Something from the Nightside
This introduction into the Nightside kicks off like a typical noir endeavor, with our down and out PI, John Taylor,
in a seedy office being hired by a beautiful, rich, spoiled woman, in the form of Joanna Barrett. The difference
between this and most others of its type is that the author is able to maintain the classic atmosphere throughout
the work. This is not to say that the story is sad or tedious. It is rather upbeat in the same way as a visit to
the Wonka chocolate factory. You never know what is coming around the next corner but it is going to be something
you couldn’t think of by yourself.
John Taylor hasn’t been home for about 5 years. Too many people were trying to kill him in the Nightside, a
segment of London that is magically separated from normal time. It is always 3am. It has ghosts and monsters and
even a few weirdos. "Not everything that looks like a car is, and it is probably hungry." The rich lady has
lost her daughter; and lo and behold, it is rumored that she may be found in the Nightside. John Taylor has a special
talent for finding things, a soft spot for legs that won’t quit, lost children and really big retainers, so into the
shadow he slides with Joanna in tow.
I loved this story because of the humor and pacing; much of it drawn from the ever-moving traffic and the colorful
characterizations of Betty, Lucy, Alex, Shotgun Suzie and Razor Eddie. The twist at the climax comes with a line as shocking
as "No Luke, I am your father", turning the case sideways and revealing the evil behind the door.
Agents of Light and Darkness
I really do believe that there are forces in the universe more powerful that the frail husk of humankind. Maybe that
is why I have never liked the kind of story that puts people on the playing field of mythic conflict. I want the good
guys to be good, and the bad guys to be bad. I don’t care if it’s hard to tell them apart, as long as they can all
be sorted out in the end. So when the Angels of Light and Darkness come to Nightside to find the Unholy Grail (the
cup Judas Iscariot drank from at the Last Supper) I rolled my eyes at the divine stomping that took place in the streets.
Who was it? Angels. Which side? It doesn’t matter. Stay out of the way.
I kept plugging along because I promised to do so and I am really glad I did.
After all of the hiding, burning, shooting, evisceration, and bleeding, the conflict is resolved, with help from an
unexpected quarter, in a solution so elegant that it makes me question whether this book should be classified as "Fantasy"
or "Inspirational". The lesson in Agents of Light and Darkness is visceral and I will remember the telling of
it always. In the long run, angels don’t matter at all.
Nightingale's Lament
Take all of my emotion and energy pumped from the previous novel, invert it, and send it sliding all the way down to
the opposite end of the scale. Maybe it was because I was so impressed with the previous two books that I found myself
looking for a lesson in Nightingale’s Lament.
The local Nightside power plant, run by Prometheus, Inc., is being haunted. John is hired to find out what is going
on. Unfortunately solving the case also involves the destruction of the power plant and blackouts across the grid,
including the local cryogenic preservation depository. John hooks up with his friend Dead Boy to stop the possessed
corpses and pick up a key bit of information to solve his big case. Hired by a frightened father who wants John to
contact his daughter, Rossignol, with a message to call home, John must seek out every man’s dream-turned-nightmare.
Ross is a Nightside chanteuse with managers who won’t let anybody near her. There are rumors that her singing is so
sad that she can drive a person to suicide. Daddy just wants to know she is really okay.
The purpose of this book seems to be the continuation of the overall storyline, aka a day in the life of John
Taylor: rescue an imprisoned soul or three, exorcise a primal demon, avoid the Harrowing, pick up an undead sidekick
who is a walking bodily dysfunction, threaten the bad guys who are scared of your mom, duck Walker, imprison the master
criminals and go to the netherworld to save the girl. How weird can it get, and who else wants John Taylor dead?
The best part about this compilation volume is that there are four more Nightside books to be read! I want to know
who John Taylor’s mother is, what she is planning and why Walker is such a jerk. Answers to these questions and more
can only be found in the Nightside.