Cityread London have selected their 2015 read, and we’re delighted to report that it is Ben Aaronovitch‘s RIVERS OF LONDON! The novel is the critically-acclaimed, best-selling first book in the Peter Grant Series. Cityread London is London’s biggest annual bookclub, a ‘celebration of literature that aims to bring reading to life for the whole capital’. Published in the UK by Gollancz, here’s the synopsis…
My name is Peter Grant and until January I was just probationary constable in that mighty army for justice known to all right-thinking people as the Metropolitan Police Service (and as the Filth to everybody else). My only concerns in life were how to avoid a transfer to the Case Progression Unit – we do paperwork so real coppers don’t have to – and finding a way to climb into the panties of the outrageously perky WPC Leslie May. Then one night, in pursuance of a murder inquiry, I tried to take a witness statement from someone who was dead but disturbingly voluable, and that brought me to the attention of Inspector Nightingale, the last wizard in England.
Now I’m a Detective Constable and a trainee wizard, the first apprentice in fifty years, and my world has become somewhat more complicated: nests of vampires in Purley, negotiating a truce between the warring god and goddess of the Thames, and digging up graves in Covent Garden . . . and there’s something festering at the heart of the city I love, a malicious vengeful spirit that takes ordinary Londoners and twists them into grotesque mannequins to act out its drama of violence and despair.
The spirit of riot and rebellion has awakened in the city, and it’s falling to me to bring order out of chaos – or die trying.
You can follow Cityread London on Facebook, and find more information on their website.
The Peter Grant Series includes: RIVERS OF LONDON, MOON OVER SOHO, WHISPERS UNDERGROUND, BROKEN HOMES and FOXGLOVE SUMMER, which is published in the UK next Thursday! The series is published by Del Rey and DAW Books in the US, DTV in Germany, J’ai Lu in France, Hayakawa in Japan, and a number of other territories.
