The Water Room

The Water Room (2004) Christopher Fowler

The second Bryant & May mystery, The Water Room takes place a month or so after the events of Full Dark House–at least the current day events. The Peculiar Crimes Unit is being rebuilt, and during the reconstruction, the unit is at loose ends, and two separate cases fall into the hands of Bryant and May. Benjamin Singh comes to Bryant when he finds his sister dead in her basement. She is sitting in a chair dressed to go out in a chair–and drowned. And an old flame of May’s calls him and asks him to check on her husband–she’s afraid that he’s getting himself into trouble. So to keep the new officers in the unit busy and out of the hands of the main force to keep the unit from being repurposed.

Although this is the second book in the series, it’s the third book I’ve read, and so the recurring themes were more noticeable. In every book, the unit is in flux–they’re moving or setting up and the offices are in chaos. Bryant is continually insecure about his job. May refuses to act his age.

The thing I noticed this time is that in some ways May is just as eccentric as Bryant. He doesn’t acknowlege his age, which isn’t so strange, except for the fact that he doesn’t like his granddaughter to call him Grandpa. Which them makes the whole thing suspect. There’s nothing wrong with keeping young and keeping up with the latest technologies, but the denial of one’s age isn’t necessarily a healthy thing.

Though even with that he still is nowhere near as eccentric as Bryant.

But what I found most fascinating about this book was the idea of the underground rivers beneath London. I mean, subsuming all those waterways under the city. Are things really as Christopher Fowler describes them? With shunts and gates and emergency waterways? Arches and shunts all decorated even if no one will see them? The whole idea is fascinating. Maybe when I get bored I’ll look up more on the underground rivers of London.

I am definitely enjoying this series, and look forward to the next book coming out in paperback.
Rating: 7/10

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