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The October Man

By: Ben Aaronovitch
Narrated by: Sam Peter Jackson
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Publisher's Summary

A Rivers of London novella, from Sunday Times Number One bestselling author Ben Aaronovitch.

Trier is famous for wine, Romans and for being Germany's oldest city. So when a man is found dead with, his body impossibly covered in a fungal rot, the local authorities know they are out of their depth.

Fortunately this is Germany, where there are procedures for everything.

Enter Investigator Tobias Winter, whose aim is to get in, deal with the problem, and get out with the minimum of fuss, personal danger and paperwork. With the help of frighteningly enthusiastic local cop, Vanessa Sommer, he's quick to link the first victim to a group of ordinary middle-aged men - and to realise they may have accidentally reawakened a bloody conflict from a previous century. But the rot is still spreading, literally and with the suspect list extending to people born before Frederick the Great solving the case may mean unearthing the city's secret magical history.

. . . so long as that history doesn't kill them first.

Discover why this incredible series has sold over two million copies around the world. If you're a fan of Terry Pratchett or Douglas Adams - don't panic - you will love Ben Aaronovitch's imaginative, irreverent and all-round irresistible novels.

©2019 Ben Aaronovitch (P)2019 Orion Publishing Group

What listeners say about The October Man

Average Customer Ratings
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Hearing this makes so much difference!

I have read most of this story in English. I couldn’t believe how much difference hearing it read by someone who is a native German speaker made. The rhythm/cadence is so different and really opened up Tobias’ sense of humour and character.
Really enjoyed this story.

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

Brilliant! Brilliant! Brilliant!

Ben Aaronovitch is once again brilliant at writing a totally entertaining experience. This production is as good as the Peter Grant series. Great choice of narrator to suit the story. If you like this genre, it's one of the great audiobooks to listen to as the presentation is wonderfully done. Highly recommend it if you want to lose yourself in a book, this is it.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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Great and want more

Really great novella. Hope we see more set in Germany. I found counter point to the normal stories, and I would love Ben to give us more from the German team.

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

Pricey for such a short book

Disappointing short, but still at the full price. I won’t buy any more in the series if this is the direction they’re heading

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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I loved this!

As a fan of the Peter Grant novels, it’s so wonderful to immerse in a completely new part of the magical realm Aaronovitch has so deftly created.

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

An enjoyable extension of the magical world

This was a diverting enough book though I found nothing remarkable in the plot line. I have a lot of reading time invested in the world Ben Aaronovitch has created but something (I am not sure what) is needed to sharpen up the plots in coming books.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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Terrible production.

Great performance, but as an audio engineer, whoever produced this should be ashamed! Have they ever heard of a de-esser or multi-band eq?!? Utterly horrendous production, unlistenable through any small speaker.

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  • Overall
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Another stellar ROL novella

Ben Aaronovich is a master of crime fighting duo’s! Tobias and Vanessa work so well together. If you’ve enjoyed other ROL books, definitely give this one a go!

It does make me wonder what would happen if Peter and Tobias ever met professionally - they could expand each other knowledge of magic so much!

Something to think about Ben <please>

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A change from Peter Grant

I was surprised that a Rivers of London book did not feature Peter Grant, and by a quarter of the way through, my surprise had turned to pleasure. The setting, characters and story were delightful. I look forward to more.

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

Enjoyable but nothing groundbreaking

The story is what you'd expect from a rivers of london novel set in Germany. I wouldn't recommend it at full price because it's only a novella but priced the same as a novel.

It does add a but more context from a German perspective but we already know most of it from other books. The author could have made added a bit more world building and differences between Germany/the main character and London/Peter Grant.

I can't say how well this reflects German culture, but the author is usually good at getting that kind of thing right. Talk of efficiency seemed a little on the nose, but is probably appropriate for a bureaucratic institution.

The performance has a decent accent - understandable in English while still sounding like he has a German accent (to someone who did high school German.) However, every time he uses an S it whistles and it doesn't sound good on my headphones. I got used to this and was still able to listen. I think it sounded better when I listened in the car, but I might have been used to it by then. I had to re-listen to the first chapter several times because I kept zoning out and found the voice difficult to take in at first.

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