The Rivers of London, published in 2011, was the first in the eponymous series of books by Ben Aaronovitch.  It’s a series of police procedural  novels that combine imagination,  wit and, rather surprisingly given the subject matter,  a deep realism. The Hanging Tree  is the sixth and latest volume and like most the preceeding books is set in London.

The series places a world of magic,  gods, elves,  underground beings and even vampires  right into the middle of modern London with the narrator being a  constable in the Metropolitan Police – who finds himself working in a small section that deals with what one senior police inspector calls “weird bollocks”. Unlike the Harry Potter books where the magical society is hidden from and lives independently of the world of ordinary folk, the various magical, divine or fae people in these books live in the world, albeit hiding their talents. And the bit that I love is the gamut of gods and goddesses of the Thames and its  tributaries  – yep, old Father Thames is real in these books. 

Sounds strange I’ll admit,  but ever since first reading Rivers of  London I’ve been captivated by the whole world of it and always eagerly await the publication of the next book.  The juxtaposition of real and the fantastic is better done than anything I’ve read in years. There is romance,  history, bravery, wit, humour, pathos and evil – and Aaronovitch  does not shrink from the last,  for the evil is truly wicked and malicious. The history includes Sir Isaac Newton who was the first to define the laws of magic (well who else? ).

If you fancy reading this book I’d  strongly advise you to go back to the beginning and catch up because there’s a developing back story that evolves through the series.  But if you want to dive in feel free – it’s  a really good book!