The Water Room

This awesome whodunnit set in London and it’s underground world of hidden rivers, waste water, sewers and refugees completely captivated me. Fowler instructs and educates about the physical form of London while dealing with shady characters and contemporary issues, as well as weaving a murder mystery into the mix. My absolute favourite in the Bryant and May cannon

Water, water, everywhere (and probably not safe to drink). Bryant and May's second case as chronicled by Christopher Fowler deals with the forgotten Rivers of London. It begins with the death of Ruth Singh, the sister of a friend of Bryant's. She is found dead in her basement, and the initial assumption is that she simply expired, but the postmortem reveals signs of drowning…in river water. And as if that isn't bizarre enough, more unusual deaths plague the same street. But unusual is all in a day's work for Bryant and May.

It's probably taken me about five books to figure out that the mysteries aren't always the most important part in a Bryant and May mystery. This one in particular is best treated as an exploration of the underground show more Rivers of London (which I always capitalize now because of Ben Aaronovitch's Peter Grant series). For those who are so inclined, there's a wealth of fun facts about the Fleet, the Tyburn and more. There's even some Egyptian mythology as a nice little bonus. I want to call this book immersive, but that is a terrible pun even by my standards. I will say this is a book that requires sustained attention, but it's worth the time spent with it. show less

I really enjoyed the two ditzy detectives traipsing around London. As another reviewer mentioned, the mystery takes a back seat to the historical extrapolations and occult manifestations. It does avoid falling into the occult - the murderer is revealed eventually without having raise the victim in a seance or anything like that - but certainly fans of occult novels will feel quite at home. With that in mind, it's hard to find the target audience for this book. Christie fans might enjoy the Miss Marple-ish detectives; history buffs will enjoy the history; lovers of esoteric knowledge will go for the headless Anubis statues.

Surprisingly to me, many people seem happy with this conjunction. The Bryant and May series is certainly popular show more enough to go on with a dozen more books. For Water Room, I kept going back to Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere in my mind as I read, although I'm guessing there isn't a lot of overlap between the audiences. But there should be.

Incidentally, it's an interesting game to try to gauge a novel from the first sentence. If it's a first sentence that will grab you, then surely the book will be a good one, right? The first sentence of this book is devastatingly dull: "Arthur Bryant looked out over London and remembered." If only some judicious editing had moved the first sentence of the second chapter to the beginning:

"I came to you, Mr. Bryant," said Benjamin Singh, "because you have such an incredible capacity to be annoying."

Now that's a great first sentence! show less

I really enjoyed this re-read of the second book in the Bryant and May series, and I'm glad I started with this one because I wasn't so keen on book 1 which I read after I read this one the first time.

Fowler breaks all the 'rules' writers are fed these days, such as show don't tell - although he 'shows' well with vivid description and engaging characters - because he tells you all sorts of snippets about the characters' backstories, and he also 'head hops' between characters in a scene. But it works. The characters are so interesting, and the mystery in this tale of London's lost rivers - still running under the capital and causing life transforming events - is really intriguing. There are wonderful descriptions evoking the fall of rain show more onto the houses, very realistic given the recent heavy rains in the UK, and there were some good twists too. The revelation of the villain and the reason for the crimes is quite unexpected. So this one is a 'keeper' and I don't keep many I read these days, as I'm trying to declutter. I also don't give 5 stars very often, but well deserved in this case. show less

When an elderly woman drowns in her dry basement, Bryant and May of London's Peculiar Crimes Unit learns more about the city's underground rivers than they ever expected. As is common in this series, the storyline is not one but many, all spreading across the novel in an creeper plant way - if you're looking for straight mystery, look elsewhere. I love the main characters in this series as they feel so original - aged, oddball detectives aren't that common - and that they are all so diverse. Also, the historical information that you learn through the story is very interesting and never feels like info-dumping. Wonderful series that I look forward to continuing.

This is the second in the Bryant and May series. As our two old soldiers of the Peculiar Crimes Unit of London's Metropolitan Police begin to adjust to their new headquarters, and their odd new assignment to the security division of MI7, a friend of Bryant's asks for his assistance in determining how his elderly sister came to be sitting in her basement bathroom, fully clothed and dry, yet dead of drowning. With a directive to clear this matter up in short order and prepare for a load of new case assignments, Bryant and May become immersed (sometimes literally so) in the rising underground waters of London's lost rivers, searching for clues both ancient and modern to what becomes a series of peculiar deaths in a single street in Kentish show more town. The plot is a bit overwrought, and in my opinion there is no way the reader can come up with anything like the solution to the mysteries. It depends too much on esoteric knowledge of London's "missing rivers" and underground engineering, the explanation of which overwhelmed the story at times. Then there's the obscure Victorian artist thrown in for good measure. I'll read at least one more of these, as I really enjoy the interplay of the characters; they are laugh-out-loud funny at times. But another complex plot like this, that requires one of the last chapters to be entitled "Mr Bryant Explains It All For You", will probably be the end.
Review written May 2016 show less

From Amazon:

How can an elderly recluse drown in a chair in her otherwise dry basement? That’s what John May and Arthur Bryant of London’s Peculiar Crimes Unit set out to discover in a city rife with shady real estate developers, racist threats, dodgy academicians, and someone dangerously obsessed with Egyptian mythology. Linking them all is an evil lurking in London’s vast and forgotten underground river system—a killer with the eerie ability to strike anywhere, anytime, without leaving a clue. It’s a subterranean case of secrets, lies, and multiple murder that defies not only the law, but reason itself. Can Bryant and May bring a killer to the surface and stop the dark tide of murder before it pulls them under, too?

My show more Thoughts:

The Water Room was a slightly more complex read than the usual police procedural, but it really was well worth the sticking it out. Especially since the author had managed to make the book less dense by employing a lighter and slightly humorous prose style...this really helped to keep things riveting from start to finish. If you like an offbeat, thought-provoking story then I highly recommend this series. show less