How do you stop a demon invasion… when you don’t believe in magic?
Inspector Nick Paris is a man of logic and whisky. So staring down at the crucified form of a murder victim who is fifteen centimetres tall leaves the seasoned detective at a loss… and the dead fairy is only the beginning.
Suddenly the inspector is offering political asylum to dwarves, consulting with witches, getting tactical advice from elves and taking orders from a chain-smoking talking crow who, technically, outranks him.
With the fate of both the human and magic worlds in his hands Nick will have to leave logic behind and embrace his inner mystic to solve the crime and stop an army of demons from invading Manchester!
I do enjoy a bit of urban fantasy. I’ve always liked the idea that there are other worlds that exist in tandem with our own. Breaking the Lore, Andy Redsmith’s debut novel, is a police procedural with a fantastical twist. Humanity has been, up until now, blissfully ignorant of demons, elves, monsters, fairies and every other mythical beast you could think of, but all that is about to change.
Inspector Nick Paris falls into the same category as all the best fictional detectives that have come before him. As a human being, he is a bit of a mess; slightly out of shape and a bit too reliant on whisky to offer intuitive leaps when it comes to solving crimes. Underneath the mildly shambolic exterior however, is an insightful mind with keen observational skills. He has a calm methodical approach to his job that serves him well when overnight, Manchester is full of trolls, dwarves, centaurs and dragons. I got the distinct impression that Paris has seen it all in his years on the force, so when something genuinely unexpected occurs, and on such a grand scale, he is suddenly re-engaged with his job. Things are odd but that suits Paris fine, the chance to explore the unknown is too good an opportunity to miss.
There are a whole host of oddball characters scattered throughout the plot. My personal favourite was Malbus, who can probably best be described as Paris’ opposite number on the magical equivalent of the police force… sort of. I’ll provide no more detail than that, I wouldn’t wish to spoil the surprise. Suffice to say Malbus is just the right side of hugely bolshie to be consistently entertaining. I think I was picturing a fantastical Gene Hunt (in attitude at least). There is also Paris’ underlining, Sergeant Bonetti, who is most definitely the brawn and not the brains of the operation. A lot of the novel’s humour (more on that shortly) is based solely on the fact the Bonetti is not the sharpest tool in the box. That said, he is fiercely loyal and will happily follow any of Paris’ orders without question.
I’ve always considered humour one of the trickiest things to convey well in fiction, but the author pulls this off with skill. He goes for the less is more approach. Just the occasional one liner here or there and it works. There is one movie-related moment that I have to admit did make me do that weird gigglesnort thing when something funny and unexpected catches you unaware in a story you’re reading*. You made me embarrass myself in public. Well played Andy Redsmith, well played.
Breaking the Lore acts as the ideal introduction to Inspector Paris and his slightly surreal world. I definitely got the impression we’ve just seen the tip of the iceberg when it comes Manchester’s new fantastical neighbours. The version of our world that the author has created is positively brimming over with possibility. This is the sort of series that could just run and run. I would be totally ok with that.
I could have gone the obvious Judas Priest route** for my musical accompaniment to this book but I decided to go a different way. The soundtrack to the still much missed Being Human by Richard Wells strikes me as an ideal fit. Humanity and the other-worldly existing together with the distinct chance of a supernatural war spilling over into our world. Sounds about right to me.
Breaking the Lore is published by Canelo and is available from 15 April. I’m looking forward to the next Inspector Paris mystery already.
*Just me? Ok, fair enough.
**I’m big enough to admit I didn’t spot the joke straight away. The penny finally dropped about half-way through. I really need to revisit my eighties Metal catalogue don’t I 🙂
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