False Value by Ben Aaronovitch is book 8 in the Rivers of London series and it was an absolute pleasure to be back in the world of the magical underbelly of London, where those crimes and criminals who utilise the dark arts to get ahead are dealt with by a very special unit of the Metropolitan Police. Peter Grant, a PC who became the Met's first trainee wizard in 50 years is about to become a father with his partner, Bev, a river goddess, and is worrying over what this will mean for them as a couple and the new baby. He is sent undercover as a security guard in a tech company - the Serious Cybernetics Corporation - trying to ascertain whether there is link to some dangerous magic/tech incidents that have been taking place. The plot takes us all the way back to Ada Lovelace and Charles Babbage, and thrusts us forward to sentient AI ... and who knows where all that will end? I love the character of Peter Grant and his often world weary outlook, which is fantastically brought to life by Kobna Holdbrook-Smith in the audiobook edition which I always use for this series. There is always humour amidst the detecting and criminal behaviour parts, which means that things can be kept a little lighter than your standard straight thriller - though that's not to say that there aren't dark elements too! I'm not sure this one made me chuckle as much as some of the others have, but that may be because I missed out on some of the "in-jokes" referencing Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, by Douglas Adams - while I do love that tome, I don't know it well enough to catch such things. However, that didn't detract from my enjoyment and I will certainly be diving into the water of this series again before too long!
My STAR rating: FIVE.
Length: 432 print pages.
Price I paid: £5.56.
Formats available: print, unabridged audio download, ebook.
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