Review: Whispers Under Ground

Whispers Under Ground by Ben Aaronovitch
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The body of an American student is found in Baker Street tube station, murdered by a piece of pottery heavily imbued with magical resonance, our hero PC Peter Grant is brought in to investigate. His meandering investigations take him into the underground tunnels and sewers and reunite him with his old partner Leslie, as well as introducing him to an FBI agent hired by the man's wealthy and influential father to investigate the murder.

I always struggle to keep up with the ins and outs of the narrative in these stories, maybe because I enjoy the scenery and the humour so much I kind of lose track of the plot? Anyway, I found it harder than usual this time, not helped by the fact that I kept picking this book up and then putting it down again - of course that's a bit a chicken and egg thing. By the end I found myself thinking "who is Zach?". Okay, I've just searched on my Kindle and now I find out that Zach is the dead man's tenant/ lodger and the connections now fall into place. Sorry, rambling here.

Anyway, what I'm trying to say is that I was enjoying the sorties through the sewers and the fake houses that disguise railway lines so much that I wasn't paying attention to the plot and/or the plot didn't really grab me.

Nevertheless, Ben Aaronovitch is still a brilliant writer and Peter Grant is a fascinating character with witty insights into modern policing, I love, love, loved the unofficial motto of CO19, I look forward to reading the next book in this complex and funny series.

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