Books: False Value By Ben Aaronovitch (2020)

“Peter Grant is facing fatherhood, and an uncertain future, with equal amounts of panic and enthusiasm. Rather than sit around, he takes a job with émigré Silicon Valley tech genius Terrance Skinner's brand new London start up—the Serious Cybernetics Corporation. Drawn into the orbit of Old Street's famous 'silicon roundabout', Peter must learn how to blend in with people who are both civilians and geekier than he is. Compared to his last job, Peter thinks it should be a doddle. But magic is not finished with Mama Grant's favorite son. But Terrence Skinner has a secret hidden in the bowels of the SCC, a technology that stretches back to Ada Lovelace (an English mathematician and writer, who was chiefly known for her work on Charles Babbage's proposed mechanical general-purpose computer, the Analytical Engine) and forward to the future of artificial intelligence. A secret that is just as magical as it technological—and just as dangerous.”

The eighth book in the Rivers of London series is a more serious, more straightforward tale than previously. The humor is still there, the in-jokes and sly references for longtime fantasy readers and pop culture geeks are still here, but the tone is shifted a bit. Peter seems older (though some timeline issues are discussed below), maybe a bit more settled as he awaits the birth of his twins with Beverly Brooks. Aaronovitch also tries something new here with the narrative, with the first bunch of chapters bouncing back and forth between December 2015 and January 2016. It’s a bit jarring at first. And Skinner, a quirky little tech billionaire has referenced Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy in all his organizational roles and policies, which is fun for Hitchhiker’s fans, but the author does take the joke a bit far.

After seven books, False Value is setting up a new arc, and I’m unsure where this will go. A lot of what urban fantasy readers like about this sub-genre is put on hold somewhat, as this book sets a more science fiction vibe, a Doctor Who vibe in some respect (as Aaronovitch launched his career with the franchise some 35 years ago), if I may be so bold. There some new characters, especially American’s Stephen and the Librarian, Mrs. Chin stand out. I’m still not sold on the whole baby situation and will be curious where this will go, as well.

The ninth book won’t be released in paperback until the end of March, so this series goes into sleep mode for now.

Also, it took me a while, but I eventually noticed that despite the year or two between books, in the universe of the River of London series, that timeline is much smaller.

The author mentioned at one time that the three first novels were originally supposed to be set in 2011, giving Peter enough head start of his apprenticeship to tackle the character of Antoine Bobet in 2012, during the London Olympic games and as seen in his short story The Home Crowd Advantage (first released on his blog and is now included in the short story collection Tales From the Folly, which I’ve still not acquired). But eventually, those first three books all happened in 2012. So The Home Crowd Advantage is slightly off-canon as it is set 2012. I’m sure not many noticed. The fourth book, Broken Homes (2013) is set the spring of 2013, followed by Foxglove Summer and the novella What Abigail Did that Summer. There are few story stories and graphic novels that take place sometime later in 2013 and early 2014. The Furthest Station (2017) novella is set in the summer of 2014, with The Hanging Tree (also 2017) settling into the fall of that year; Lies Sleeping (2018) is set in the summer of 2015, as is the novella The October Men (in October, naturally). False Value (2020) is set in 2016, as Peter’s first day at the Serious Cybernetics Corporation coincides with the death of David Bowie, which pinpoints the date to January 10th, 2016. But the real beginning is set in December 2015.

The reason I bring this up is because to keep the story smooth, but knowing that his universe is getting bigger (graphic novels, games, and novellas), you have to keep an eye on continuity. As such, False Value has a lot references to 3D printers and drones. At times, I felt what he wanted both to do was seemed far more advanced in 2016 than they should be –though he points out in a Technical Note at the back of the book that those two modern devices remain a “rapidly evolving technology,” so who knows, maybe is 2016 they could do what the story needed them to do. 

Books: East of Ealing By Robert Rankin (1984)

“'Ahead, where once had been only bombsite land, the Lateinos & Romiith building rose above Brentford. Within its cruel and jagged shadow, magnolias wilted in their window boxes and synthetic Gold Top became doorstep cheese...' Something sinister is happening east of Ealing. The prophecies of The Book of Revelation are being fulfilled. Lateinos & Romiith, a vast financial network, is changing all the rules with a plan to bar-code every living punter and dispense with old-fashioned money. A diabolical scheme, which would not only end civilisation as we know it, but seriously interfere with drinking habits at the Flying Swan. Can Armageddon, Apocalypse and other inconveniences of the modern age be stopped by the humble likes of Pooley and Omally, even with the help of Professor Slocombe and the time-warped Sherlock Holmes of Baker Street?”

 In this third book set in the British village of Brentford, Pooley and Omally are forced to deal with a high-tech Satanic takeover of Earth by way of bar-coding the entire population – a bit prophetic in 1984.  As noted before, this series basically resets in each book. They’re standalone tales about the end of the world, yet feature the same characters going through the same motions. It’s funny, but not technically brilliant. It features a lot of surrealist humor and some laugh out loud moments. Still, not all of it works, mostly because author Robert Rankin has a lot going on. It lacks some depth, some female characters, and a bit of a disappointing ending. It doesn’t lack imagination, but the silliness does get tedious after a while.

Books: Troublemaker By Joseph Hansen (1975)

"Rick Wendell wouldn’t hurt a flea. The big, jovial owner of the Hang Ten, a surfing-themed gay bay on the boardwalk, was loved by regulars and new arrivals alike. But Rick was found naked and dead, with a local hustler named Larry Johns standing over him, smoking gun in hand. Wendell’s death is ruled as a homicide and Johns is arrested. Everyone thinks it’s a simple open-and-shut case. Everyone except the death claims investigator, Dave Brandstetter. The trusty insurance investigator doesn’t make the same assumptions about the crime scene and easy story it tells. Larry Johns had enough time to escape had he wanted to. Not to mention Johns lacked any discernible motive, especially since the $200 in Wendell’s wallet was left untouched. In an investigation that takes him from sun-scorched hillside ranches to seedy boardwalk bars, Brandstetter, in his own unique and hardboiled way, barges his way through the sometimes seedy life that exists at the edges of Los Angeles."

More a straight forward whodunit in the Agatha Christie style, but Brandstetter remains the same investigator whom seemly knows murder when others don’t and he’s willing to be a jerk and an ass to get his killer. Still, the mystery isn’t much and the solution rather Christie-like. The $25,000 life insurance policy becomes less and less important, as Dave realizes that the missing $1,500 is the key to everything. But sometimes the story is less important than the characters and atmosphere. Here he excels at creating a bunch of people no one would want to be friends with. The prose is sparse and, always, stylish and author Hansen gives a peek in gay life of the early 1970s –something rare in this genre.

As this is book three, I did notice something. The first book supposedly took place in 1969 (based merely, I admit, on the 1970 publication date), and the second and third only months apart from that first book and each other. However, he has a character sing a John Denver song while in the shower. While “Sunshine on My Shoulders” was released in 1971, it did not become a single hit song until 1973. And this book was released in 1975. I mean, it’s nothing, a stupid nitpick, but a reminder that sometimes adding pop cultural references, while trying to keep a loose continuity, can be hard. 

Books: The Lincoln Highway By Amor Towles (2021)

“In June, 1954, eighteen-year-old Emmett Watson is driven home to Nebraska by the warden of the juvenile work farm where he has just served fifteen months for involuntary manslaughter. His mother long gone, his father recently deceased, and the family farm foreclosed upon by the bank, Emmett's intention is to pick up his eight-year-old brother, Billy, and head to California where they can start their lives anew. But when the warden drives away, Emmett discovers that two friends from the work farm have hidden themselves in the trunk of the warden's car. Together, they have hatched an altogether different plan for Emmett's future, one that will take them all on a fateful journey in the opposite direction—to the City of New York.”

For the most part, The Lincoln Highway works for me. I like Towles’ work, as he has rich imagination and prose style all his own. But the book left me a bit confused. Mostly, I thought, this was about Emmett and his brother Billy leaving to California for a new, fresh start and thus they were the main characters here. However, much more of the book, it seems, is Duchess and Woolly’s story. Sure, Emmett is just one character amongst the others, and the book is told through multiple points of view, yet about a quarter way through the tome, I felt the storyline was disconnecting me. Perhaps after my enjoyment out of his two previous novels set me to want to adore this epic tale, but I felt a lot happened over a nine day or so period that seems rather amazing, considering it is set in 1954 and Lincoln Highway (which is real and still exists in the 21^st Century) was not the super fast roads of today. Or that the side characters like Sally, Ulysses, and Abacus, are not really vital to plot. It was also obvious Sally was merely there to make sure there was a woman in the book. Anyways, at times, these unfocused parts made the book feel bloated.

Of course, what I write above does not mean this book is all bad. I still enjoy Towles's writing, even if I felt not connected to the story fully. Much like his two previous books, he offers bits of wisdom wrapped up in some silly, sometimes, slapstick humor. It works for a while, but I guess I was expecting more. I’m disappointed in myself for assuming all his books were brilliant.