by Ben Aaronovitch

This seventh book in the Rivers of London series is shorter than the others, just over 100 pages. I was pleased to be dealing with ghosts again as they have a lot of scope for interesting situations and glimpses of history.

I also enjoyed the return to dealing a little with river spirits, bringing it full circle. This one has an old fashioned Mystery element in that someone has been kidnapped and cryptic hints from ghosts are all Peter Grant and company have to go on to try to find the missing girl.

The book makes an enjoyable, short read and I feel returns to the vibe of the first book in a way that is satisfying to someone who has been reading through the whole series.

This novella somehow managed to simultaneously deliver a full story with a satisfying conclusion and leave me feeling like it was way too short. It was good to see Nightingale out in the field again, however briefly, and Abigail is really growing on me. Beverly makes an appearance, and Peter remembers something she said that made me think either Aaronovitch himself is spookily prescient or the shallowness of Peter and Bev’s relationship is on purpose.

‘Like when you kiss me,’ she’d said. ‘Is it enjoyable because of the physical sensation or is it because you think it should be enjoyable?’

They weren’t actually talking about their relationship, just using the analogy to illustrate another point, but still. Considering what I said earlier today in my review of Foxglove Summer, I had to laugh.

Goodreads claims this is #5.5 in the series, so I haven’t read anything out of order where the timeline is concerned, but some references were dropped that made me feel like I’m missing something. It’s probably all in the graphic novels, which I haven’t got and have no plans to collect, so I’m scratching my head and moving on.

(Read for Halloween Bingo Ghost Stories Square)

Well this was a nice look into Peter and Nightingale that for once did not involve The Faceless Man or Lesley. There is still something hovering over this book though that makes me think they may be trying to turn or did turn another character to their side and that's getting a bit old to me. We do have Bev appearing in this one, but not center stage. We actually have Peter investigating mostly and worrying about his cousin Abigail who keeps pushing to learn magic. 

"The Furthest Station" has Peter investigating when people start calling in about ghosts attacking them while traversing London's underground. Of course many of the people seem to forget what they report minutes/hours later. And though many people would dismiss it, Peter knows that ghosts are weird and starts looking into things with his cousin Abigail and Nightingale. We also have the character of Jaget Kumar in this one who is there to call Peter when anything weird AKA a Folly matter is brought into his purview. There's a side plot about another river god (seriously how many river gods and goddesses are there?) that just tacked onto me which is why I gave this four stars. 

Peter seems more centered in this one and self-assured. He knows what he is doing and I love his "voice" in these books. He is always thinking of how to make things better and keep people from harm. Why he is so worried about Abigail becoming involved with magic. I also loved his thoughts about what happens after death. I do wish we had gotten some scenes with his parents. His mother is one of my favorite characters. 

Nightingale shows up a lot more in this one which I was happy about. 

The overall mystery was very intriguing and I loved the writing in this one. The flow tends to be up and down in these for me. Sometimes the book can be cooking along and others times I feel like I just read something that added nothing to the story. It just feels like Aaronovitch via Peter likes to flood readers with history, science, and pop culture every few sentences and I just want him to tell the story and get on with it. 

I thought the ending was a bit sad (not for Peter) but for the realization behind what caused the ghosts and where do they go after. 

One thing I have to say since this was a library book was that this was signed by Ben Aaronovitch! It had the number and let you know what print it was from too. I told myselt not to steal a library book and thought about just getting this series into my permanent collection. 

A nice little peek into Peter and Nightingale. Other than that, it didn't grab me as much as the longer stories do. We have Peter investigating ghosts and coming across what appears to be a lot of ghosts who appear and then dissolve.

Peter is still troubled about teaching his cousin Abigail any magic and I did crack up about Nightingale not being bothered by it. I have to say though, it appears that Abigail may be on the bad guy's side (the Faceless Man) or working with Peter's ex-partner and friend. I am tired of Peter and Nightingale being stupid when it appears someone is up to no good. 

We also have another river god appearing and at this point, London seems lousy with river gods. 

I was just waiting to start this one and Lies Sleeping. Can't wait to catch up with Peter!