False Value - Ben Aaronovitch

The eighth book in the Rivers of London series opens with protagonist Peter Grant taking a job as a security guard at a high-tech company on Silicon Roundabout, having apparently left the police service. An initially confusing series of flashbacks sets up the backstory of what he is investigating and why, before the story settles down into a more straight forward narrative. 

The plot covers the intersection of technology and magic, name checking Ada Lovelace and mechanical computing engines and bringing the technology up to date in some surprising ways. We also see a little more of the American side of the magical demimonde which sets things up for a future novella featuring FBI Agent Kimberley Reynolds.

The book has one major problem in the sheer number of clunking in jokes from the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy series. The tech company under investigation is called the Serious Cybernetics Corporation and every department and function is named similarly, with the high security section of the company being called Bambleweenie who are working on, well, if you know the references you will see exactly where the plot is going. I’m really surprised that Aaronovitch’s editor didn’t insist on cutting 95% of these jokes, which would have still left far too many in there. There are also a lot of stomach churning descriptions of a particular magical after effect smelling like rotting fish which genuinely had me feeling queasy by the end of the book.

Aside from that, it’s not a bad story, but not really up to the level of some of the previous books and feels a little bit like marking time in the series with some notable characters being absent or only mentioned in passing. It does have a lot of neat ideas which I suspect will make their way into the Rivers of London role playing game - I think that 3D printed magically powered drones could come in very handy!