Winter's Gifts: A Rivers Of London Novella
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By Ben Aaronovitch
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1 review
The brand new novella in the Sunday Times #1 bestselling Rivers of London series.
THEY DO THINGS DIFFERENTLY ACROSS THE POND…
When ex-FBI Agent Patrick Henderson calls in an ‘X-Ray Sierra India’ incident, the operator doesn’t understand. He tells them to pass it up the chain till someone does.
That person is Special Agent Kimberley Reynolds. Arriving in snowbound Northern Wisconsin, she finds that a tornado has flattened half the town – and there’s no sign of Henderson.
Things soon go from weird to worse, as neighbours report unsettling sightings, key evidence goes missing, and the snow keeps rising – cutting off the town, with no way in or out…
As the clues lead to the coldest of cold cases – a cursed expedition into the frozen wilderness – Reynolds follows a trail from the start of the American nightmare, to the horror that still lives on today…
PRAISE FOR BEN AARONOVITCH & THE NUMBER ONE BESTSELLING RIVERS OF LONDON SERIES:
‘Highly entertaining’ SUNDAY EXPRESS
‘Charming, witty, exciting’ THE INDEPENDENT
‘Ben Aaronovitch has created a wonderful world full of mystery, magic and fantastic characters’ NICK FROST
‘Funny and wildly inventive’ MAIL ON SUNDAY
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Set in the Rivers of London world, like many of the author's novellas these days, this one uses a point of view not typically seen in the main series. In this case, we're following FBI Agent Kimberley Reynolds, Peter Grant's American counterpart who deals with cases categorised as having 'unusual characteristics'.
The FBI receive a telephone call from a former agent, who talks about an X-Ray Sierra India incident and asks the operator to pass the message on until it reaches someone who understands. It lands on Kimberley's desk.
Following up, she finds herself in snowbound Wisconsin where an extraordinary weather event has flattened half the time. Meanwhile, the former agent appears to have been abducted. But by who or what?
Cut off from outside assistance, Kimberley finds herself investigating a cursed expedition from the early days of the expansion into America.
This was a solid enough story although, being a novella, it does lack some of the fleshing out it could possibly have been given at full novel length. It's interesting to see how the Americans deal with the weird and wonderful world of magic as a contrast to the British perspective in the main series.
