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Nightwatch by Terry Pratchett
01/03/2003 . Source: Jacqueline Kirk 
pub: Doubleday. 364 page hardback. Price: £17.99 (UK). ISBN: 0-385-60264-2. Buy from Amazon US - Buy from Amazon UK
nb: US titles may only be available from Amazon US, and UK titles from Amazon UK. check out website: www.randomhouse.com/doubleday/
'Nightwatch' is Pratchett's latest 'Discworld' novel and one of his more action-packed. Commander Vimes sets off to work while anticipating the arrival of his first child.
A serial killer is on the loose, having already killed two coppers, and Vimes and his men are hot on his trail. Finally, the killer Carcer is cornered on the roof of Unseen University. But an unexpected thunderstorm and the pent-up magic above the University causes Vimes and his prisoner to be shifted backward in time.
When Vimes finally regains consciousness, he finds himself in an Ankh-Morpork that has no Vetinari ruling it with an iron grip and a young Samuel Vimes new to the police force.
Just as he's figured this out he finds himself with the monks who monitor time. They explain that Vimes must make sure that his younger self ends up as the same Sam Vimes in the future or he may disappear completely.
Which means that because Carcer has already murdered the policeman who took a young Sam under his wing and taught him a few tricks, the older Vimes must now masquerade as John Keel to make sure he turns out the same.
He must also make sure that he doesn't change anything and that history runs the way it should. This is made difficult by Carcer who uses his knowledge of events to change things to his advantage and hopefully kill Vimes in the process.
The city itself is on the brink of rebellion and Vimes revels in the fact he can be a simple copper again with no one calling him 'Duke' or 'Your Highness'. Finally, after the citizens have revolted (as well as being revolting!), a new Patrician is elected, a young Vetinari saves Vimes from assassination and young Sam Vimes has been given some sound advice, he gets back home bringing Carcer with him.
I think Vimes is one of Pratchett's best characters! Street-wise, smart and just downright cool! He is what we would like all policemen to be like - hard as nails but with an unbreakable (or unbuyable!) sense of honour!
We get to see an Ankh-Morpork before it was made civilised by Vetinari. The Watch are just a rag-tag bunch of blokes looking for a cushy job and some easy money until Vimes turns up! The Guilds are disorganised and thieves don't even leave a receipt when they rob you!
I particularly enjoyed the fact we get to meet all the usual suspects when they were a lot younger. Nobby Nobbs is just a rather vile street urchin, Reg Shoe is still alive and Cut-Me-Own-Throat Dibbler has just opened his pie stall. The young Vimes has some of the older Vimes' bravado but is still rather wet behind the ears.
It was interesting the way the 'interfering with history' thing was handled. In any other book or TV programme, the characters are warned repeatedly to never change anything or great doom will befall the world! Whereas Vimes seems to change things by accident and the monks who monitor time just shrug and say, 'It'll sort itself'!
'Nightwatch' has all the trademark humour of Pratchett's other 'Discworld' books. It has all our favourite characters from the Watch and some new ones. Even a young Vetinari still has his highly focused personality as he practices his assassin skills.
He even recognises the value a man like Vimes could have for the right Patrician! As a young assassin, Vetinari still seems just as methodical and deadly as he is as Patrician, although Vimes never sees him even when he saves his life.
I used to buy Pratchett's books as soon as they came out but, like many people, I started to find the humour starting to get a bit samey. There is, after all, only so many ways to tell the same joke! But 'Nightwatch' is right up there with some of the best he's done.
Truth! Justice! Freedom! And a Hard-boiled Egg!
Jacqueline Kirk
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