Detective Inspector James Quill and his team are unique
among London's crime squads. Each one of his team members
has been touched by the ability to see the supernatural, a
gift (or curse) that has already helped them solve one
unusual case. Quill is thrilled the murder of a high ranking
cabinet member appears to be one of their cases. The murders
continue and now it's a race against the clock for Quill and
his team to solve just who or what is behind these ghastly
crimes.
THE SEVERED STREETS is the second book in the Shadow
Police series. I would strongly recommend reading the
first book prior to starting THE SEVERED STREETS. Jumping
into the second book as I did without knowledge of the
characters and how they developed their powers is more than
a tad confusing. The plethora of characters along with the
varied abilities and references to the first book make THE
SEVERED STREETS a book more likely to be enjoyed in the
context of the series rather than as a standalone.
THE SEVERED STREETS focuses on an already established team
but the ties that keep them together are fragmenting a bit.
I suspect that I would have enjoyed THE SEVERED STREETS more
if I had read London Falling first. It was difficult to
empathize with the characters already in turmoil, especially
since the issues were often alluded to rather than explained
for a new reader to the series.
I wanted to like THE SEVERED STREETS a lot more than I did.
Paul Cornell incorporated all the elements I normally enjoy
in a story- a strong paranormal world, a team of
investigators, and an uneasy populace. THE SEVERED STREETS
has an intriguing premise but I would highly suggest readers
start with the first book, London Calling, to determine if
Paul Cornell's world and characters are their cup of tea.
Desperate to find a case to justify the team's existence,
with budget cuts and a police strike on the horizon, Quill
thinks he's struck gold when a cabinet minister is murdered
by an assailant who wasn't seen getting in or out of his
limo. A second murder, that of the Commissioner of the
Metropolitan Police, presents a crime scene with a
message...identical to that left by the original Jack the
Ripper.
The new Ripper seems to have changed the MO of the old
completely: he's only killing rich white men. The inquiry
into just what this supernatural menace is takes Quill and
his team into the corridors of power at Whitehall, to
meetings with MI5, or 'the funny people' as the Met call
them, and into the London occult underworld. They go
undercover to a pub with a regular evening that caters to
that clientele, and to an auction of objects of power at the
Tate Modern.
Meanwhile, in Paul Cornell's The Severed Streets, the Ripper
keeps on killing and finally the pattern of those killings
gives Quill's team clues towards who's really doing this....
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