disappointed that it didn’t significantly move on the Little Crocodiles storyline, but this does work as a standalone and I was pleased to see Lesley get more page time.
Peter is developing much more as a character. I liked the way Aaronovitch shows his flaws, particularly in his relationship with Lesley because he can’t get over his feelings of shock when he sees her uncovered face – equally great is the fact that he gets called on it. Lesley remains my favourite character because she’s a woman who just tries to get on with things but she’s also trying to come to terms with what happened to her. Nightingale barely features in this book and the Little Crocodile storyline is barely advanced, which I thought was a shame although there’s plenty going on in the main plot to keep me entertained.
The mystery itself has plenty of twists and turns and kept me guessing from beginning to end and I enjoyed the way that it brings Peter into contact with Tyburn and her agenda once more. Aaronovitch does a great job at building up the world in which his characters operate and it really widens the scope of the series and what he can do at it.
All in all, this is a thoroughly enjoyably instalment in the series and I’m really looking forward to reading the next one.
The Verdict:
The third in Ben Aaronovitch’s PETER GRANT SERIES is another fast-paced, witty book with plenty of action and a twisting mystery. I was a little disappointed that it didn’t significantly move on the Little Crocodiles storyline, but this does work as a standalone and I was pleased to see Lesley get more page time. I’m really looking forward to reading the next one in the series.
In Tufnell Park, North London, a pair of railway tracks dive under a school, taking trains to and from Kings Cross. Wet, filthy, dangerous. Lovely place. And one Sunday before Christmas a sweet (sort of) kid called Abigail took me and my long suffering colleague Lesley May down there to look for a ghost.
We found one.
And that was that, I thought, because come Monday I get to do some proper policing. Person Unknown has been stabbed to death on the tracks at Baker Street tube. Magic may have been involved. And sure enough, in the blood; vestigia, the tell-tale trail magic leaves.
Person Unknown turns out to be the son of a US senator and before you can say ‘International incident’, FBI agent Kimberley Reynolds and her firmly held religious beliefs are on my case.
And down in the dark, in the tunnels of London’s Underground, the buried rivers, the Victorian sewers, I’m hearing whispers of ancient arts and tortured, vengeful spirits …
It’s three months after MOON OVER SOHO. Peter Grant is still working for ECD9 and learning magic and now he has the company of fellow apprentice Lesley May, who’s still recovering from the events in RIVERS OF LONDON and wears a mask to hide her ruined face. When a young man is stabbed to death at Baker Street station, Peter’s called to evaluate the scene for magical involvement and gets a big hit of vestigia. But this investigation isn’t going to be an easy one. The victim’s the son of a US senator, which means that FBI agent Kimberley Reynolds is shadowing the case and her religious beliefs mean that she’s not in the mood to hear talk about magic.
Peter’s investigation will take him into the tunnels beneath London and deep into London’s past as he discovers forgotten crafts, forgotten people and vengeful ghosts …
The third in Ben Aaronovitch’s PETER GRANT SERIES is another fast-paced, witty book with plenty of action and a twisting mystery. I was a little disappointed that it didn’t significantly move on the Little Crocodiles storyline, but this does work as a standalone and I was pleased to see Lesley get more page time.
Peter is developing much more as a character. I liked the way Aaronovitch shows his flaws, particularly in his relationship with Lesley because he can’t get over his feelings of shock when he sees her uncovered face – equally great is the fact that he gets called on it. Lesley remains my favourite character because she’s a woman who just tries to get on with things but she’s also trying to come to terms with what happened to her. Nightingale barely features in this book and the Little Crocodile storyline is barely advanced, which I thought was a shame although there’s plenty going on in the main plot to keep me entertained.
The mystery itself has plenty of twists and turns and kept me guessing from beginning to end and I enjoyed the way that it brings Peter into contact with Tyburn and her agenda once more. Aaronovitch does a great job at building up the world in which his characters operate and it really widens the scope of the series and what he can do at it.
All in all, this is a thoroughly enjoyably instalment in the series and I’m really looking forward to reading the next one.
The Verdict:
The third in Ben Aaronovitch’s PETER GRANT SERIES is another fast-paced, witty book with plenty of action and a twisting mystery. I was a little disappointed that it didn’t significantly move on the Little Crocodiles storyline, but this does work as a standalone and I was pleased to see Lesley get more page time. I’m really looking forward to reading the next one in the series.
