Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch

It’s true to say that whether you enjoy a book or not, or even whether you finish it, can often be as much about the mood you were in at the time as it is about the literary, or otherwise, merits of the book in question. Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch has been sitting on my bookshelves since 2014 when we had a brief sojourn back to Blighty in an expensive experiment to prove that we’d rather be in Canada after all.

Anyway, back to the book in question. It had been recommended by practically everyone I know back in the UK, and that was enough for me to seek it out, and at the time I think it was also a way of connecting back with the UK after years away because Rivers of London is by its nature a very British book. With that in mind and given that our attempt to fit back into British life was not altogether a success, in retrospect it’s perhaps no surprise that I didn’t get on with the book. I mean, I really didn’t get on with it. I started it, but while it was a perfectly okay read as far as I got, I couldn’t see what everyone was raving about because it was doing nothing for me, so I just quietly slipped it back on the shelf with only a few chapters read and decided I’d never take another book recommendation from any of those friends again.

Fast forward six years and I’m sitting on our deck, squinting at the thermometer which reads 31 in the shade and wondering what to read next. I wasn’t in the mood for the great modern novel (see my comments in the post on History of Wolves) and my overheated brain remembered Rivers of London. I decided to give it another go since the circumstances were kind of different from when I bought it in 2014 – back then I was always skirting the thin edge of a work-related panic attack, where as now I’m retired and skirting the thin edge of decisions about whether to nap or not to nap.

Anyway, this is all a long-winded way of saying that over the last two afternoons I’ve galloped through the best part of 400 pages that make up Rivers of London and I enjoyed every single one of them immensely.

It’s the story of Police Constable Peter Grant who has the disconcerting experience of meeting a ghost in Covent Garden while guarding a crime scene. Before you can say ‘you’re nicked’ Peter finds himself co-opted to The Folly, a part of the Metropolitan Police that deals in all things supernatural and is headed by Detective Chief Inspector Thomas Nightingale. Soon Peter is learning about magic, investigating an escalating series of seemingly senseless murders and attacks and delving back into London’s rich and sometimes murky history to look for clues.

If that wasn’t enough, he also finds himself in the middle of a dispute between Mother Thames, Father Thames and a troop of their sons and especially daughters who are personifications of the many rivers of London. I bet if he’d known all that was coming his way, Peter would have taken the nice dull admin job he was originally destined for in the Case Progression Unit and run a mile from DCI Nightingale and all things supernatural.

I’m very glad Peter didn’t do a runner, because for one, there would be no book, and that would be a shame as I wouldn’t have had something lovely to read for the last two afternoons.

Rivers of London is a delightful book. I suppose you’d call it a modern fantasy crime novel, and one of the reasons I said at the start that it was a very British book is that it is rooted in London, not just as a setting for the story, but in the modern and arcane geography and history of the city. Aaronovitch is steeped in the details of how London as a city grew – about how rivers disappeared or went underground, about how the city changed to deal with external factors such as the Great Fire, or the Blitz or most destructive of all – post-war urban planning. I’m pretty familiar with some of the areas of London featured in the book and that definitely makes for a richer reading experience, but it’s not really necessary to have that knowledge – Aaronvitch’s light, entertaining style will pull you along just as happily if you are a tourist, as it would if you were a resident. The writing is engaging, the characters rich and fully drawn, the plot is as twisty as the Thames herself, or possibly himself depending on where on the river you are and London is not just a backdrop to the action, but is an essential part of the story.

All this to say that I thought Rivers of London was a super read and I’m very glad that I didn’t get rid of it back in 2014 when my mood was vastly different than it is now. It’s the first in a series of books about PC Peter Grant and his adventures with the supernatural and the others will definitely be going on my ‘to read’ list for the future.

Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch was first published in 2011 and my copy was published by Gollancz.