Jun 6

Jun 6 The October Man

Score: 3.5/5 Bookmarks

The October Man by Ben Aaronovitch is a novella in the Rivers of London series. It is number 7.5 to be precise. The Rivers of London books are fun urban fantasy stories, mostly staring Peter Grant who is a member of the magic police.

While I’m completely in love with the Rivers of London books, the characters, and particularly the way they are narrated by Kobna Holdbrook-Smith in the audio versions, The October Man failed to really grab me. For the most part I still enjoyed it but I would find whole sections where I was just bored and had to put it down and go do something else for a while.

If you’re a fan of the Peter Grant / Rivers of London series I’d love to know your thoughts in the comments.

Despite being disappointed by this novella I am eagerly awaiting the release of book number eight, False Value, on November 19 this year! AND in other exciting news, Stolen Picture has optioned the rights to the Rivers of London series for a TV series. How awesome is that?!

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I listened to this book on Libro.fm, an audiobook service which gives some of the proceeds back to a local bookstore that you nominate. I listen to a LOT of audiobooks (while I’m driving, making dinner etc) and I love being able to support local businesses at the same time. You can get your first two audiobooks for free by using my affiliate link.

Synopsis:

Trier is famous for wine, Romans and for being Germany’s oldest city. So when a man is found dead with, his body impossibly covered in a fungal rot, the local authorities know they are out of their depth.

Fortunately this is Germany, where there are procedures for everything.

Enter Investigator Tobias Winter, whose aim is to get in, deal with the problem, and get out with the minimum of fuss, personal danger and paperwork. With the help of frighteningly enthusiastic local cop, Vanessa Sommer, he’s quick to link the first victim to a group of ordinary middle aged men – and to realise they may have accidentally reawakened a bloody conflict from a previous century. But the rot is still spreading, literally and with the suspect list extending to people born before Frederick the Great solving the case may mean unearthing the city’s secret magical history.

. . . so long as that history doesn’t kill them first.