Whispers Underground

When I first read this, I thought it was the best of the series so far; and I still think it's the best of the series so far: in my subjective opinion, none of the sequels has surpassed it.

In most of these stories, the bad guy is magically overendowed in some way, which I find tiresome and unnecessary. As if to prove that it's unnecessary, in this story the murderer is hardly magical at all, but it's a good story nevertheless. It's also quite funny in places, and there's less mayhem than in most of the other stories.

I wouldn't call the story a total delight all the way through, which is why I haven't yet given it five stars; but overall I'm well pleased with it. It introduces new characters, including Special Agent Kimberley Reynolds of the FBI and Jaget Kumar of the British Transport Police; Reynolds has to cope with being out of the USA for the first time, and both of them have to cope with encountering magic and other “weird shit”. Kumar remains useful in later books; Reynolds not so much—I think she works best in this one.

The blurb here on Goodreads grossly misdescribes Reynolds. In the story, her Christianity is barely mentioned (blink and you'll miss it), and her beauty is never mentioned at all. She's introduced merely as a thin white woman, and I think this description is never much expanded later. If Peter Grant finds a woman attractive, he normally mentions it, but he doesn't react to her at all, although they gradually become cautiously friendly.

Neither she nor Kumar are of major importance to the story: they're medium-level characters, whose reactions to what's going on provide some entertainment.

13-year-old Abigail Kamara made a brief appearance in the middle of the previous book. She gets a bit more time on stage at the beginning and end of this one, and is clearly being set up as a regular character, although she's not yet involved in the plot.