The Unnatural Inquirer

The Nightside. Everyone's favorite guilty pleasure that they can't ever leave behind. Literally. And, I must confess, I'm one of those who got sucked into the Nightside years ago, tried to get out, and now am back because I just couldn't resist. I used to be a pretty hard-core fan, always picking up the latest Nightside novel as soon as it hit shelves. But after I read Hell to Pay a few years ago, I stopped paying attention to the Nightside. It's hard to explain, but I just wasn't as enchanted by it anymore, and I had grown somewhat bored of it, so I stopped reading cold turkey. Then, I recently read the news that the series was going to end, with the final novel hitting shelves early next year. After constantly seeing the dark and show more fascinating covers of the Nightside novels as they continued, I thought it was finally time to go back.

Returning to the Nightside after being gone for so long was like visiting with old friends -who haven't changed at all in the meantime. I slipped easily back into the Nightside world, again discovering what exactly it was about the dark world that originally captivated me. This time around, our hero John Taylor, sets off to find a DVD for the horrible tabloid rag The Unnatural Inquirer that could contain some an actual recording of the afterlife. With Shotgun Suzie in tow, it's never just the simple.

It's really funny reading this book now, especially with everything going on with Rupert Murdoch and News of the World's wiretapping. The way that Green describes The Unnatural Inquirer sounds almost exactly like what's going on Murdoch, but taking to an even bigger extreme. While Green wrote this story years ago, it's funny to see how closely it parallels current events.

It really was great getting back to the Nightside. Now that it looks like the series has a clear ending and a stronger focus on where it's going, it's far more enjoyable. I almost hate to admit it, but I've been sucked back into the Nightside and I don't want to leave. show less

"While not my favorite Nightside book, this is still a better than average read by Simon Green. John Taylor is hired by the Nightside's most infamous gossip rag to locate the man who sold them a recording from the afterlife and then disappeared. He's unwillingly partnered with half-demon reporter Bettie. The ending of the central mystery is actually very satisfying,and there's the usual treat of truly odd characters and places that makes Green's Nightside special, but John seems to be having too easy of a time of it. He's grown so powerful that there's almost no suspense, just curiosity for how he'll get himself out of whatever he's gotten himself into. I think the central drama was supposed to be the temptation Bettie posed to his show more hands-off love affair with Shotgun Suzie, but Bettie was too annoying to make it convincing. With no real danger, either to John's life or his heart, I found this episode lacked the usual page-turning quality of the other Nightside books." show less

I enjoy hard-boiled detective novels. I enjoy alternate realities. I enjoy a wry sense of humor. So naturally I am a huge fan of Randall Garrett (Lord Darcy), Glen Cook (anything) and Jim Butcher (Dresden Files). I can now add Simon Green to the list of ohboys. I just finished the 8thof the Nightside series of books. Even though I hadn't read the first seven, this one stood on its own merit. It was a quick read, and thoroughly enjoyable. The sense of humor made the "dark" aspect actually enjoyable. I definitely recommend John Taylor if you ever need a person to find something you've lost and then take care of the situation it causes (and do it much better than Sam Spade could have)!

This is the 8th book in the Nightside series by Simon Green. It followed much in the pattern of the last book. Which is to say, it was okay.

In this book someone has promised the Unnatural Inquirer (a Nightside tabloid) exclusive rights to a DVD recording from the Afterlife. The Unnatural Inquirer hires John Taylor to find it when it goes missing. They send Betty Divine along with him to document his findings along the way.

This book was just okay. The series seems to have lost some of it's interest and urgency with the completion of the over-arcing story in "Sharper than a Serpent's Tooth". I am still confused why the series didn't end with that book. The only thing that is left mysteriously unanswered is where Walker's power is coming show more from now that the Authorities are dead.

This seemed like another transition book. Really I would only think you'd need one of those to wrap up the first main story. Somehow all the characters in this book seem tired and bored. Betty Divine was a pitiful sidekick. She was clingy and unhelpful and painfully uninteresting. Many of the quips that were so amusing up to this point are starting to seem overused. The creativity that amuses me so much was there, but not to the degree it normally is.

Overall this book was a quick, well-written, and fun read...but it was also a bit disappointing as we wait for something big and interesting to start happening again. Hopefully the next book will be better. show less

This is a solid book, but I didn't enjoy it as much as others. The final confrontation between John and the villain was very anti-climatic. I thought that should have been much better.

However, I did enjoy John's partner for this one, Bettie Divine. She was highly entertaining and was easily the best part of this book.

The series is a quick read, and I enjoy the characters, but each one is just missing that extra something that would push it to a 5.

This is actual the weakest book in the series that I have read - the Lilith War is over, and things are back to business for John Taylor. He now has a girlfriend - Suzie Shooter - the shotgun loving blond who lives for violence. This is the story of John being hired to find a recording of what might be a transmission from above or below. The newspaper that hired him required that he take a top-notch reporter, who comes in a cute little package that is both beautiful and smart. Basically, they wander around, with Bettie Devine hitting on John at every moment and John ignoring it. Otherwise, its the same old tricks of the trade - John blows up a lot of stuff and kills a lot of people. He doesn't even learn why he stays with Suzie- that is show more stated in the first few chapters so we don't learn anything about John, or Suzie. Its just a book with a lot of blood spread, and not much reason why. show less