Graphic Novel Review – Action at a Distance

From Forbidden Planet:

October, 1957. A serial killer terrorising the women of Cumbria has moved to the streets of London, with Constable Angus Strallen hot on his heels. But this murderer has special abilities, and Strallen soon realises he needs the help of an old friend from the front lines who can match this madman’s power, London’s own wizarding police officer, Thomas Nightingale. As the pair move in closer, it quickly becomes clear that murder is not this man’s only intent. Tying directly into the continuity of the Rivers of London novels and revealing secrets about Nightingale’s past that readers have long-hoped to find out!

Whoo more Nightingale! In this instalment of the graphic novels we are starting to delve into back story, and in this we get to see what Nightingale was getting up to in the 1950s. This one centres around a serial killer that becomes linked with the Windscale fire of 1957! It’s a fun and fast paced story that includes a couple of characters that make an appearance in the books. I really enjoyed this especially with the interludes of Peter and Molly. Molly’s character is really getting the development it needs in the graphic novel series.

The one pages shorts at the back are hilarious. One of my favourites yet is that Molly writes Nightingale/Peter slash fiction! I also like the various pages on real life events that pertain to the story. Ben Aaronovich is always very meticulous (via his twitter account) in is research and its nice to see parts of that make it out into the world. Having these stories linked with real life events just fleshes out the world immensely and having the real story included is really interesting.

As usual I cannot fault the art work, and the layout. They compliment the story perfectly. Only trouble I had was occasionally telling Nightingale apart from Angus Strallen in the flash back to World war 2 scenes. However everyone from Peter to Nightingale and even Toby look exactly like I have imagined them from the Novels.