Tuesday 13 December 2016

Review: The Hanging Tree

The Hanging Tree The Hanging Tree by Ben Aaronovitch
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Marble Arch has a ghoulish history, it was home to the Tyburn gallows, a place where the condemned would end up after their final trip along Oxford Street. It’s bloody legacy has returned with a vengeance with the death of a girl at an exclusive party of one of the Mayfair mansions that are normally empty. The residents of the Folly don’t normally bother with routine inquires about suspicious deaths, but it turns out that Lady Ty’s daughter was at the party, and as Peter Grant owes her a favour he is called in to assist. Plunging straight into the world of the super-rich, with their enormous homes expensive cars, Grant is about to discover that at the point where privilege, blood and magic mix, he has a first class opportunity to make new enemies and it might have a serious impact on his life span.

Aaronovitch is back with the next instalment in the highly entertaining and slick urban fantasy series, and very good it is too. He has upped the tension in this one too, and it is very fast paced, with twists and turns as you’d expect. Characters from the earlier books are back as well, adding to the intrigue. I’m glad they are back in London, as that is as much a part of the books as Grant, Nightingale and Molly. I almost gave five stars, as I though that this has been the best of the bunch so far; the characters are developing very well and the banter between Nightingale and Grant and the other officers is hilarious. Even though this had a really good plot, it felt like there was something being held back, that storylines were being drawn to set things up for the next in the series (please tell me that there are going to be more). Just needs Grant to crack his knuckles and get stuck in properly…

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