This is the second of Cornell’s series featuring James Quill
and his team of paranormally aware London police officers – or rather, the fact
that there is a second volume means, I suppose, that now there is a
series. “London Falling” certainly
deserved a follow up, and this is as good or better. There is a bit of recapping at the start,
necessary because details from the earlier book matter quite a bit here, but
Cornell prevents that making the story drag – rather we’re into violent action
from the start, with the team racing to stop a supernatural killer who acts
very much like Jack the Ripper – except that his victims are not poor women but
rich men.
This tales place against a background of cuts, austerity and
protest. Even the police are about to down truncheons and strike. London is
suddenly full of demonstrators dressed (and masked) as “Toffs” – among whom the
killer can slip unnoticed.
As with the previous book, the investigation has Quill’s
team – Ross, Sefton and Costain – strained to the limit (or way beyond). They have the Sight, the ability to see that
other, magical London, but they’re not wizards, they can’t control it or
protect themselves or others except by applying their policing skills, working
methodically and deductively – and putting themselves in the line of fire. There is a real feeling of danger in this
book, of sulphur and brimstone, as the team take risks. Probably, some of them go too far. The plot they’re investigating is a heady mix
of politics, ancient power, mixed motives (not least from some of the team
themselves) and a clash between old and new ways in the magical community. Cornell holds this together superbly,
conveying the sense that there is order to what’s happening, there is a
pattern, it’s not just one thing after another, even when events get very
bizarre indeed.
It is becoming clear that behind the immediate events of the
books there is a deeper story unfolding, involving the Smiling Man who turned
up in London Falling. Something is wrong
in London, connected with the absence of the “Continuing Projects Team”,
leaving the magical side of things unpoliced.
Quill’s team, answering to the enigmatic Lofthouse, seek to fill this
gap, but they don’t know the rules – a tricky situation for police to be in.
It’s a superb story which builds tension and gets harder and
harder to put down. I’m looking forward to the next!
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