Broken Homes

Title: Broken Homes
Author: Ben Aaronovitch
Published: 2014
Genre: Urban fantasy
Pages: 369


It's already the fourth book in the so far five-part series! And I just jumped straight in after finishing #3. No thought for 'saving it till later'. Oh dear. And it's a quiet day at the office, and I'm abusing that fact by getting some writing done here. That still makes me a productive member of the workplace, right? At least I look busy.

This one's a little different from the previous books: instead of one big magical case to hit his head against until something breaks, Peter is saddled with several smaller ones that may or may not be magical. An unidentifiable female body is found in a shallow grave in the woods. A man with no reason to kill himself jumps in front of a Tube train. An old but important book of magic pops up from a shady seller. Little by little, everything starts to connect up, and all the leads point to the south of the River Thames, and towards the Big Bad Guy.

There are so many returning and new characters in these books that I sometimes have trouble keeping up with all of them with my flaky head, but that's just about my only complaint, and I can easily check up who's who on the internet. The books are just pure fun, Peter is a brilliant narrator, and the action never stops for long. Not until there comes... that bit... and it leaves you screaming in disbelief with your cup of coffee and tomato sandwich and you have to take deep breaths before screaming some more.

NEXT!


   I felt weirdly panicky all the way back across the river, and through the vile traffic around Elephant and Castle. But I couldn't work out why.
   'Somebody tried to kill us a couple of days ago,' said Lesley when I mentioned it. 'I'm amazed we're not on psychiatric medical leave.'
   'That which does not kill us,' I said, 'has to get up extra early in the morning if it wants to get us next time.'