The second entry in the Peter Grant series by Ben Aaronovitch sees Peter Grant and co recovering from the aftermath of the incidents in the first book. His friend Leslie is still recovering and struggling to adjust to having her face fall off (literally). Peter while trying to maintain some form of normalcy for his friend finds it increasingly difficult to maintain an air of confidence. It is at this time he stumbles upon a weird situation surrounding the deaths of a few jazz musicians. Not to mention the faint jazz song he picks up at the scene of every crime. While, on their own, these deaths seem nothing out of the ordinary, the more Peter digs the more he finds a pattern of deaths around these jazz players. All victims were healthy, and all just suddenly seem to drop dead as if the life was sucked out of them. Peter obviously draws the conclusion and appropriately names the supposed culprits “Jazz Vampires”.

Like the first, this book has a decent noir-esque plot, funny quips here and there, “jazz vampires”, and the eventual appearance of a mastermind that no one saw coming. That being said I did find the book to be a bit slow at times. There were several instances where I found myself reaching for another book that was a tad bit faster and more entertaining than returning to this one. I feel though that’s more a reflection on me, and what I felt like reading at the time, than on the book itself. All in all, it was still a decent fun read. Definitely recommend this series to any urban fantasy fan.

It should be noted though that this book, and others in this series, can’t be read as a standalone books, so please read the first book “Rivers of London” before picking this up.

Rating: 4/5

Links:

• goodreads: Moon Over Soho – Ben Aaronovitch
• goodreads: Rivers of London – Ben Aaronovitch
• Book Review: Rivers of London – Ben Aaronovitch