Cultural Dessert

'Rivers of London' by Ben Aaronovitch

28 June 2018

I’ve really enjoyed reading Ben Aaronovitch’s novel, ‘Rivers of London’, which I read as an unabridged audio book, narrated by Kobna Holdrook-Smith. This is a contemporary, carefully-researched and realistic police procedural detective story, told by a London police constable who is seconded to the Metropolitan Police’s secret division of wizards dealing with magic and supernatural crimes. The blend of real-world policing and fantasy is clever, thrilling and very funny. ‘Rivers of London’ acknowledges the influence of Harry Potter but this is a very knowing, adult novel with sex, violence, bad language and ghosts. PC Peter Grant is a droll first person narrator, thrust into a baffling world of magic and desperately trying to apply all his standard police training to increasingly impossible situations. It’s a very entertaining tale, with a literary link between the serial killer’s seemingly random crimes that is very satisfying when you discover it. Best of all this is the first in a series of Peter Grant novels by Ben Aaronovitch: I’m looking forward to reading them all.

posted by Robin Simpson @ 3:02 pm