Review: The Night Raven

The Night Raven by Sarah Painter
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This was good in parts, as it is the first in a series there was some world setting which may be fleshed out more in later books.

Lydia Crow left London, fled more like, for Scotland but now after a disgruntled client threatened her physically she's been put on forced annual leave and has returned to London. Her uncle Charlie Crow has let her stay in a flat above a disused cafe in Camberwell but the first night a strange man tries to kill her and is only stopped by a ghost who somehow materialises and pushes the man over the balcony.

This is a London ruled by four families: the Crows, The Foxes, The Pearls and the Silvers. Lydia's uncle Charlie is the head of the Crows, years ago teh families really were supernatural but these days all they have is a vestige of their former powers. Uncle Charlie is clearly some kind of South London racketeer and wants to bring his wayward niece Lydia back into the fold, as repayment for the free accomodation he first tries to get her to re-open the cafe and then, when that fails, asks her to find her cousin Madeleine who has gone missing.

Lydia knows she shouldn't get close with the police, even if DCI Fleet's smile and voice do something to her insides, but soon Lydia will have to make a decision, back to Scotland or start a new life in London.

Issues I had with this. First, the Maddie investigation story is a bit weak, okay I guess Lydia is a trainee PI and can only cope with a small investigation but really? Second, I feel a special snowflake heroine (and possibly several others) coming - the families are allegedly getting weaker but Lydia seems to be developing some kind of superpower, Paul Fox seems to be powerful and two others seem to be very powerful too. Third, it was all too choppy, too many people, uncle Charlie, Paul Fox, DCI Fleet, Lydia's friend Emma, Maddie, the ghost, the woman running the cafe. Fourth, I can see a love triangle in the works.

I think I will give the next book a go to see whether all of this starts to bed in properly and the investigations become more meaty, but I might look out for a 99p deal.

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