Broken Homes (Rivers of London #4) by Ben Aaronovitch

Format: Audio (BorrowBox)
Read: June 2025

I think this one is my favourite so far! I always enjoy Peter’s architectural observations (we learned in the previous book he’d had aspirations of becoming an architect but it didn’t work out) and this book has more of that than ever!

In this one the death of an elderly architect leads Peter and Lesley to a brutalist post-war tower block in Elephant and Castle where things don’t seem quite right.

The tower block in the book is called Skygarden and is fictional, but it’s absolutely based on similar Brutalist style social housing built in the 1950s and 60s. Looking the history of Brutalist architect lead me down quite the online rabbit hole. Park Hill in Sheffield (the largest Grade II listed building in Europe) is what I ended up reading the most about (though perhaps Robin Hood Gardens was inspiration), including how it’s currently under redevelopment and the tragic history of its famous “I love you, will U marry me?” graffiti.

I found it interesting to read about the lofty ideas of such housing projects – built to improve the lives of the working class who had been living in near slum like conditions – dreamt up by upper-middle class architects often turned out to be impractical or dangerous when it came to real families living in them. The “streets in the sky” with decks open to the elements many stories up, with lifts that broke down lead inevitably to people chucking their old shit off the edge with many injuries and even deaths of children. As somebody afraid of heights Park Hill – on top of a massive, windy hill and with it’s open bridges – looks fucking terrifying to live in! Plus the so called streets also often didn’t go anywhere other than a dead end or a secluded stairwell, and with no eyes from passers by (or windows) to discourage crime and antisocial behaviours, they could become dangerous places.

Before I get carried away, this is meant to be a book review.. but having done a little bit of research into these Brutalist housing projects and the ideas behind them I can see how they’re role for some magical inspiration!

(See also: Milton Keynes, I have a friend from there and it is the strangest and most soulless place I’ve been).

Aside from inspiring me to learn a few new things, I enjoyed this book because it paired up Lesley and Peter properly for the first time since the first one. They’re working together for the whole novel and I loved it. I was waiting for the turn though… I fucking knew it it was coming! I’m not mad, I’m into it… I’m just sad it means no more Peter and Lesley.

There are a few fun recurring characters too. Zach is back, love Zach. Varenka Debroslova, reappears (Albert Woodville-Gentle’s (Faceless Man #1) nurse from the previous book) and had a very exciting magic battle with Nightingale! She adds a little more magical lore, and to the mystery of why some practitioners have stopped aging. We also got a good amount of Nightingale himself, though I don’t think it’ll ever be enough!

I think this book also has the least mentions of the state of Peter’s reproductive organs, which I do appreciate. I think maybe it was just one when he briefly sees Beverley. I cringe when she turns up because it means I’m going to have to read descriptions of how sexy she is, yet again. Maybe when they do finally get together that can cool off.