387 pages
English language
Published Nov. 3, 2016
Suspicious deaths are not usually the concern of PC Peter Grant or the Folly, even when they happen at an exclusive party in one of the most expensive apartment blocks in London. But Lady Ty's daughter was there, and Peter owes Lady Ty a favour. Plunged into the alien world of the super-rich, where the basements are bigger than the house and dangerous, arcane items are bought and sold on the open market, a sensible young copper would keep his head down and his nose clean. But this is Peter Grant we're talking about.
He's been given an unparalleled opportunity to alienate old friends and create new enemies at the point where the world of magic and that of privilege intersect. Assuming he survives the week . . .
Another really solid addition to the Rivers of London series with a healthy pile of well written magical shootouts thrown into a tightly plotted police investigation thriller. I’m still loving the wry first person narration and all of his nerdy cultural references. All of the characters are great.
Spoiler Alert: The identity of The Faceless Man is revealed in this chapter, and it’s awesome!
It’s interesting to me that where these books begin and where they end are such different places. Peter starts this adventure with the investigation of a drug overdose; his investigation spurred by Lady Ty, whose daughter was witness to and possibly involved in the overdose.
We end with the reveal of The Faceless Man’s identity and a couple of epic battles, one mostly “off-camera” between Nightingale and said Faceless Man, the other involving Peter, Leslie, and the Faceless Man.
I love the introduction of the new magical factions, the witches and the Virginia Gentlemen, and I look forward to their involvement in future novels. And, I’m very interested to know why we have the return of the ghost?, Mr. Punch.
This is clearly a turning point in the story of The Faceless Man and …
Spoiler Alert: The identity of The Faceless Man is revealed in this chapter, and it’s awesome!
It’s interesting to me that where these books begin and where they end are such different places. Peter starts this adventure with the investigation of a drug overdose; his investigation spurred by Lady Ty, whose daughter was witness to and possibly involved in the overdose.
We end with the reveal of The Faceless Man’s identity and a couple of epic battles, one mostly “off-camera” between Nightingale and said Faceless Man, the other involving Peter, Leslie, and the Faceless Man.
I love the introduction of the new magical factions, the witches and the Virginia Gentlemen, and I look forward to their involvement in future novels. And, I’m very interested to know why we have the return of the ghost?, Mr. Punch.
This is clearly a turning point in the story of The Faceless Man and Leslie May. I’m glad I don’t have to wait to read the next book.
A nice one. Darker, more action, higher stakes than the last book and back on more familiar ground. The metaplot really gets going here!
It seems that every other book finds us returning to the overlying story arc of the Faceless Man against the Folly. The books that don't deal with him tend to not interest me as much, and so I was heartened by a return to it. In fact, this time we actually find out who the Faceless Man is, in a plot that initially centers on a drug-related death of a posh teenager that somehow involves the posh teenage daughter of super-posh Lady Tyburn, one of the river goddesses of London.
The case itself is not super-exciting, but I like the revelations that we receive, and this feeling how all the things from the all previous books are coming together. The Peter Grant books and The Checquy Files continue to be my absolutely favorite urban-fantasy series.
Is anyone else getting rather frustrated by the amount of superfluous detail in these books? If the author cut out all the architectural details of every single building Peter Grant goes into and the precise description including exact shade of every item everyone he meets is wearing the book would probably be about two thirds of the length, and this seems to be getting worse as the series progresses not better. It almost feels like he's trying to make up a word count, and particularly in this book I found it made it harder to follow the story, as well as occasionally disrupting the pacing - a dramatic scene where someone is shot is interrupted by a detailed discussion of the consequences of gunshot wounds for example. This is a shame because I've generally enjoyed the series and this book introduces some interesting new ideas and characters and ties up …
Is anyone else getting rather frustrated by the amount of superfluous detail in these books? If the author cut out all the architectural details of every single building Peter Grant goes into and the precise description including exact shade of every item everyone he meets is wearing the book would probably be about two thirds of the length, and this seems to be getting worse as the series progresses not better. It almost feels like he's trying to make up a word count, and particularly in this book I found it made it harder to follow the story, as well as occasionally disrupting the pacing - a dramatic scene where someone is shot is interrupted by a detailed discussion of the consequences of gunshot wounds for example. This is a shame because I've generally enjoyed the series and this book introduces some interesting new ideas and characters and ties up some loose threads, but I found it very difficult to stay focussed on the story.
