Synopsis
This is one of the darker entries in the satiric Discworld fantasy series. Sam Vimes, Commander of the Ankh-MorporkWatch, is pursuing a psychopathic killer when both of them are transported back 30 years in the past, during a time of great unrest in the city. Posing as his old mentor in the Watch, Sergeant John Keel (who was murdered in this timeline), Vimes must minimize the bloodshed in a looming civil revolt, catch the killer, and ensure that his younger self, currently a rookie, becomes an honorable policeman.
| Details | | Publication Date: | 2002-11-01 | | Series: | Discworld Series | | Edition Description: | Illustrated |
| Size | | Length: | 320 pages | | Height: | 9.3 in | | Width: | 6.3 in | | Thickness: | 1.2 in | | Weight: | 22.4 oz |
Publisher's Note
This morning, Commander Vimes of the City Watch had it all. He was a Duke. He was rich.He was respected.He had a silver cigar case.He was about to become a father. This morning he thought longingly about the good old days. Tonight, he's in them. Flung back in time by a mysterious accident, Sam Vimes has to start all over again.He must get a new name and a job, and there's only one job he's good at: cop in the Watch. He must track down a brutal murderer.He must find his younger self and teach him everything he knows.He must whip the cowardly, despised Night Watch into a crack fighting force -- fast.Because Sam Vimes knows what's going to happen.He remembers it.He was there.It's part of history.And you can't change history . . . But Sam is going to.He has no choice. Otherwise, a bloody revolution will start, and good men will die. Sam saw their names on old headstones just this morning -- but tonight they're young men who think they have a future.And rather than let them die, Sam will do anything -- turn traitor, burn buildings, take over a revolt, anything -- to s***** them from the jaws of history.He will do it even if victory will mean giving up the only future he knows. For if he succeeds, he's got no wife, no child, no riches, no fame -- all that will simply vanish.But if he doesn't try, he wouldn't be Sam Vimes. And so the battle is on.He knows how it's going to end; after all, he was there.His name is on one of those headstones.But that's just a minor detail . . .
Industry Reviews
"A fine place to start reading Pratchett if you don't mind a few "in" jokes, NIGHT WATCH transcends standard genre fare with its sheer schoolboy humor and characters who reject their own stereotypes."
New York Review of Books - Therese Littleton (12/15/2002)
"[B]roadly amusing and bubbling with wit and wisdom: both an excellent story and a tribute to beat cops everywhere, doing their hair-raising jobs with quiet courage and determination."
Kirkus (08/15/2002)
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