Moon Over Soho [Mass Market Paperback]

Ben Aaronovitch (Author)

Book Description

Release date: March 1, 2011

BODY AND SOUL
 
The song. That’s what London constable and sorcerer’s apprentice Peter Grant first notices when he examines the corpse of Cyrus Wilkins, part-time jazz drummer and full-time accountant, who dropped dead of a heart attack while playing a gig at Soho’s 606 Club. The notes of the old jazz standard are rising from the body—a sure sign that something about the man’s death was not at all natural but instead supernatural.

Body and soul—they’re also what Peter will risk as he investigates a pattern of similar deaths in and around Soho. With the help of his superior officer, Detective Chief Inspector Thomas Nightingale, the last registered wizard in England, and the assistance of beautiful jazz aficionado Simone Fitzwilliam, Peter will uncover a deadly magical menace—one that leads right to his own doorstep and to the squandered promise of a young jazz musician: a talented trumpet player named Richard “Lord” Grant—otherwise known as Peter’s dear old dad.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“A terrific follow-up to [Aaronovitch’s] novel Midnight Riot, the debut of Peter Grant and his own weird London. Grant continues to learn the ropes of magical London, a process that takes him on a trip through Nightingale's haunted past and into some of the most interesting places you won't find on any official tour. Aaronovitch makes the story sing, building momentum until the ending is literally breathless.”  --SF Revu

“A realistic modern-day police procedural populated by increasingly solid characters and written in the same consistently witty style as the first Peter Grant novel [Midnight Riot]. . . . One of the most entertaining books I’ve read in a long time.”  --Fantasy Literature

About the Author

Ben Aaronovitch was born in London in 1964 and had the kind of dull routine childhood that drives a man to drink or to science fiction. He is a screenwriter, with early notable success on BBC television’s legendary Doctor Who, for which he wrote some episodes now widely regarded as classics, and which even he is quite fond of. He has also penned several groundbreaking TV tie-in novels. After a decade of such work, he decided it was time to show the world what he could really do and embarked on his first serious original novel. The result is Midnight Riot, the debut adventure of Peter Grant, followed by Moon Over Soho.
 

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Del Rey; Original edition (March 1, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0345524594
• ISBN-13: 978-0345524591
• Product Dimensions: 4.2 x 0.8 x 6.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (63 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #94,987 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Ben Aaronovitch was born in 1964. Discovering in his early twenties that he had precisely one talent, he took up screenwriting at which he was an overnight success. He wrote for Doctor Who, Casualty and the world's cheapest ever SF soap opera Jupiter Moon. He then wrote for Virgin's New Adventures until they pulped all his books.

Then Ben entered a dark time illuminated only by an episode of Dark Knight, a book for Big Finish and the highly acclaimed but not-very-well-paying Blake's 7 Audio dramas.

Trapped in a cycle of disappointment and despair Ben was eventually forced to support his expensive book habit by working for Waterstones as a bookseller. Ironically it was while shelving the works of others that Ben finally saw the light. He would write his own books, he would let prose into his heart and rejoice in the word. Henceforth, subsisting on nothing more than instant coffee and Japanese takeaway, Ben embarked on the epic personal journey that was to lead to Rivers of London (or Midnight Riot as it is known in the Americas).

Ben Aaronovitch currently resides in London and says that he will leave when they pry his city from his cold dead fingers.

Amazon Author Rankbeta 

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#16 in Books > Mystery, Thriller & Suspense > Police Procedurals

#66 in Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Fantasy

#16 in Books > Mystery, Thriller & Suspense > Police Procedurals

#66 in Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Fantasy

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Fast-paced, quick-witted urban fantasy March 30, 2011

By Justin G. TOP 500 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Mass Market Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

After his memorable introduction in Midnight Riot, London Constable Peter Grant is back in Moon over Soho, the latest offering from Ben Aaronovitch. Grant and his long-lived commanding officer Thomas Nightingale are the "magic police." They're sort of like a two-man BPRD (from Hellboy), "bumping back" at the things that go bump in the night. When members of London's jazz community start dying of suspicious causes, Grant gets involved, only to find that his "jazz vampire" case is just the tip of an iceberg that includes supernatural predators, gangsters, reanimated corpses and some very dark magicians.

Part urban fantasy and part police procedural, Moon over Soho gives us a much deeper look at London's magical community, such as the defunct school for magic (yes, Aaronovitch has a Hogwarts joke), Nightingale's past, magical involvement in global conflicts, and a circle of dark magicians who give Grant and Nightingale a much needed nemesis, and promise to wreak much havoc in future novels. As in the first book, Aaronovitch's brisk pace and razor sharp dialogue (plus loads of sex and violence) keep you engaged throughout the story, and leave you wanting more.

I was impressed by Midnight Riot, and its sequel did not disappoint. This is one of the best of the more recent urban fantasy series, and fans of Jim Butcher's Dresden Files series and Mike Carey's Felix Castor novels will definitely want to check out Aaronovitch's work. Start with Midnight Riot and then come back to Moon over Soho.

18 of 20 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars He loves London and loves his job. Which is not what he expected. March 2, 2011

By Laura Jefferson

Format:Mass Market Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

To begin with, Aaronovitch writes really well and his protagonist is likeable: intelligent, slightly geeky, and charming. The magic in his London co-exists with cell phones and iPads (which, rather as in William Gibson, date-stamp this book for all time). Actually, co-exists is not quite the right word, since one of Peter Grant's problems in life is not blowing the chips of computers around him, as well as paperwork and not seriously upsetting his superiors. He deals with these difficulties more successfully than Harry Dresden has so far, but he has more allies, better luck with women, and a well-drawn family. Although all is not gas and gaiters, Aaronovitch is less relentlessly noir than either Butcher or Mike Carey and less supernatural than Richard Kadrey. I like all of these books but it's nice not to feel doomed sometimes.

Moon Over Soho picks up a short time after the events of Midnight Riot, which you may need to read to understand some of the characterization in this book.
I read the first book only a couple of weeks ago, and I was impatient to read the next one. It did not disappoint and now I want more.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Rooftops and basements May 21, 2011

By Robert F O'Connor

Format:Kindle Edition

Magic, mayhem and the Met again, mixed in with jazz, evil wizards and accidental necromancy. Someone is killing the jazzmen of London and there's a strange kind of rapist-killer stalking the clubs. Constable Peter Grant finds out more about his mentor, their strange housekeeper, and what happened to his famous father's musical career. Along the way he does a lot of shagging on rooftops and underfurnished apartments, perhaps as a way of coping with the awful things he keeps finding in basements.

One of the good things about Rivers of London was that no one was safe. The streets are in chaos, the victims are random, some survive and some don't. Hero Peter Grant's best friend and lust object ends up horribly disfigured, and in both Rivers of London and Moon Over Soho we see Grant struggling with his sense of responsibility for that - and in particular whether magic can restore what magic destroyed. This feeds in to his desire to understand the source of magic and its relationship to life or life-force. It's an interesting illustration of a post-Enlightenment, scientifically trained mind trying to come to turns with the irrational, with something which doesn't fit into one's understanding of the universe and how it works. Although Grant seems oblivious to the fact that Greater Minds Than His have struggled with the same questions (a character oversight which at this stage I can only hope is intentional or Aaronovitch's part).

But what I liked about this aspect of Moon Over Soho is that it gives us a taste of What Happens Next. The victims of the chaos in Rivers of London aren't left behind in the second book; they're still part of Grant's world, as both a copper and a friend, and at least one of them is a victim and possibly and instigator of what follows in Moon Over Soho.

It's a little bit more disjointed that Rivers of London - once again, Aaronovitch throws in interesting factoids about police procedure and London history but sometimes, in Moon Over Soho, they come across a bit non sequitur-ish - Where is this going? What is this doing here? But Moon Over Soho is still an engaging read, with a good set-up for the next in the series.

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