Review: Broken Homes by Ben Aaronovitch

Broken Homes is the fourth of the Rivers of London (aka Midnight Riot) series - a British urban fantasy (cops + magic) series that I've strongly recommended in the past.

I really enjoyed this book right up to the last chapter. I'm writing this a bit late, so the details are starting to fade for me, but it was an enjoyable story with characters I know and like. I'd say it was a little less a mystery than some of the previous ones (but again, fuzzy memories) and more just an unfolding story.

But... it didn't resolve the way I like a book to resolve. I know that's me, and it's coupled with "but... there isn't another one out yet", so if you're not as concerned about that perhaps it wouldn't spoil your enjoyment of the book. Technically, the main story does end, but unsatisfyingly - i.e., the good guys don't really get make any gains at the end of it, so it feels more like "oh, the bad guys plan is progressing. THE END."

The next one is to be released in September 2014 and will perhaps provide some redemption.

Review: This Thing of Darkness by Barbara Fradkin

This Thing of Darkness is the 7th in the Inspector Green mystery series.

The books continue to be well written mysteries, but this one felt... staged. The author really seems to want to tie in all her main characters in every book, and directly to the mystery, such that it's honestly getting a bit repetitive. Inspector Green is Jewish, so of course there's a connection to the Jewish community (the victim, who also reminds him of his ailing father, because that's another thing she likes to mention all the time)... his wife is a nurse at the mental hospital, so the suspect is a patient at said hospital...

I don't know. It didn't feel good. It felt like watching a TV show - where you can predict what's happening just based on "this person had a speaking role" or "they mentioned this unnecessarily". I don't normally feel too strongly about it, but it grated on this one.