Mind The Gap

Mind the Gap is a book about magic and murder and thievery. But really, it's about the world under the city of London. The Tube Tunnels and the misplaced fallout shelters and the deep shelters for hiding away from the Blitz. We all want to be Indian Jones and who wouldn't want to find a whole hidden world right under their feet?

Like all stories that feature children as the heroes, Mind the Gap opens with out hero's mother being killed by the mysterious Uncles in their BMWs. Jazz, the girl who has a heightened sense paranoia, is chased by the bad guys. She hides the best place she can think to hide-in the tubes of The Underground.

She soon enough runs into Mr. F and his gang of children pick pockets. The Artful Dodger would have felt right at home in the London Underground. One thing leads to another. Jazz becomes a good thief. Ghosts are hanging out in the many tunnels and forgotten passages of London. Jazz has special powers she doesn't understand. All kinds of strange and wonderful things happen.

The ending is a bit quick and dirty and everything is wrapped up in one fell swoop. For a while there I was dreading those three little words I hate to find at the end of a book-To Be Continued. But that didn't happen. The villi ans were all sorted out and the good guys, such as they are, carry on.

Larry Niven wrote a series of short stories about a world where The Magic Goes Away. In this reality there was a lot of magic in the good old days, and some of it is still around in certain objects of power. There is a lot of that here, with the magic of London residing in the lost tunnels of the forgotten subway lines and storage rooms.

Mind the Gap was a quick and easy read and the ending was not quite what I expected. The running around and under London was what made it a fun book.