Lies Sleeping, book review (Ben Aaronovitch)

The 'Little Crocodiles' was a group of unlicensed practitioners of magic formed by the now deceased and not much missed Geoffrey Wheatcroft when he was at Oxford in the 1950s, and as some of those members have proved rather deadly in the past, tracking down those who may or may not have been involved and finding out what they did or didn't learn, seems as good a place to start as any if Peter Grant is ever going to find the elusive Chorley, and so, the hunt is on.
Lesley May is back - big time - assisting the faceless man, A.K.A Martin Chorley, who has made a bell that he thinks will summons Merlin, as long as he can fuel it with enough magic that is, which means sacrificing a god. So, as Lesley has a serious issue with Mr. Punch after he removed her face in book one, and Mr. Punch was given god-like status about 1500 years earlier, they can kill two birds with one stone, well, they could if it wasn't for Peter Grant, Nightingale and the ever-growing band of staff at the Folly - The Met police's HQ for all things squiffy - trying to thwart them.
Inquiries are made, plans are drawn, pubs explode, DI Stephanopoulos is shot - by Lesley no less - the goddess of the Walbrook is kidnapped - as is Peter - captured fae are freed and as is so often the case in Aaronovitch's River of London books, everything goes to bollocks!
As we race down London's streets and across its famous rivers, Aaronovitch speeds us through the books four hundred pages with deft skill and pace enough to keep you reading well into the night, and there's much to like, too. Characters that we've known and loved (some revered) since the very beginning, pop in and out with a healthy splattering of newer faces making welcome returns and becoming more entrenched in the narrative to good effect.
Peter Grant's pursuit of Chorley in an old Mk1 Ford Transit van is both riveting and hilarious - he's on a pushbike for starters - his temporary incarceration slows the narrative but still manages to move it along, which is clever, whilst foiling Chorley's plans, seizing and destroying his bells, time and again, before we reach the climax - and it's a good one, mark my words it is – where the tempo gets ramped to the max.
So, another thoroughly entertaining read from Aaronovitch then and one of my favourites so far. Four stars.
Oh (spoiler alert) Beverly is pregnant! Yeah.

The Sprout that Ruined Christmas. A festive yarn by yours truly.

The Sprout that Ruined Christmas

T’was a single sprout that sealed her fate,

As she walked down the hall, bird on a plate.

That poor little sprout, it did do its best,

Hiding in the room packed full of guests.

But knocked by the door it rolled in her path,

Stopping before her two feet from the hearth.

 And oh how she yelled, as she took a tumble,

A silence then fell, no murmur, no mumble.

For never a bird had finer been roasted,

No grander a feast ever been hosted.

And the bird it did fly! It arced overhead,

Whilst host and her guests looked on in dread.

For heading for Vicar it seemed to be,

This basted bird this, gigantic Turkey.

And hit him it did with an almighty thwack,

Clean off his chair, flat on his back.

So dinner was ruined the Vicar was hurt,

But all was not lost, there was always dessert.

After the Fire, book review. (Will Hill)

This book came to me by chance, a link from Goodreads I think, probably on the back of another book I'd read which an algorithm thought was similar: it was not. Although this book is told in the first person by a teenage girl (Hunger Games, Divergent, We Were Liars) the premise is quite different, which is refreshing.

The book follows Moonbeam's life (bear with me here) through a series of flashbacks and interviews conducted by Dr. Hernandez and Agent Carlyle. As the book progresses we get to hear more about what happened in the compound of 'The Lord's Legion' a religious cult that had isolated itself from the outside world until, well, until now, their perceived apocalypse.
Moonbeam and the surviving young members of the cult are in a hospital/gaol, exactly where Father John said they would be if they didn't sacrifice themselves for his god, so when they all meet in the rec room there are clashes: there is love, hate, fear and retribution which all adds to the realism of the narrative.
The book alternates between 'before' and 'after' chapters, which keeps the pages turning, and Moonbeam is both tough and vulnerable, never really believing the rhetoric of Father John but at the same time, doubting herself - wondering whether she should have died for his god.
I liked her internal battles: whether Dr Hernandez and Agent Carlyle could be trusted, whether her surviving would send her to hell, or gaol, or both, and as the novel moves on, we learn more about the changes that happened in the compound, the hardening of Father John's rhetoric, the increase in work and punishment that ended in Moonbeam’s mother leaving. Her sense of abandonment that follows, which inexorably leads to the grand finale, the battle between good and evil, is well executed, being fast furious and somewhat frightening, whilst retaining a good sense of reality.
So the characters are good, the story is different, has pace, so why only three and a half stars? It's silly things like Moonbeam's heart pounding in her chest all the time as if it might pound somewhere else, and when fire ignites everything the author adds, 'it came into contact with', which is totally unnecessary. If fire ignites everything, it ignites everything, you can leave it at that.

There were numerous examples of this throughout the book and suffice to say it took the edge off of things. Sometimes, less really is more.
After the Fire isn't amazing then but it does have something worth exploring and as it's neither apocalyptic nor mystical/sci-fi, it differentiates itself from other Y/A books, which is good.