Linda, I have to recommend SOMETHING FROM THE NIGHTSIDE by Simon Green.  Although it was short, almost a gyp as a novel, it was quite an entertaining detective story.  It felt like a script for a tv series pilot.

This down-on-his-luck private investigator in the low-rent section of London (think every other cliched PI you've ever seen on tv) is approached by a tough, wealthy woman looking for her runaway teenage daughter.  He's pretty sure she's disappeared into the Nightside, which is this other dimensionsional belly of darkness you can access from the heart of the worst part of the city.

The Nightside is an interesting creation.  It's always 3:00 a.m. there.  This prototypical sin city is inhabited by horrific creatures as well as your scummy humans. It's a crossroads of time (past, present, future) and place (everything from Merlin to aliens are mentioned.)

John Taylor's mother was a Nightsider who disappeared.  She left him with a strange legacy in that he's legendary in the Nightside.  Feared as all heck.  Why?  Darned if he knows.  Oh, he does have a third eye in the Nightside, which certainly helps in his job as a finder, but there are all kinds of dark and fantastic inhabitants there.  John doesn't know why he's always been held in wary respect/awe by the others.  (Kinda like Harry Potter's celebrity amongst the wizards before we discovered how he defeated Voldemort.)  Our PI eventually didn't like what he was becoming in the Nightside (I think it was) and tried to make his way in the human world instead.  But now he's drawn back.

This book was mostly interesting and entertaining for the tour of the realm of Nightside.  As a reader, I felt like a gawking tourist in a city where so much is going on, you don't know where to look next.  The story is on the dark side, noirish.  I will probably pick up the next Nightside books to find out more about the mystery of the place and of John Taylor.  I think there'll be a couple more every four months.

(Check out SOMETHING FROM THE NIGHTSIDE at Amazon)

AGENTS OF LIGHT AND DARKNESS

This second entry in The Nightside series, like the first, is dark yet entertaining.  The Nightside is again the star attraction of the book.  You meet a lot of the old, bizarre, intriguing characters and are introduced to some new ones.  Everyone in The Nightside is dark and seemingly monstrous, but Suzie Shooter is, surprisingly, made human in this one.  I'm impressed that Green keeps me hooked; I would never have thought these would be my type of books.

This time John Taylor is hired to find the Unholy Grail, supposedly the cup from which Judas drank (I think it was.)  But, of course, many others want it as well.  Although the story was entertaining as a whole, I particularly enjoyed the depiction of The Collector; I felt many of us who buy books beyond reason could see ourselves in this character.  And not in a good way.

Not too much light is shed on John's mysterious parentage in this book despite some tantalizing hints revealed by characters John encounters.  I think I'll be tuning in to the next installment.

(Check out AGENTS OF LIGHT AND DARKNESS at Amazon)

I wrote this before I realized there already was a review and am too lazy to change anything now.  But, between the two reviews, you should be able to get a good idea of the book.  I agree with previous comments.


AGENTS OF LIGHT AND DARKNESS- Simon R. Green

This is the sequel to SOMETHING FROM THE NIGHTSIDE.  The Nightside is a hidden place in London where darkness, evil, and monsters of all kind, human and otherwise, live.  

John Taylor, PI, is often hired to psychically find things there as that is his gift (or part of it.)  He's a pretty interesting character.   He seems to have inherited strange abilities from his unknown mother.  And the few tidbits you find out about her are truly scary.  I can't wait to find out the real truth.  

AGENTS OF LIGHT AND DARKNESS begins with John finishing off a job; he was hired to quickly find an object and give it to a monster named Jessica Sorrow before she destroys the Nightside looking for it.  The meeting itself is very dangerous and fascinating; Jessica has the power to destroy the world.  

He witnesses a murder...but doesn't try to interfere. He's not a white knight that needs to save everyone, especially since there aren't any innocent people living in the the Nightside.  His only loyalty is to whoever hires him and his few friends.  

John's next job is a no choice situation.  He's hired by the Vatican to find the Unholy Grail.  This is the cup that Judas drank from at the Last Supper.  It corrupts all who touch it, but also brings them great power.  Needless to say, everyone in the Nightside is after it.  And if that isn't enough, merciless angels from above have been sent to take it out of human hands, while the angels from below want it for their master.  If John doesn't find the cup before the angels do, the final battle may begin and the end of the world come to being.

This book has monsters you've never seen before.   It's a dark and horrifying world at times but a fascinating one too.  

I highly recommend it and can't wait for the next.  These books are complete in themselves but for the running mystery of John's mother's identity and his trying to stop a possible future he had seen.  AGENTS OF LIGHT AND DARKNESS didn't have a romance in it, and I don't know if there will ever be one (though John seems to learn more about his friend Shotgun Suzie )  I think Green may have included romances in his other books, so there is hope.  In the meantime, there's lots of action.

                                   Linda

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I'm always amazed at the things I don't even notice or pay attention to but that can really annoy someone.  
I have a friend that would notice something like that too.   Hopefully you will be able to enjoy the rest of the book.  Though, I agree with Preeti in that they are so much thinner than I care for considering the cost.  

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I agree on that!  I love this series.  Though there is one other very thin book series I loved. The Mark Sumner books...his News from the Edge series. (INSANITY, ILLINOIS; VAMPIRES OF VERMONT & THE MONSTER OF MINNESOTA).  These were totally different reads too but great!  Unfortunately there should have been more of them!!  Darn it!!  They didn't leave you hanging with the plot but there was a slow developing relationship that I never got to see finished to my satisfaction!! (I have to whine about this every chance I get in case anyone has heard anything about it!)  

                              Linda

[quote author=Preeti  link=1055466297/0#7 date=1082074567] I guess I can see Green pumping out tons of books in this series without ever moving further along the arc of discovering more about John's parentage or his destiny and how's it's all inextricably tied to the fate of the Nightside. [/quote]


Well, he has done that before... his Hawk & Fisher books and his Deathstalker books are examples of this, in my opinion. Like I did with the Deathstalker books, I'll just keep reading them until I lose interest, and then I'll stop.  

[quote author=bklindawel  link=1055466297/0#9 date=1084735682]
I have Drinking Midnight Wine by him.  One of these days I'm going to check it out.  It actually seems to have a romance.  

                   Linda [/quote]


In my opinion Drinking Midnight Wine is one of Simon R. Green's best books ... and I have read them all    I never can decide if I prefer it over Shadows Fall or not.

The romance in DMW is actually quite interesting, you really should read it.

Taphien

Simos Green has many great books on the market...I just dont feel this series is one of his best....

I wrote up this review before I realized that it had already been fully reviewed here.  Anyway, here it is fwiw.

SOMETHING FROM THE NIGHTSIDE by Simon R. Green
(Nightside, Book 1)

John Taylor is the quintessential film noir detective - slouch hat and trench coat, grimy office in the wrong part of town, wry first-person observations.  One rainy night a sexy aristocratic woman walks into his office and says she needs his help.  Classic.  Then the book takes a sideways turn and never looks back.  Turns out that the woman's missing daughter has gone to Nightside.  Nightside is a hidden city inside London, a place of depravity, monsters both human and non, where it is always 3AM.  It is also Taylor's birthplace, and where he feels most at home even though he is under constant threat by mysterious forces.  In Nightside, Taylor's gift - an ability to find anything - works the best.  There his name conjures fear and turmoil, though he doesn't really understand why.  Barely escaping with his life from Nightside five years ago to bland normal London, Taylor swore he'd never return.  But there's something about this woman that calls to Taylor and he reluctantly agrees to help her.  He'll just pop into Nightside, grab the daughter, and be back before anyone notices he's there ...

This book is a lot of fun and a quick intense read.  I really liked Taylor and the world of Nightside is compelling and unique.  I've seen "city within a city" before (why is it always London?) and this takes it a lot further.  The people which populate Nightside are true nightmares, but ones with their own personalities, agendas and alliances.  SOMETHING FROM THE NIGHTSIDE is the first in a series but stands alone quite well.  Fans of "The Dresden Files" and other sci-fi mysteries will enjoy this one.

There is a strong believable romance between Taylor and his attractive client.  As they work their way through the terrors of Nightside (which include some of Taylor's best friends), searching for a daughter whose disappearance begins to look like a trap, they start to admire each other's strength and glimpse each other's vulnerability.

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Unfortunately, the romance does not end happily.  We learn that the woman has been sent as the ultimate bait to bring Taylor back to Nightside where he can be dealt with, permanently.  The woman is an unwilling tool and in the end, she tries to help Taylor escape the horrific trap that has closed around him.