Midnight Riot (Peter Grant #1)
by Ben Aaronovitch
Introduction
My urban fantasy bookclub selected Midnight Riot for our April read, so I picked it up for $0.99 on Amazon and read it in a few days just before our get-together.
Genre /Intended audience
Urban Fantasy / Adults
Narration
First person, past tense as told by the main character Peter Grant
Characters
Peter Grant - constable, apprentice wizard
Leslie May - constable, friend of Peter’s
Nicholas Wallpenny - a ghost
Inspector Francis Neblett - Peter’s boss
Detective Chief Inspector Thomas Nightingale - Wizard officially in charge of crimes with magical or supernatural elements
Molly - Nightingale's decidedly non-human housekeeper and cook
Setting
Modern London
Plot
While on assignment at a murder scene, Peter Grant encounters an eyewitness to the crime. That would be a good thing, but this witness is less reliable than most - he is a ghost. Peter doesn’t believe in the supernatural, but he quickly changes his opinion when assigned to work with Detective Chief Inspector Thomas Nightingale. The inspector assures Peter that magic is real and all the mythical creatures Peter has heard of don’t even scratch the surface of reality. As the gruesome crimes continue, Peter and Nightingale race to catch the decidedly uncanny culprit.
About the Author
Ben Aaronovitch is a London based fantasy and science fiction writer. His Peter Grant series include five books so far, with the sixth on the way. Find out more on Goodreads or the author’s website.
My Opinion
I enjoyed Midnight Riot, but I didn’t love it as much as many of the reviewers did (3.92 average on Goodreads). It’s sort of “Dresden Files meets X-files” as a police procedural in London. As urban fantasy goes, it is a little unusual. Part of that is the London setting, which certainly makes it interesting to an American reader - or at least, it did for me. Much of the story is an introduction to British police procedures as well as an exploration of the city of London.
The story has a great deal of humor, as told by Peter in his almost unflappable way. His awakening into the world of magic was a fun read. I appreciated the writer giving Peter a generous amount of curiosity and a scientific approach to trying to understand magic - much to the consternation of his mentor Nightingale.
The crimes are gruesomely bizarre, reminiscent of episodes of Fringe or X-files. If you have a vivid imagination, some of it will give you the heebie-jeebies. The B story is an introduction to some of the supernatural elements of London, most notably incarnations of the rivers of London. Father and Mother Thames have a dispute over territory!
I have to give the writer props for making Peter a mixed race character with a fascinating family dynamic (though not fleshed out so far). Hopefully that will be explored in later volumes of the series.
The magic and other supernatural world-building seem rather capricious and random, as did the main mystery. Some things would likely come clear If I read the entire series. As it is, I found Peter’s inner voice and the writer’s descriptions more engaging than the story or the magic world. It was a fun read, but not enough to make me continue the series. Still, at $0.99, I would recommend it to any urban fantasy reader, especially if you like police procedurals and are interested in the London perspective. I enjoyed the book, and I think it’s worth reading Midnight Riot to find out if this is the series for you.
I give it a solid three out of five stars.