I first became aware of Simon R. Green from his short story, The Difference a Day Makes, one of four short stories in the collection Mean Streets. I am fascinated by his idea of an alternate London, a place where people can seek out their wildest fantasies. The Nightside is both intoxicating and deadly.

The story is told from the point of view of John Taylor, a former regular in the Nightside. We join him at a time when he has been away from the Nightside for five years. He has been working as a private investigator and is barely making a living. Joanna Barrett hires him to find her missing daughter. To do so John has to take Joanna into the Nightside.

Once in the Nightside, John has to show Joanna the ropes and try to keep her from getting killed. We learn that John is somewhat famous there, but the details are vague. They follow the trail of her daughter and go on a crazy trip to find her. I won't spoil it, but the ending is one Jeffery Deaver would be proud of.

This was a pleasant, quick read for me. Mr. Green's style is easy to read and equally as easy to entice your imagination. After reading this first book in the Nightside series, I feel that I have only barely touched the Nightside. I look forward to following John Taylor on numerous more adventures there. ( )

The work is a great deal of fun and not only has good dialogue, but also many imaginative settings and concepts. A little known world underneath
London represents all of the little understood passions, desires and mysteries of human exisitence. ( )

Pre09:
Characters: The lead was intriguing. And I liked Merlin's descendant at the bar. Other than that, they were throw away.
Plot: Detective noir. Mumbo jumbo that just sounded cool.
Style: Big winner here. It was just plain fun! ( )

The first in a series staring private detective John Taylor, written along the lines of a 1950's pulp detective fiction. Taylor comes from Nightshade a fascinating hidden world located somewhere below the streets of London. In Nightside, it is always 3 in the morning; humans (and other things not so human) come from all kinds of parrallell worlds (including fictional ones) and time frames to indulge in all sorts of depraved pleasures they are not allowed to pursue in their own worlds. That means anything and everything is possible. All the Nightsider born beings possess a gift of some sort - Taylor's is the the ability to find things. Nightside is a dangerous place, which is exactly why John Taylor left it five years ago.
Like all good 1950's pulp fiction - there is a dame - and in this story we have Joanna Barrett. She's looking for her daughter and has exhausted all her leads. She now turns to Taylor as her last hope. The only thing that Joanna knows about her daughter's disappearance is that she's ventured into some place called Nightside. Joanna doesn't know what this is, but as we now know, Taylor does. When he left there he vowed never to return. But he's really short on funds so takes the job on.
This novel is a curious blend of suspense, humour, fantasy, horror and romance. I found some of the horror bits to be a bit ikky. John Taylor is a blend of Dick Tracy, Angel and Harry Dresden and I think I would read the next in the series if it comes my way. ( )

Ugh. This book was entirely tedious. Not a sympathetic character in sight. The secondary characters were ridiculous, the protagonist was flavorless, and every word out of his mouth was a speech that took up half the page. Between the constant OMG THE NIGHTSIDE IS SO BAD! DO YOU KNOW HOW BAD IT IS? IT'S SO BAD! hyperbole and the tell rather than show style, I can't say I'm much interested in checking out any of the other books in this series.Flavorless and boring. ( )