Setting a fantasy novel in contemporary London is not a new idea; there have been several forays into this territory of late. Undaunted, Philip Womack ventures into the arena with The Liberators, and for my money he pulls it off.

Our hero, Ivo Moncrieff, goes to stay with his uncle and aunt for the Christmas holidays, but on the way he witnesses a brutal murder on the Tube; the victim is a man called Blackwood, who moments before had thrust a mysterious small object into Ivo's hands. This