[Books] The PC Grant Series

For someone that reads an awful lot of books, and has actually increased the number this year, I've not talked about them very often on this blog. Partly that's because books are, to me, much more of a personal thing than films or television. I find it much easier to recommend those to people, as I find that they tend to appeal to a fairly broad audience. Whereas books, in my opinion, are often much more narrow in their appeal. Don't get me wrong, once I know you're interested in certain types of books I will happily share recommendations with you. But up to that point I try to fairly general in my suggestions.

Every now and then though I find a set of books that I think a lot of people will enjoy. I want to talk about one such series today: the PC Grant series by Ben Aaronovitch.

The basic premise of these books is that magic is real, and it exists in the modern world. Aaronovitch bases his books in the present day UK, specifically London, and his main characters are all part of 'the old Bill' - the Metropolitan Police. I've heard the series compared the Dresden Files, but not having read those I can't comment. What I can say is that Aaronovitch clearly loves the city of London. Famous landmarks feature occasionally but are very much in the background; the focus is on everyday London, the bits of it that tourists don't visit but that are the bread and butter of daily life for those that inhabit the nation's capital. This gives the series a fantastic flavour, which is compounded by details of police life and procedure that are dotted around the place. Then there's the wonderful sense of humour that is laced throughout the narrative. It's very British humour in some senses, but it gives the books a great sense of fun.

The main characters are all nicely developed, three-dimensional beings. They each have their secrets, and there's a lot we still don't know about several of them, but they feel very real and behave in entirely plausible ways. That also extends to the 'villains', the few of them that there are; being based around members of the police force a lot of the antagonists are merely criminals rather than out and out villains (with a couple of exceptions), but all have their own justification and reasoning behind their actions.

Rivers of London is the first book in the PC Grant series. (Credit: en.wikipedia.org)

The first book in the series is "Rivers of London". This provides a very good introduction to the series and it's inhabitants, with the main character (PC Peter Grant) discovering that magic is real and that he has some small talent at it. He does this by talking to a ghost in Covent Garden. It's a fun mystery/police procedural story with the added interest of magic being thrown into the mix, and a couple of surprising tonal shifts towards the darker end of the spectrum. There are lots of intriguing hints thrown around about the wider world that the novel is part of, but in some ways it's clearly a first book to test the waters.

Moon Over Soho has a lot of new and exciting concepts in it compared to the first book,

and marks the author flexing his creative muscle. (Credit: en.wikipedia.org)

The second book, "Moon Over Soho", continues the good form. It felt like the author stretched his wings somewhat here too; having got the first book under his belt, and having had it be a success, this book marks the start of the long-form plot that continues through the rest of the series so far. Some great additional concepts are introduced, particularly in the sideshow antagonists where there are some inventive concepts, and the alternative London is expanded fairly significantly. It's clear that there's a lot more of a 'magical subculture' around in this world that we were previously led to believe. A lot of new characters are introduced, some of whom go on to become recurring supporting cast, and the main villain of the series makes a cameo towards the end. The best bit about that brilliant scene was the number of questions that it threw up, both about the possibilities and about what's been hidden from PC Grant. Like the first book, this has an interesting mystery story as its basis, and again it goes to occasionally darker places than were expected. The sense of fun is still very much present as well.

Whispers Underground was a disappointment compared to the first two books.

It just seemed to go nowhere, and do it slowly to boot. (Credit: en.wikipedia.org)

"Whispers Underground" is the third book, and to be honest was a bit of a let down after the previous instalments. I didn’t really get the point to be honest. There's no police case really, just lots of disjointed stuff here and there. Yes, it all ties together a little at the end, bit it seems like a bit of a non-issue, and still didn't really work. The series plot didn't really go anywhere either, but the main characters went back and forth between working on that and on the problem of the day. This book really came across as a bit ‘filler’, and I was left feeling fairly unsatisfied.

Broken Homes marks a return to form, and finishes with an emotional gut punch

the likes of which I've not felt from a book for a long time. (Credit: the-folly.com)

Fortunately the fourth book, "Broken Homes", marks a return to form. Once again it's more tightly focused, and reintroduces the idea that the main characters are policemen (with magic on the side). They have a case to solve, they go undercover, and there's some good old-fashioned police work going on. Yes, there are again several disparate elements, but they're more successfully tied together here several chapters from the end. The main series villain makes a reappearance, is successfully creepy when he does so, but doesn't reveal much of what's going on or what he's planning, which I loved. But possibly the best part of this instalment in the series are the emotional moments, of which there are many. All of the three main characters get their moment in the Sun, and their moment in the shade of remembrance and misery. This showcases Aaronovitch's true triumph with this series, which I alluded to earlier - you care about these characters, and want to know their history and understand their experiences. This culminates in the finale which, just when you think it's over, hits you with a sucker punch to the gut that is wrenching, and completely out of left field. Then the book's over. Very little analysis, very little soul searching (and what there is takes place in the pub - so very British!), just 'here, deal with this'. I loved it.

This is a great series of books, and one that I think has the potential to appeal to readers outside of those who would usually read fantasy novels. The grounding in present-day, real-life London gives the books a sense of reality that jars with the more magical elements. They're great stories (Whispers Underground excluded, and even that has its moments), and you should go and read them straight away.