Skip to main content

Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch: book review



Rivers of London (2011) is set in London in contemporary times. Peter Grant is a probationary police constable called to duty when a murder occurred on the steps of St. Paul’s Church in Covent Garden, London. The first witness he interviews about the murder of William Skirmish is the 120-year-old ghost of Nicholas Wallpenny. When viewing the CCTV footage, the police have two suspects. The ghost has told Grant that there was only one person – the murderer changed clothes. So what does Grant do?

With the help of his female partner, Police Constable Lesley May, and his new boss, Inspector Thomas Nightingale, the action takes them along the rivers of London. Grant has a good sense of smell, and May is good at checking facts on the police database. Grant gets his first lesson in magic in the laboratories with Nightingale. Here readers learn of vestigium (the trace of clues), tactus disvitae (the smell of anti-life), dissimulo (the hidden), and in fact the Principia Artes Magicis (the Principles of the Art of Magic).

Aaronovitch wrote two serials for the BBC ‘Doctor Who’ series, and his novels are enormous best-sellers. Rivers of London, the first of the Peter Grant police series, is difficult to classify. It is part police thriller, part fantasy, part magical realism, part scientific, and part travelogue. I am not a fan of the magic genre, and this novel has not convinced me to be a fan. Yet, I liked it.

Rivers of London is witty and humorous with a distinct style and language, especially the voice of Peter Grant. It blends traditional police investigations, procedures and problem-solving (realism) – which I like – with a bizarre sense of the unreal (magic) – which  I don’t like. However, I particularly like the way Aaronovtich sets a very vivid pictorial view and history of the streets, shops, river, bars, and churches of London.

But I am still not convinced. That’s because setting police investigations in the phantasmagoria means that the writer can conjure up any solutions to a ‘crime’ - no matter how far-fetched and fantastical. Overall there was nothing memorable about the plot – but the main character and the location were memorable (London is the real star in this novel). And it’s too long. It needs an edit. Nevertheless, I would highly recommend Rivers of London to readers who love a well-crafted yarn with a unique experimental style that is very readable.


MARTINA NICOLLS is an international aid and development consultant, and the author of:- The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).


Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

2016 update on Rike Park, Tbilisi: from construction to busy park

From a flat patch of uninteresting dirt, Rike Park in Tbilisi, Georgia, has transformed in four years (from 2014-2016) into a busy park full of trees, flower beds, sculptures, fountains, and events. Rike (Rikhe) Park is on the left bank of the Mt’k’vari River (the Kura River) near the Old City of Tbilisi. The Peace Bridge links the right bank to Rike Park. Rike Park is below the hillside Presidential Palace and, via cable car, it is the starting point for the ride to Sololaki Ridge (with the Narikala Fortress and the Mother of Georgia statue). The glass box-shaped cable car terminus was opened on 23 June 2012, and since then the park has continually developed into a ‘people’s park’ where people can walk around, eat at the nearby restaurants, sit next to the statue of American president Ronald Reagan, climb the steps to Avlabari district, and access the sights of Meidan Square, the Peace Bridge, the Metekhi Church, the Old City, the waterfall, the sulphur baths, and t...
Post a Comment
Read more

Pir-E-Kamil - The Perfect Mentor by Umera Ahmed: book review

The Perfect Mentor pbuh  (2011) is set in Lahore and Islamabad in Pakistan. The novel commences with Imama Mubeen in medical university. She wants to be an eye specialist. Her parents have arranged for her to marry her first cousin Asjad. Salar Sikander, her neighbour, is 18 years old with an IQ of 150+ and a photographic memory. He has long hair tied in a ponytail. He imbibes alcohol, treats women disrespectfully and is generally a “weird chap” and a rude, belligerent teenager. In the past three years he has tried to commit suicide three times. He tries again. Imama and her brother, Waseem, answer the servant’s call to help Salar. They stop the bleeding from his wrist and save his life. Imama and Asjad have been engaged for three years, because she wants to finish her studies first. Imama is really delaying her marriage to Asjad because she loves Jalal Ansar. She proposes to him and he says yes. But he knows his parents won’t agree, nor will Imama’s parents. ...
1 comment
Read more

Hop on hop off bus tourism comes to Tbilisi, Georgia

City Sightseeing buses have arrived in Tbilisi. The iconic red double-decker buses, a feature of many cities around the world since the company was established in Seville, Spain in 1999, is now in six continents and almost 100 cities. The company established its Tbilisi business in November 2013, with its operations commencing in February 2014. The 90-minute tour stops at 11 major locations in Tbilisi (with 2 to 5 minute waiting times at each location): the Old City (where it commences), Freedom Square, Rose Revolution Square, Marjanishvili Square, the Dry Bridge, Konka, Avlabari, Metekhi, Akhundov Museum, the Sulfur Baths, and European Square. Passengers can hop off at any stop and see the sights, hopping back onto the next bus at any time. Alternatively, passengers can remain on the bus for the whole tour and take photographs when the bus stops at each location. There are one day (24-hour) passes (for 35 lari – about $20) and 48-hour passes for 55 lari, with family d...
2 comments
Read more