| 词条 | Broken Homes |
| 释义 |
| name = Broken Homes | orig title = | translator = | image = Broken Homes.jpg | author = Ben Aaronovitch | cover_artist = | country = | language = English | series = | genre = Urban Fantasy | publisher = Gollancz | release_date = {{Start date|2013|07|25|df=y}} | pages = 368 pp | isbn = 978-0575132467 | oclc = | preceded_by = Whispers Under Ground (2011) | followed_by = Foxglove Summer (2014) }}Broken Homes is the fourth novel in the Rivers of London series by English author Ben Aaronovitch, published 2013 by Gollancz.[1] Plot{{Plot|date=September 2016}}Constable Peter Grant and Detective Chief Inspector Nightingale are called to investigate road traffic accident involving Robert Weil. The investigating officers found human blood from a body in the early state of rigor mortis in his car. Subsequent enquiries lead to a shallow grave containing the body of a young woman killed with and disfigured by a shotgun whose fingers have been removed. In the absence of vestigia, the lingering after-effects of magic, Peter initially assumes Weil is a serial killer, but he and Nightingale learn that Weil is on their list of Little Crocodiles, members of an Oxford University dining club established by Geoffret Wheatcroft, who against custom and practice had been teaching magic to people including Albert Woodville-Gentle, now known as the Faceless Man. Meanwhile, PC Lesley May, still on indefinite sick leave after suffering a magical attack that resulted in catastrophic facial injuries in Rivers of London, returns to The Folly after her latest round of reconstructive surgery. Lesley still wears a therapeutic mask but is now able to speak without using a speech synthesiser. Peter and Lesley receive instruction from Nightingale in the art of magical staff-making. The staff as a magical reservoir enables a practitioner to wield power at otherwise dangerous levels. Nightingale surmises that Wheatcroft and therefore the Faceless Man did not know the art of magical blacksmithing, and hopes that by creating staffs, they will draw the Faceless Man out of hiding. Sergeant Jaget Kumar calls in Peter to help with a case. Richard Lewis, on the Little Crocodile watch list, committed suicide by train. However, Jaget notes to Peter that Lewis' behavior is suspicious and Peter agrees that Lewis exhibits signs of operating under magical influence. He interviews Lewis' civil partner, who tells Peter that Lewis hated working in London and right before his death, said he was finally going to leave his job. Peter uncovers a rare German Grimoire handed in by a book dealer, who suspected it was stolen. CCTV coverage of the surrounding area leads Peter to the suspected thief, one Patrick Mulhern. Peter pays him a call but finds the house silent and an unpleasant vestigia at the door. Peter discovers Mulhern dead, appearing to have been roasted alive. While the house yields no clues, Mulhern's theft of one of Erik Stomberg's books takes Peter to the architect's home, West Hill House. Skygarden Tower is regarded as Stromberg's most significant work. Stromberg habitually sat drinking coffee beside his brass-bound telescope, and Peter uses a spell to see what Stromberg's telescope once revealed: Skygarden Tower in extreme close-up. Taking a break from investigation to provide a visible police presence, Peter, Lesley, Nightingale and Abigail - as sole member of the Folly's junior wizard outreach programme - attend the Summer Court of the God and Goddess of the River Thames (upper and lower reaches respectively) at Bernie Spain Gardens, doing so in their capacity as keepers of the Queen's peace. Arriving by river cruisers, surrounded by funfair rides and show booths, Father Thames and Momma Thames (who took vacant possession of the lower reaches surrendered after the Great Stink killed off the resident deities, populating the capital's tributaries with her 'daughters') arrive with their respective entourages, principally Ash and Oxley for Father Thames; Lady Ty, sisters Olympia, Chelsea and Beverley Brook (Peter's part-time river-goddess girlfriend) and youngest of Momma Thames' daughters Neckinger (AKA Nicky), and her babysitter-cum-minder Oberon. Returning to the plan to bait a trap for the Faceless Man, Peter and Lesley attend a 'Nazareth', or Goblin Market, a mobile event where the fey and magical practitioners meet to do business and socialise. There they recognise Varenka Debroslova, the late Geofrey Albert Woodville-Gentle's live-in nurse, who attacks them. When Nightingale hears Peter's account and examines the massive property damage she inflicted, he identifies Debroslava as Nochnye Koldunyi or a Night Witch. Follow-up of leads at Southwark Council convinces the team that there is a connection to Skygarden Tower, so Nightingale informally authorises Peter and Lesley to infiltrate the tower. When Peter finally manages to get into the tower's garden, he discovers river spirit Nicky gamboling with an impish girl wearing a Mary Quant dress and a battered straw hat who plays hide and seek, generally acting more like a child than a woman, who the bemused Peter is convinced is some kind of fey but exactly what kind he can't work out. Effra explains the impish girl, named Sky, is a tree nymph subject to the seasons, and thus in spring is in a childlike state and not available for interrogation. Peter bridles at this but still manages to establish the tower (which she says makes 'happy music') is being visited by 'lots of lorries'. Peter discovers a book Folly archivist Professor Postmartin thinks significant showed up in connection to Stromberg’s library. The title Wege der industriellen Nutzung von Magié (Towards the Industrial Use of Magic) convinces Peter that Stromberg built Skygarden as a magical experiment, but the details remain hazy. Nightingale reveals Dr Walid has found chimeric cells on the body of the young woman buried near Robert Weil's 'accident'. While Peter’s theory fails to convince Nightingale and Lesley (possibly because he uses the simile of a Terry’s Chocolate Orange), Peter remains convinced the Stadkrone or 'city crown' is intended to act as a magical relief valve. Recruiting Zach Palmer because he is 'good with locks', Peter and Lesley gain access to a sealed garage maintained by County Gard, a private security company, without resorting to magically blasting anything, and when they do so, they find it stacked high with devices that look a lot like demon traps. Lesley (and Zach) retire for the night while Peter watches TV (with the sound up) until they are all roused by a piercing scream. Donning their Metvests and grabbing collapsible batons, Peter and Lesley rush down to the garden and discover a biker trying to restart a chainsaw to finish ring-barking an ornamental cherry. Throwing the saw at Peter he misses but manages to escape, while Lesley examines Sky, confirming she has died, apparently of natural causes. In no time, Nicky - resident goddess - arrives distraught and angry, followed by Oberon who appears at the run, sword in hand. Nightingale, warns him against any interfering with the Queen's peace, since this would breach ‘the agreement’. Dr Walid, summoned as the only 'Falcon' competent medical specialist, confirms the man apparently died when his lungs filled with water, but of what kind he can't determine without tests. Peter and Lesley head to Essex to interview the Transit van's owner. Finding the farm given as the owner's address seemingly deserted, Lesley and Peter investigate and discover newly constructed sheds. Leaving with all due, haste Peter and Lesley walk out and into the arms of a pair of thugs, one with a shotgun. Peter manages to deflect the shotgun so it discharges harmlessly, but the Night Witch arrives and, despite Peter raising a magical shield, effortlessly knocks him down and detains the pair, hoping to ambush Nightingale. At the conclusion of the battle, after the hostages have been rescued, the Night Witch is in custody, and the local force arrives. Under questioning, the Night Witch, AKA Varvara Sidorovna, explains she was captured during the Great Patriotic War, and became a part of the Organisation Todt slave-labour effort to build Hitler's Atlantic Wall. In the confusion that followed the war she was able to avoid repatriation and obtain genuine identity documents and settled down to live a more or less normal life. Lesley and Peter return to Skygarden Tower where Peter uses magic to force an entry to a newly sealed flat belonging to a neighbour who was apparently still a resident only a short time before, and discovers holes have been drilled in supporting pillars, the holes stuffed with plastic explosive, detonating cords neatly gathered and led to a cash box taped to the drilled pillar. Taking a deep breath Peter opens the box and discovers a mechanism minus a helpful count-down timer but displaying a note saying 'Please do not tamper as being blown up often offends'. Backing out Peter calls 999, explains the tower has been rigged with demolition charges, and that he and Lesley will evacuate the few remaining tenants, with Peter taking the upper floors. When he is sure the last tenants are clear Peter goes up to the roof and finds the access doors open, the Faceless Man waiting. Peter directs a magical attack at him which the Faceless Man effortlessly deflects, not understanding he wasn’t the intended target, the charges go off and the Stadkrone finally fulfils its intended purpose, Peter crying Since the building is in imminent danger of collapse he flees the scene by jumping off the roof. Knowing he has no other prospect of survival and guessing his arch enemy had some form of escape planned, Peter also dives after, and onto, the Faceless Man. Hanging on for dear life, the Faceless Man unable to do anything much without destroying his concentration and dooming them both, Peter is able to ride him down to a hard landing, followed by a swift kicking before handcuffing him. Triumphant, Peter is then figuratively and literally shot in the back, twice (but not fatally). Shocked, concussed, hurt, covered with dust, Peter wanders through wreckage-strewn streets until he is intercepted by a uniformed officer who ushers him to a London Ambulance Service triage tent where he breaks protocol by failing to identify himself. There Peter joins Molly and they stand guard until Frank Caffrey and his Parachute Regiment associates arrive, ready for a mundane assault while Peter and Molly continue to stand guard against magical shenanigans. CharactersReturning characters
References1. ^{{cite web |url=http://sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/aaronovitch_ben |title=Authors : Aaronovitch, Ben : Science Fiction Encyclopedia |publisher=Sf-encyclopedia.com |date=20 August 2012 |accessdate=12 October 2012}} {{Ben Aaronovitch}} 3 : 2013 British novels|Novels by Ben Aaronovitch|Fantasy novels |
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