Peter faces something more daunting than anything he has
encountered previously… the countryside.
The London cop is heading to rural Herefordshire on a missing children’s case – it’s not the Folly’s case but it’s always best to check on local supernaturals just be sure there isn’t any magical nefariousness with children. Usually it’s more mundane and this looked like another case
But as Peter stays around to help, more and more of the
mystical is clearly involved; there is definitely something unnatural going on
(beyond the foody pubs with the heritage sausages).
I love this series. I love the world setting with its
quirkiness, it’s fun, the broad range of supernatural creatures and Peter
happily trying to fit them all into police procedure. Yes we will have fae and ridiculous
acronyms and proper police filing and budget concerns!
In some ways, this story is very slowly paced – because it
closely follows a police investigation which is inherently slow. We have procedures
and false leads and crossing t’s and dotting I’s and red herrings as well as
the whole mystical research side of things and Peter being so completely off
his patch. We don’t run from action to action –but it still really works
because of the excellent writing, tone, world building and general sense of
realism to the book. It’s not full of action after action – and it would feel
wrong if it were. That’s not how police investigations work, it’s not how a
missing kid investigation works and it’s not how Peter, the Follow et al work.
Part of the glory of this book is that it’s an Urban Fantasy police story that
doesn’t involve people running around with gunfights until the bad guy decides
to conveniently kidnap the protagonist so no-one has to do any investigating or
deal with actual investigative forces or officialdom except in the most
tangential manner. This has a level of realism I can really feel - and because
of that even small bit characters stand out as actual people (though it helps
that each is given their own little quirks and originality).
Of course, it’s also not slow because it’s immensely
amusing and extremely funny. I read most of this book with a big grin on my
face.
I have always loved how every British this series is and
this book is no exception. The tone, the snark – oh the glorious snark (the
wonderful glorious snark) – the nice little asides and interactions and wry
observations – it’s just so very British. The tone of the whole book just oozes
Britishness in such authenticity that I don’t think I’ve ever seen in another
book. I’ve never seen a series that had such a powerful sense of setting. It’s
lots of little things, like hilarious little snarks about the Daily Mail (and
their dreaded view of Europe, Asylum Seekers or anyone else), or how the police
are actually quite eager to shift their cases to the Folly because then it’s
not THEIR budgets they have to mine for resources.
There is also a glorious sense of irreverence and fun
throughout the whole thing – which really works with the rather elegant
infodumps that scatter this book. Some of it is based on the rich and
fascinating world that has been described while others are from the deep and
broad research that has gone into making this book and conveying a real sense
of the police force with it. It could very easily have been dry and dull, but
all of this fits Peter’s character – an eternally curious man who is given to
wandering off and tangents while always keeping a wry, gently snarky view of
the world.
That enquiring mind also brings a wonderful way of
exploring magic – because Peter, child of the modern scientific world – doesn’t
generally accept the rather romantic assumptions of his predecessors so has a
good reason to analyse, quantify and explain magic to us. This all just works
to create such an excellently presented world building – both our world, police
procedures and anything else the reader isn’t familiar with, along with the
fantasy world that has been wrapped around it. I think that’s the height of
praise for the writing – with all the information presented it should be slow
and info-dumpy, but it really isn’t because of the tone, the snark and the
excellent point of view presented.
Also, Peter is wonderfully out of his depth in the countryside without being comically inept.
Peter is a Black man and that informs a lot of his
character in nicely developed ways. Sometimes it’s referencing his mother’s
culture and history in Sierra Leone. Sometimes it’s noting – sometimes with
appreciation and sometimes with snark (and sometimes both) the conscious
efforts people around him take to acknowledge diversity (or the appearance of
it – there was a snarky note on being in the photos improving how the local
police force’s diversity looked), to the microagressions he faces (Beverley
wears a t-shirt with “I’m from here, stupid!” written on it. It’s a hot summer
and Peter notices people expecting him to be used to the temperature). Even
little things like including the race of people – including white people - he
described around him. Part of that is some of the excellent way Peter is shown
to be a policeman, but it also stands out from so many books where you will see
lines like “a man and an Asian woman”, white is assumed to be the “default”
race and therefore descriptions are unneeded. It all comes together to be an
excellent commentary on inclusion nicely integrated into the story.
There is also a gay policeman, the first major LGBT
character in the story. He isn’t stereotype, he’s capable and sensible and well
integrated into the story as a full character with a relationship and character
conflicts beyond homophobia or other “gay issues” (his boyfriend is a farmer,
Dominic is not a rural person. Not even slightly). He’s overall an excellent
supporting character for Peter, adding local knowledge and a nice amount of
shock at the supernatural revelations (bonus points for “a wizard did it” being
a rational explanation). If it have one teeny tiny eyebrow-raise over him it’s
that, while we see Peter’s experience of micro-aggressions, Dominic manages to
move through an unrealistically understanding world.
With Leslie out of this book except tangentially we’ve
lost the female member of the Folly and a lot of potential with her. But
Beverly is much more involved in Peter’s life and the investigation and, being
a river goddess, she brings her own powerful levels of skill, knowledge and
experience. What I especially like is that she very clearly has her own agendas
and rules which she’s not always willing to share with Peter; his goals are not
necessarily her goal. I like that a lot – too many books have side-characters
(especially minority side characters) be little more than an extension of the
main character. Beverly has her own agenda and isn’t afraid to push it, she has
her own secrets and isn’t ashamed of keeping them. She also wants to have sex
with Peter and isn’t afraid of pursuing that or being the instigator. I do hope
we continue to see a lot of her, preferably more in future books (and/or the
Folly finds another female officer).
The whole book just continues to be everything I’ve loved
in this series, book after book it continues the same style, the same wonderful
Britishness, the same snarkiness and a nice hefty dose of inclusion that just
makes me look forward eagerly to each new book. And it contains shout outs to
Terry Practhett! What’s not to love?
