You’ll be unsurprised to hear that I am still a year to 18 months behind on my TBR, so I’m rarely reading newly released books. However, there are a few authors or series which get bumped right to the top of the list - and anyone that’s followed me for a while will know that a newly-released Rivers of London is one of those.

What Abigail Did That Summer

Ben Aaronovitch

What Abigail Did That Summer is a novella, 5.3 in the idiosyncratic Rivers of London numbering methodology. Technically it follows Foxglove Summer, but in fact happens in parallel to the events of that book, while Peter is in Rushpool looking for Hannah and Nicole. Abigail is a bit miffed at this, wondering why he’s not around to “run interference” for her “like he should be”. Indeed, in many of the Rivers of London books Peter does repeatedly have to remove her from scraps and pour oil on troubled waters, so setting the book at this juncture when he is miles from the city neatly puts Abigail on a more independent path and ensures she doesn’t have an easy get-out-of-jail-free. Perhaps literally.

While Peter is the narrator for all the core RoL books, there are some which feature other voices - Aaronovitch likes to explore perspective and POV - but it’s always going to be a challenge to speak in the voice of a 13 yr old mixed-race girl with street smarts and a challenging family background. He manages though (from my limited perspective) - there’s a continual sense of Abigail’s intellectual abilities and how she is able to read people, her innate distrust of authority, but with enough glimpses of a young girl needing friendship, guidance, and structure to keep it believable. For the odd young person’s word which the middle-aged reader such as myself may not know, there are handy footnotes throughout - ostensibly for Agent Reynolds and inserted by Postmartin. Peng, innit.

The first half of the novella is scene-setting, with Abigail exploring Hampstead Heath and investigating the short-term disappearance of some local kids. I particularly enjoyed the Prologue, which (chronologically speaking) is set around two-thirds of the way through the story; it sets up a nice wee sense of foreboding. Later, the reader is swept into a more esoteric set of circumstances which may take me at least one re-read to understand fully.

Additionally, I enjoyed learning more of the back-story of the talking foxes, on whom Abigail increasingly depends throughout the tale. Intelligent foxes run well-organised missions while relentlessly pursuing cheese puffs. Of course. There’s some London knowledge imparted too - I didn’t know that Hampstead Heath was so big, or contained so many unique features: it was literally a big field in my head! Pratchett fans will enjoy the many subtle head-tilts, while Nightingale is on hand to round off the novella, which is also pleasing.

All in, it’s a very enjoyable wee book; easily and quickly read, but with enough layers to merit a re-read. There are also several open-ends which will likely pop up in future instalments. A very worthy addition to the collection.

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