NIGHT WATCH by Terry Pratchett
An amusing and characterful entry in the Discworld series, focusing on the background of Sam Vimes, having been hurled back in 30 years to meet his teenage self. It's a smaller-scale story than some, with less magic (of the wizarding sort) and fewer guffaws than some, and most of the meaningful bits about revolutions and the will of the people (you can tell the Maybot hasn't read it, and neither have her cabinet) are tucked into the last 70 pages or so. There are also some cultural references I'd have expected to see which weren't there, which was sort of surprising, and the villain was rather one-dimensional, almost but not quite reminiscent of the Joker. That said, the secret policeman was very obviously Ronald Lacey's Gestapo performance from Raiders....
It was good; it's always nice to revisit Ankh-Morpork, and Vimes is just the right sort of gruff but practical good guy. It's also, given the plot, a remarkably good take on Life On Mars/Ashes To Ashes for a book that came out four years before that TV show appeared! I guess maybe we can think of someone who did read it back when it first came out...
