The Severed Streets, Audio Edition

The Severed Streets (2015) Paul Cornell narrated by Damian Lynch (Shadow Police)

Riots are breaking out across London. The police are voting on a walkout. And someone has just killed an important MP in a locked car in the middle of one of those riots.

The DCI’s expression grew even more nonplussed. ‘Why are you interested in words like “impossible”?’

Quill had his explanation prepared. ‘Following the Losley case, we’ve been specializing in crimes with an occult element to the motive.’ The look on Forrest’s face suggested that Quill was barking up the right tree. ‘We’ve been given access to … advanced sensor … techniques, the details of which we can’t go into. It gives us a bit of an edge.’

‘You jammy buggers. We could do with that technology for the riots.’

‘We’re trying it out. Maybe other units will get it soon.’ ’Cos you’d really enjoy that.

Quill, Ross, Costain, and Sefton are a unit of four, but no one outside of DS Lofthouse knows what they really are–and what they can see.

‘Oh, right, I get it: you’re the good cop.’

Costain pointed to himself, looking surprised. ‘Bad cop.’

‘Surreal cop,’ said Sefton, also pointing to himself.

‘Good cop,’ admitted Quill. ‘Relatively. Which is weird.’

Ross just raised an eyebrow.

Tunstall looked between them, unsure if they were taking the piss. Being interviewed by this unit, thought Quill, must sometimes seem like being interrogated by Monty Python’s Flying Circus.

As with London Falling, this book is extremely dark with all the warnings for violence: violence, gore, self-harm, murder, grief. Pretty much all the trauma.

Like Mike Carey’s Felix Castor series, it contains many elements of horror, but I don’t find it scary, and most of the horrifying elements are things humans do to one another and themselves.

One of the things I find most fascinating about this series is that of all the characters, Sefton–the Black, gay, cop, is the least damaged and most normal of the lot. Which might be why he takes the lead on “the weird stuff”.

Publisher: Audible Studios

Rating: 9/10

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