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The October Man
- A Rivers of London Novella
- Narrated by: Sam Peter Jackson
- Length: 4 hrs and 19 mins
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Summary
A brand-new stand-alone novella in the Rivers of London series!
Tobias Winter has been assigned to the Abteilung KDA - the Department for Complex and Unspecific Matters.
Despite the intriguing department name, as Winter explains, dealing with the strange and the supernatural is 'actually 90 percent paperwork'. But this is a story about the other 10 percent of the job: the life-threatening danger part.
This is a tale about the Queen of the Harvest, the October Man, and the little-known time the vineyard around Trier started to eat people....
Winter may be P. C. Peter Grant's German counterpart, but surviving this investigation is entirely down to him....
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What listeners say about The October Man
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- karohemd
- 15-06-19
Deutschlands Flüsse
First of all, kudos to the producers for finding a bilingual narrator for the new German protagonist. Someone who doesn't speak German well would have mangled all the names and expressions (I'm looking at you, Nicholas Guy Smith, in the Johannes Cabal stories).
Secondly, Ben Aaronovitch clearly put a lot of research into how the German police work, the localities and special terminology (I thought that Besondere Umstände for the special response unit was inspired). I wish more authors would do this when setting a book in a country that isn't their own.
We learn that The Folly isn't the only police force dealing with magic but there are equivalents in other parts of Europe, too, and a little about the history of Newtonian magic there.
I also really liked the story which unravels the mystery nicely as it is cranked up to the final confrontation.
More of Tobias, please, maybe he and Peter can solve a mystery together at some point?
37 people found this helpful
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- Lauren D'Silva
- 19-07-19
Not a satisfying listen
I really love the Rivers of London series and have listened to all of the others several times over. This story never felt like it got going properly to me. The narrator was acceptable, but not as talented as Kobna Holdbrook-Smith. The story felt thin and none of the characters were particularly interesting or appealing. Suddenly I found myself at the end of the book wondering why so many other fans had rated this one so highly.
16 people found this helpful
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- Ginger guy!
- 14-06-19
Great expansion!
Great addition to the Riververs, well worth a listen can't wait to hear more from Peter Grant in the future.
15 people found this helpful
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- P Barker
- 22-07-19
Oh Dear
having loved the series from the first bookRivers of london was pleased to see a new slant to the stories. How disappointed i have been . The story is convoluted and takes ages to get going . Slipping bits about Nightingale in is teasing but bit seems irrelevant to the story.. The narrator is pretty good and does his best but unlike the other books I will not be reccomending this to friends .
10 people found this helpful
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- GH
- 13-06-19
LOVING THE 128K AUDIO
I was dubious to begin but it quickly becomes a highly entertaining instalment to the series.
Top debut by Sam Peter Jackson. Superbly narrated.
Sounds GREAT in the updated enhanced format.
10 people found this helpful
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- Dentheprint
- 03-07-19
Not Worthy
Really shouldn’t be considered a Rivers of London Novella. The magic is so underplayed as to be inconsequential. I thought the story was weak along with the characters. Pointless purchase.
9 people found this helpful
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- Amazon Customer
- 16-07-19
Disappointing
I have listened to all of the Rivers of London main books and was really looking forward to this one but am feeling a bit disappointed. The magic was there but the twists weren't. I also spent most of the book trying to decipher which German named person was who as these names didn't stick at all. I also missed the places in London which I know from visiting throughout my life. For an audible monthly purchase there wasn't much book for my money. I hope his next book is really something to get my teeth into as this one really fell short.
8 people found this helpful
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- Paul
- 30-06-19
Disappointing compared with previous of the series
I'm a big fan of the previous books of the Rivers of London series and have read each of them them several times. However, the main character in this novella is one dimensional, and, for me, the plot fails to grip. I gave up after the third chapter.
7 people found this helpful
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- Gemma
- 13-06-19
Pre-order
Bought the book on 23/03/2019 and now I can not get it into my library or buy it again. Shame as i was really looking forward to another Rivers of London book.
7 people found this helpful
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- Andrew
- 14-06-19
Where's Kobna Holdbrook-Smith?
I haven't finished listening to this yet. The need to rush through it and indulge in one of my favourite series has been utterly spoiled by the lack of Kobna. Where has he gone? Is this what we've to expect from now on, second rate narrators who don't come close to the standard we've grown used to? Such a shame. Might have to read this one instead. Massive, MASSIVE mistake...
6 people found this helpful
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- Naist
- 28-01-23
Good start of another branch
I winced a bit when I didn't hear Kobnas voice, but of course, this is another side in another country. I wish it had been longer, but let's hope for more books from this branch as well.
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- Seona Ashton
- 29-06-22
Another Ben Aaronovitch winner
This is a dramatic expansion of the series and allows for much more to come from Ben Aaronovitch. I really enjoyed the change of scenery.
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- TinkerTaylor
- 17-08-20
rivers of London spin-off
Nice, a German version of the rivers of London. Although Peter Grant and Nightingale are mentioned a couple of times, they are no actors in this story. It stands completely on its own legs.
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- Jolyon Neytzell - de Wilde
- 06-08-19
Not as exciting
Not as exciting as the Peter Grant series, so far.......? Hope it will get better with time as characters settle.
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- Caroline
- 15-06-19
what a good surprise!
Out of the description I knew the plot would take place in Germany and I thought Peter Grant would have a trip there. I was a bit sad as I read that it wasn't Kobna Holdbrook-Smith reading the novella, I love his voice and couldn't imagine someone else reading a "Rivers of London" book. I was all wrong. First of all Peter is not coming to Germany, we meet a new apprentice, Tobias Winter. And the Rivers are…. well you'll have to listen by yourself. Sam Peter Jackson is the PERFECT reader for this book being English and German. Living in Germany myself it is so nice to hear the german words accentless spoken. He gave life to Tobias in such a convincing way that I missed Peter and Co only a very little bit. That was a wonderful trip to Trier and the Mosel. Dear Mr Ben Aaronovitch you need to be cloned, one of you must resume writing Peter Grant's stories, I want to see his child growing up. And the other one has to show us Tobias and Vanessa dealing with Vater Rhein and meeting the Elbe River ;-).
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- Anna
- 15-06-19
The German Peter Grant
It’s not Peter but Tobias has a similar voice.
The German folly has moved with the times and has a lot of paperwork, more likely to shoot centre mass than fireballs, genius loci distrusts them even more (with good reason!), it’s a good start to a new series.
Over all it was Enjoyable and I’m hoping there will eventually be cooperation between the Germans and Brit branches of the magical police.