Something from the Nightside by Simon R. Green is another novel I devoured in a mere few hours. It’s hard-boiled detective meets Neverwhere, and it’s a wonderful treat. Don’t deprive yourself of this gem.
The voice of the main character, John Taylor, is strong and bleeds atmosphere into every paragraph. The Nightside’s dark alleys, neon-lit streets, and eerie locales are described with such detail that they almost become characters themselves. The author’s atmospheric prose adds depth and richness to the narrative, making the Nightside a place readers can visualize and get lost in.
Nightside is a realm within London filled with darkness and mystery. Mostly darkness. It’s always 3:00 a.m. there and is populated by the bizarre and disturbing. John Taylor swore five years ago he’d never go back, but a rich lady walks into his office when he’s desperate for money. She needs him to find her runaway teenage daughter. He has a magical gift, a third eye, which makes him an expert at finding things in the Nightside. Only, something is blocking his sight. That’s never happened before.
The plot twists into creative and imaginative jaunts that made it unpredictable in the best of ways. The final twists were delicious. I will certainly be acquiring more books in this series. Highly recommended and it gets beyond five stars from me.
Here’s the blurb:
Taylor is the name, John Taylor. My card says I’m a detective, but what I really am is an expert on finding lost things. It’s part of the gift I was born with as a child of the Nightside.
I left there a long time ago, with my skin and sanity barely intact. Now I make my living in the sunlit streets of London. But business has been slow lately, so when Joanna Barrett showed up at my door, reeking of wealth, asking me to find her runaway teenage daughter, I didn’t say no.
Then I found out exactly where the girl had gone.
The Nightside. That square mile of Hell in the middle of the city, where it’s always three A.M. Where you can walk beside myths and drink with monsters. Where nothing is what it seems and everything is possible.
I swore I’d never return. But there’s a kid in danger and a woman depending on me. So I have no choice—I’m going home.
