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Something From The Nightside by Simon R.…
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Something From The Nightside (2003)

by Simon R. Green

MembersReviewsPopularityAverage ratingMentions
1,529644,443 (3.69)64
  1. 70
    Storm Front by Jim Butcher (plutoempress, lookitisheef, DovSherman)
    plutoempress: similar style, though i (and this is my opinion) find john taylor funnier than harry dresden.
    lookitisheef: Jim Butcher and Simon R. Green both have created great supernatural male-lead detective series. I think they provide a nice balance to the girls-kick-butt series out there...don't get me wrong, I love the work of Kim Harrison and Laurell K. Hamilton (to name a couple), but it's nice to see that authors can create plausible male leads in the supernatural fiction world, too.… (more)
  2. 20
    Unshapely Things by Mark Del Franco (amberwitch, MyriadBooks)
    amberwitch: Another urban fantasy P.I. noir series. Different kind of setting - Boston instead of London, and less cartoonish, more Tolkien inspired characters.
  3. 10
    Sweet Silver Blues by Glen Cook (MyriadBooks)
  4. 10
    Street Magic by Caitlin Kittredge (amberwitch)
  5. 10
    Sandman Slim by Richard Kadrey (MyriadBooks)
  6. 10
    The Man Who Folded Himself by David Gerrold (Michaenite)
  7. 10
    Nightlife by Rob Thurman (Phantasma)
  8. 00
    Dead Streets by Tim Waggoner (Anonymous user)
  9. 00
    The Devil You Know by Mike Carey (amberwitch)
    amberwitch: More complex plots, less cartoonish characters. Very nice descriptions of a London where necromancers are in demand as more and more undead lingers.
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Showing 1-5 of 63 (next | show all)
I listened to the audio version,, which was well voiced by Marc Vietor.

Another in the standing subgenre of paranormal private eyes, this time set in an "alternate" London. Good first in the series, but nothing especially stands out about the book for me. Plenty of mysteries about the protagonist and the world to sustain the series, which I plan to read.

My one complaint with the book is the excessive dialog, which moves away from "obvious method for knowledgeable protagonist to explain things to ignorant secondary" to "infodump because readers are dumb and won't get it." It also comes up during action sequences, when it seems that the characters move with great speed and urgency, pause, exchange smart assy remarks, and then start moving again. At times it was actually irritating, but eventually it just became funny. ( )
1 vote Murphy-Jacobs | Jun 10, 2013 |
I read this years ago and thought it was a decent, short, pulpy read. Then, since the birth of my baby and I had no time to read, I went to the library and found a bunch of Nightside audiobooks. So I started again from the beginning with 'Something From the Nightside'...

First of all, narrator Marc Vietor is awesome. His noirish take on P.I. John Taylor is spot on, and the other main characters were all decent. I especially liked his interpretation of a certain monster...

Good pulp fun, nothing too original or brain-taxing. PI. goes back to supernatural Nightside, meets dodgy people, goes to dodgy places, tries to save the girl etc etc. Some of the supporting characters and locations were great (Strangefellows, The Harrowing, Alex Morrissey) and others I didn't really get in to at all (Shotgun Suzie, Razor Eddie, the *ahem* killer cars that eat people) but it all leads up to a pretty good ending that sees John square off against an old enemy an an apocalyptic scenario that sets up the sequel. ( )
  Garfatron5000 | May 15, 2013 |
Goes in the same line as the 'Dresden' books. Though the story was quite straight forward but mildly entertaining. ( )
  Shivam.read | May 2, 2013 |
This is a fast little read, only 230 pages in the paperback edition. It has a lot of similarities with his Edwin Drood series: loners trying to escape their past, names that instill fear on the heart of all who hear them, odd little places that the characters stop by for no reason that really propels the story along but just provides some humor, the world is full of every kind of nasty including aliens, unreliable backstabbing frenemies, and so forth. It's a decent enough setup for the series but the emotion sparks way too fast and big and people make snap decisions too quickly so I found a lot of the book unbelievable. As with his other books, I feel like I'm reading a superhero graphic novel without the pictures. ( )
  maybedog | Apr 5, 2013 |
This is a fast little read, only 230 pages in the paperback edition. It has a lot of similarities with his Edwin Drood series: loners trying to escape their past, names that instill fear on the heart of all who hear them, odd little places that the characters stop by for no reason that really propels the story along but just provides some humor, the world is full of every kind of nasty including aliens, unreliable backstabbing frenemies, and so forth. It's a decent enough setup for the series but the emotion sparks way too fast and big and people make snap decisions too quickly so I found a lot of the book unbelievable. As with his other books, I feel like I'm reading a superhero graphic novel without the pictures. ( )
  maybedog | Apr 5, 2013 |
Showing 1-5 of 63 (next | show all)
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Epigraph
I went to a house that was not a house.
I opened a door that was not a door.
And what I saw, I saw.
Dedication
First words
Private eyes come in all shapes and sizes, and none of them look like television stars.
Quotations
A good dramatic scene helps to keep the flies off.

"Every private eye has to have a smart-mouthed secretary who knows a thing or two. I think it's in the rule book."
Never get personally involved with a client. It’s written in large capital letters on page one of How to Be a Private Detective. Right next to Get as much cash as you can up front, just in case the cheque bounces, and Don’t go looking for the Maltese Falcon because it’ll all end in tears.
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(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)
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Amazon.com Product Description (ISBN 0441010652, Mass Market Paperback)

John Taylor is not a private detective per se, but he has a knack for finding lost things. That's why he's been hired to descend into the Nightside, an otherworldly realm in the center of London where fantasy and reality share renting space and the sun never shines

(retrieved from Amazon Thu, 14 Feb 2013 13:40:16 -0500)

Detective Taylor uses his gift as a child of the Nightside to help people find lost things, but when Joanna Barrett asks for his help finding her runaway daughter, Taylor is forced to return to the nightmares of his past to bring the girl home.

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