London Falling: The Shadow Police, Book One

Mora Losley has tremendous power which appears early on in this book. A mob sting operation has unexpectedly and literally blows up. A strange amalgamation of four detectives are assigned to investigate a series of events that just get eeriest and more horrifying by the minute.This squad is a strong dimension of this book. Each has an inner demon, and each believes themselves doomed. Ross is the niece of a ruling mob boss who has taken refuge in the processing of police intelligence. She still has the broken nose of an encounter with Mora that was inflicted to force her away from insisting her father had not been a suicide, but a victim of murder. Costain is a slightly soiled undercover in the original sting. He starts with a guilty enmity toward the other undercover detective is Sefton, he is a secret gay man who is convinced the world knows his story. To make these two more interesting, they are both black but Costain grew up tough while Sefton was raised as a tosh. He was wealthy but a misfit. Finally Quill is convinced he is a bad man and that something truly horrible is missing from his consciousness.A second intriguing aspect of the book is that this quartet are inflicted with "the sight". They see the power referenced in my title. It is a weird uncanny range of sights. They see genuine ghosts, memory traces, and lurking darkness. Mora seems to be a locus of the horror, but then perhaps not. We never really get a cohesive view of the entities. This however is a slightly irritating underpinning of what I believe is the start of a series.The plot is engaging and entices the reader. For me it dragged on a tad too long. Some of the symbolism of the underworld and the references to the under city felt as if it is referencing Mieville. The interactions of the squads with the Power are the most compelling aspects of the story.I give this book 3.5 stars. I enjoyed reading it, and I think people who like the genre of the supernatural would like this book. I subtract for the unreferenced Mieville devices and for dragging the story line a bit too long. That being said, if the sequel does in fact appear, I will read it. I also believe the series will improve with some of the pieces established.

As some others have already mentioned, this is a hard book to get into. First thing for a new reader to do is read the Glossary at the back. There's so many local/English phrases used that it's hard to figure out what's going on. It really makes it a struggle to get through the story without knowing a lot of them.And so the characters don't really start kicking in until the ninth chapter or so. Until then, it's like reading through chaos. There's stuff going on, but unless you've picked out character names before and know who to pay attention to, it's hard to follow or care about any of them as they're going through the action the reader is dropped into. It's later, as their personalities start to emerge that I felt I cared about what was happening to them, even when I couldn't figure it out.A lot of the action in the book is subjective to the character who's POV you see it from. They don't know what they're messing with, they don't know what's going on or why, what its history is or anything. They're flying blind without having anything to use as a reference. So what they see, hear and experience doesn't really make a lot of sense at times, to me or to the characters. And there's a sense of them being too closed off from each other. Such as Quill's wife calling him "Quill" even in private. Who calls their spouse by the last name? They feel one dimensional enough that it's strange to see that they actually have first names. Sometimes there's a lot of mystery, and no real answers to the questions posed. We don't know what to expect or how the Magic works because the characters don't know or understand. And when they were given answers, it was more in the form of more questions, which can be very annoying.Yet I did finally get into the story and the characters enough to enjoy the it and be curious to see how it turned out. After hanging on and working through it I found I was glad I stuck with it. There was enough I could 'get' to keep it all tied together. And I finally started to care about the characters toward the end, when we finally got to see more of them than what was needed for the job. And to see what their choices to very hard, and ugly, situations were.I'm debating about the next in the series, due out in a few months. I'm hoping the author has a better handle on the characters and won't have so much trouble making them and their actions clear. And as they learn about the Magic in this universe, hopefully so will we, and it'll be easier to follow along.I guess my interest will depend on more reviews. I'm not sure this universe is worth another really tough slog through it.

A magical storyline that weaves together police investigation with the darker side of magic. The ideas and how the magic and mystical aspects escape the notice of the general public are well done together with references to contemporary events. The story moves along at a decent pace leaving the reader wanting to carry on to find out what happens. Lots of plot twists and turns to keep you on your toes.On a negative note, the character development is a bit one dimensional with what comes across as lip service being paid to all inclusive political correctness. While the characters may be from diverse backgrounds and sexual orientations, this is not accurately reflected in the story line or internal dialogue, which seems a missed opportunity. I would say this is indicative of the author being aware of the issues but not having any direct experience of living through these things, or perhaps talking to people who have.It isn’t always clear who is saying what in the dialogue, which also sometimes veers off into internal thoughts during the middle of a sentence. This isn’t a bad thing per se, just a distraction when you have to go back and reread a passage having lost your train of thought.Some of the scenes are very dark indeed and might be considered unnecessarily so. Be warned, this is not just an adult version of Harry Potter with a happy ever after ending. The subject matter is necessarily dark dealing with policing the dark underbelly of society, so be prepared to face up to some of the more unpleasant aspects of police work.Overall this first book and others in the series are page turners that are a cut above and different from normal crime novels. Accept their short comings and shallow characterisation and they are entertaining and thought provoking. There are parallels with real life policing procedure and it is left to the reader to decide where reality ends and fiction begins.

Well, this isn’t quite what I was expecting.LONDON FALLING is a tale of the London Metropolitan Police becoming embroiled in a shadow, other world which both exists alongside and is entwined with ours, and whereas there is a certain playfulness to it, it’s a book which is proud to be gritty. A novel which doesn’t use the inherent magic of its scenario to soften the death and danger lurking within.The death of a London crime boss in mysterious circumstances leads to the formation of a small crime squad looking at a new kind of criminal underworld, one that actually exists under reality as we know it. Before long they find themselves investigating a homicidal West Ham F.C. fan (and witch) who might be London’s most prolific serial killer. And discovering a particularly cruel quirk of her M.O. that’s the kind of concept which will bring cold sweats to any parents of small children.In short, this is a gripping and terrifying tale of the unexpected.On picking it up I thought it would tread closely in the footsteps of Ben Aaronovitch’s RIVERS OF LONDON series (both Connell and Aaronovitch are former DOCTOR WHO scribes). As much as I enjoy that series, they have a light tread and a casual stride. LONDON FALLING is a whole other beast. It approaches the material in a darker and more unyielding way. With the result that it’s a proper horror novel and a damn fine one.

It took me 3 or 4 attempts to get into this book over the past year or two, and I am very glad that I finally got into it. The start is very very slow and confusing, with constantly switching character perspectives and heavy undercover police procedurals. However after about 30% we finally get to what is really going on. The supernatural element literally explodes onto our pages and we get to discover, along with the 4 police workers (one is not an officer but an intelligence analyst) what a confusing city they live in and discover the depths that are hidden all around them. The world was very unique and offered up something very different to anything I have read recently. I loved how London played a character and how there seems to be so much more to discover. However I found that the four voices that we constantly switched from were very confusing and for most of the book seemed to have little to distinguish them. This did get better towards the end though. The world building also seemed to have me in a constant state of confusion (although I appreciate this is how the characters felt too!) and I often was not sure at what was going on. For this reason I have given it a 3.5 star but marked it up because I will probably go on to read the next book.

I listened to the Audible version, and found it hard to adjust to/get into the story, especially with the accents to get used to. Also unfamiliar with what I suppose is “copper talk and slang”.Then I finally got into it after persevering. It does not flow as seamlessly as I would have liked. There is a little too much hopping back and forth, and I itched to edit out some fluffy thinking, but the bones of the plot are good.I battle to visualise and understand the characters...perhaps that will settle into solidity in the next book - which I will definitely get but to read, not listen to. I wonder how much hearing a narrator colours one’s perceptions?A fairly dark urban fantasy, this. Not sure it’s to my taste. I will see what the next book in the series brings.

This book has a slowish start setting the background - but don’t be put off by this. The supernatural element kicks in fairly soon, leaving a team of three police detectives and one intelligence analyst with something called The Sight. This ability to see and actually feel the depths of London’s haunted and dark magical side means that this unlikely grouping are the only ones who can unravel crimes past and present, and deliver London town from the evil threat that lurks all around the city. It still has all the aspects of a police procedural (with the benefits of a little rule bending at times!) with very “normal” settings that seem to make the mystical bits more gripping. Overall a great read, picking up the pace as the story proceeds, with main characters that the reader will grow to like as we discover more about each of them. Possibly not a book for everyone but recommended to those willing to let their mind wander just a little…..