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Lies Sleeping cover art

Lies Sleeping

By: Ben Aaronovitch
Narrated by: Kobna Holdbrook-Smith
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Summary

A deadly history.
A dangerous mystery.
And a dark plan coming to light.

In London, the past is never dead. It only...lies sleeping.

Martin Chorley - aka the Faceless Man - wanted for multiple counts of murder, fraud and crimes against humanity, has been unmasked and is on the run. Peter Grant, Detective Constable and apprentice wizard, now plays a key role in an unprecedented joint operation to bring Chorley to justice.

But even as the unwieldy might of the Metropolitan Police bears down on its foe, Peter uncovers clues that Chorley, far from being finished, is executing the final stages of a long term plan. A plan that has its roots in London's two thousand bloody years of history, and could literally bring the city to its knees.

To save his beloved city Peter's going to need help from his former best friend and colleague - Lesley May - who brutally betrayed him and everything he thought she believed in. And, far worse, he might even have to come to terms with the malevolent supernatural killer and agent of chaos known as Mr Punch...

©2018 Ben Aaronovitch (P)2018 Orion Publishing Group

Critic reviews

"Charming, witty and exciting." (Independent)

"Great fun." (Simon Mayo, Radio 2)

"As brilliant and funny as ever." (Sun)

What listeners say about Lies Sleeping

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    5 out of 5 stars

Never received book

I placed the preorder for this book in April this year, and I have been refreshing the app all day but it is late evening and it still has not appeared. It also lists as “already purchased” in the store. I would love to give it a listen, but appear unable to

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68 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Love this series, this book follows on nicely

More developments in the hunt for the Faceless man MK2, with thrills, spills and some more pale ladies to challenge Peter, Nightingale and the Fay.

Note for those reviewing the book that they haven't received on Audible, rather than moan in a review have you tried contacting customer services at Audible?

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26 people found this helpful

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    1 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars

I would like to score this recording 10 out of 10

I would like to be able to score this recording, but can't, as I have not been able to DOWNLOAD it!!! It says it's in my library but then it disappears.

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15 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Usual Pre-Order disaster

Like many loyal fans of this series I pre-ordered the latest instalment earlier in the year and yet again when release day arrives the book is absent from my library. This is the third pre-order I’ve been unable to download on the day so I’ll just wait in future because then I can actually download it which, because I pre-ordered, I can’t currently do! Audible you really do need to sort this out because clearly this isn’t just affecting me.

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14 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Love these characters and these books.

More, more, more please. If you keep writing them Ben, I’ll keep buying and reading them. This is how I used to feel when awaiting the publication of the next Terry Pratchett book and, in my opinion, that is the ultimate compliment an author can receive.

As an aside, why on earth are people giving the book low star ratings based on the Audible pre-orders cock-up. Hardly fair!

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12 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Sorting pre order download problem!

So I am really looking forward to this book but first I had the problem that many have seemed to have with this pre order in that I was unable to d own load it and it didn't appear in my library! This is how I solved it:
1. I accessed my whole audible library via my Amazon account. My account-memberships and subscription-my devices and audible. Hey presto the book appeared on the list.
2. I then went to re deliver the title and it asked me to which device and strangely I seemed to have 2 devices. The first time I re delivered to the first listed device and nothing, then I delivered to the second device and it appeared in my app and downloaded as normal!
I can only assume it was trying to deliver to the wrong device. This has never happened when I order and download straight from the app so am guessing it must be a pre order thing. I also think the second device confusion came from a new phone I recently got and had to re-install all apps! Hope this helps!

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10 people found this helpful

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    3 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

Least favourite book of the series

I've listened to the entire series (several times) and while I will continue to purchase these books I felt the plot of this one didn't grab me. There is a certain amount of Peter (or Aaronovitch) being clever in the series and going on and on about historical backstory and how much he knows. Usually the books have a good balance of this and there is a still a good amount of plot progression. However in this book I felt that it took ages for anything to actually happen and there were long periods in which the book lagged, something I didn't feel was an issue in some of the others. That said there were a couple of really great moments (no spoilers) which redeemed the book in my eyes, but I'm hoping the next book is less Peter going on about history and more about the experiences of the other characters who I've grown to love.

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9 people found this helpful

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    3 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

Bit boring really

Read/listened to all 7 books. This is the poorest so far. Nothing really happens in the story until the final act. The most interesting character in the series hardly features in the storyline. Hope the next one is better. Narration is excellent as ever though.

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9 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Continues to enchant

With a combination of wonderful storytelling and narration the series maintains the high standard set already.

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7 people found this helpful

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    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Not bad, but not as strong as previous books

Lies Sleeping, for me, was a good continuation of Aaronovich’s Peter Grant series. I’m not saying it was a flawless masterpiece, but it was enjoyable. I didn’t find myself thrashing through it like I had other books in the series, however.

I have never read a single one of these novels (I own the audio books of all of them so have listened to them instead) but I get the distinct feeling that there was perhaps more enjoyment for the listener in this book than perhaps the reader. I say this because, at points, Lies Sleeping felt a little slow and sluggish, even when things were starting/trying to happen. Yet it was easier to enjoy the duller moments due to how much life Kobna Holdbrook-Smith brought to the role as narrator.

I was wondering what more could be done with the series and was happy to see the return of some old characters (I do love a bit of Mr Punch, the creepy voice used for him is both terrible and terribly good all at once). There are a new characters and, even at this late stage in the series, some pretty good character development of existing ones. If anything, I am now perhaps more curious about Molly’s backstory than I ever have been.

Of the new characters, I really enjoyed ‘Foxglove’ as I have a bit of an interest as far as her particular people /race/species go. There is also a fair bit of backstory going into the various gods on offer within the Rivers of London universe. And, as ever, those wonderful scenes where Peter’s mum puts him in his place or just generally makes him do things for her. I love Peter’s mum (partly because I’m afraid she’d come and hit me with a tin of corn or something if I said otherwise).

There are a few nods to the graphic novels that any fans who have read those particular short additions to the universe will pick up on. The haunted car for instance.

I do, however, find myself wondering if the overall quality is slipping. It’s almost guaranteed to happen now with so many books and graphic novels floating around. I have seen a fair few comments saying the same and several others saying that they feel it is certainly dropping off. I do feel the quality of the first few was far higher but that could just be that I feel comfortable with the universe now and it takes more than I am being given to wow me.

I’ll certainly be purchasing future novels in this series, if there are any others due out (which, considering some of the plot/character developments … and the fact that Peter is still technically a wizard in training there has to be at some point).
In short; it was enjoyable but didn’t wow me as much as some of the other books in the Rivers of London series did. That being said, it is worth picking up as it is a fun universe to keep yourself locked into. I didn’t rush to get this as soon as it was released like I have in the past, but I don’t feel like I missed out by having waited.

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