Books: The Furthest Station By Ben Aaronovtich (2017)

“There have been ghosts on the London Underground, sad, harmless spectres whose presence does little more than give a frisson to traveling and boost tourism. But now there’s a rash of sightings on the Metropolitan Line and these ghosts are frightening, aggressive and seem to be looking for something. Enter PC Peter Grant, junior member of the Metropolitan Police’s Special Assessment unit a.k.a. The Folly a.k.a. the only police officers whose official duties include ghost hunting. Together with Jaget Kumar, his counterpart at the British Transport Police, he must brave the terrifying crush of London’s rush hour to find the source of the ghosts. Joined by Peter’s wannabe wizard cousin, a preschool river god and Toby the ghost hunting dog, their investigation takes a darker tone as they realize that a real person’s life might just be on the line.”

Technically, The Furthest Station was the first novella-length story to be published in Ben Aaronovitch’s Rivers of London series and chronologically, it is set somewhere between 2014’s Foxglove Summer and 2017’s The Hanging Tree. Still, 2021’s novella, What Abigail Did That Summer, leap frogs over this tale (and there is even a mention, of sorts, of that event here) to be the “first” tale set between the main series. Once again, we get hints at how Peter’s cousin, Abigail, is fitting in with all things magical in London.

Based on an interview at the end of this release, I get the impression that this novella was more or less designed (as probably the short story collection I’ve yet to acquire) to broaden the franchise out a bit by not really interfering with the main series. It gives Aaronvitch a chance to explore other ideas, add more dimensions to side characters, and give more information about the early days of the Folly.

While I’ve found great enjoyment with the series, for those who might not like books about magic, I would still highly suggest this one, if only because the procedural element sometimes is more the thrust of the story than the magic. In a sense, Aaronvitch fools the reader in believing your reading a tale about magic and wizards, when, in the end, the story has a more conventional policing methods. As for The Furthest Station, the story is tight, and like Foxglove Summer, focused on one through line. There are still plenty of loose ends here, which I hope will be further explored in the main series, but altogether a fun time is had.