Review: "Agents of Light and Darkness" by Simon R. Green

John Taylor finds things. If you're looking for something in the Nightside, the dark underbelly of London where it's always 3 a.m. and everything has a price, he's your guy. But in "Agents of Light and Darkness" ($6.50, Ace), Taylor finds himself out of his depth.

In this tale, Simon R. Green's detective finds himself inundated with offers he can't refuse. The Grail has come to the Nightside, but not the one you might expect. This is the Unholy Grail, the cup that Judas Iscariot drank from at the Last Supper.

With everyone from sorcerers to Howard Hughes - who didn't really die, but rather "moved to another plane for tax purposes" - seeking Taylor's services in the matter, he settles on a seemingly friendly priest named Jude who carries a hefty purse and claims to represent the Vatican.

Though Taylor is the best at what he does, this case proves more challenging when the angels arrive in the Nightside, and it may land him in some serious trouble that even his fearsome reputation can't get him out of.

In Green's second book about John Taylor, he builds on the detective's legend nicely. Taylor, though faced with a dire immediate situation, remains focused on finding out about his mother. She's the reason Taylor has his mysterious rep and a secret that everyone in the Nightside seems to know. But everyone also seems scared to share that secret with him.

Green's Nightside has one of the most colorful casts you'll find this side of Terry Pratchett. From his sidekick Shotgun Suzie, a female Rambo who takes her fashion cues from Emma Peel, to the Bedlam Boys, a washed-up boy band with the psychic powers to terrorize innocent bystanders (hmm … imagine that), the characters are almost as entertaining as the story itself.

That story follows a fairly basic private eye novel arc, provided that your favorite private eye has to deal with vampires, wizards and the occasional angry angel, of course. Taylor is a likeable character, a must in the world of private eye novels, and it's easy to root for him.

The result is a quick, light and fun novel that will eat up a couple of hours and leave you ready for another trip to the Nightside.

Review: "Something from the Nightside" by Simon R. Green

The opening of Simon Green's "Something From the Nightside" ($6.50, Ace) may seem very familiar to you.

It begins in a low-rent private eye's office. You can almost visualize the black and white screen, smoke rising from an ashtray as the stereotypical private eye voice gives you the rundown on his life in monotone. Then, the shadow of a shapely female form falls of the frosted glass window. Joanna Barrett enters. She's a rich, prim and proper looker whose daughter has run away from home. She's exhausted all other avenues, and the private eye, John Taylor, is her last hope.

That's where the familiarity ends, though. You see, Joanna's daughter is lost in a place called the Nightside, an area of London that can only be reached by magical means. It's home to any number of strange and unspeakable creatures, and many of the hidden monsters of our own world go there to act on their most base desires. Despite that, Taylor feels quite at home there. He was born there.

The rest of the book resembles a very twisted Harry Potter. Taylor was orphaned as an infant and raised by a string of caretakers who didn't really want anything to do with him. In our world, he's a nobody - a cheap private eye in the low-rent district. In the Nightside, he's something of a legend, but even he's not really sure why.

Despite the striking similarities, this isn't a kiddie tale. It's dark, macabre and often violent, but at the same time has a very tongue-in-cheek sense of humor. It's both an homage to and a send-up of the classic hard-boiled detective tales.

The supernatural detective story has grown into one of the most popular subgenres in fantasy, and despite my initial resistance, it's also grown into one of my favorites. Writers like Laurell K. Hamilton, Jim Butcher and Wm. Mark Simmons have all endeared me to the genre.

Like the hard-boiled subgenre of mystery, the stories are very similar to each other, but unlike mystery, fantasy writers have a lot more to work with and a lot more leeway from readers to do things in a different way. That creates a situation where writers can put a wicked twist on the story.

Green does just that in "Something From the Nightside." His Nightside brings to mind the London underworld of Neil Gaiman's excellent "Neverwhere." But where the characters that populated Gaiman's world were a bit like twisted fairy tale figures, Green's are closer to silver screen action heroes and horror monsters. The approach is perhaps not as refined as Gaiman's, but just as much fun.

The mark of any good detective novel is whether or not readers buy into the private eye and want to read more stories about the character. That being the case, Green succeeds here. I'd love to visit the Nightside again.

Review: "Drinking Midnight Wine" by Simon R. Green

What if you followed the wrong person through the wrong door and found yourself at the center of something that could shake the foundations of the world?

Toby Dexter, a bookstore clerk from Bradford-on-Avon, finds out in Simon R. Green's "Drinking Midnight Wine" (Roc).

Toby, disillusioned and wondering what's happened to his life, falls madly in love with a beautiful female passenger who rides the train on his regular commute to work. One rainy evening, he decides to follow her, hoping he'll have a chance to meet her on the walk home. But when she opens a door in a wall where there wasn't one before, he gets more than he bargained for. He finds himself in the world of Mysterie, the world where magic has retired as science pushed it out of our own world.

Surrounded by gods, fallen angels and magical creatures of all sorts, Toby finds that he is one of the most important figures in Mysterie. He's a focal point, which means that soon he will make a decision that affects the fate of both Mysterie and Veritie, our own world.

Nicholas Hob, the Serpent's Son, is up to something and it's up to Toby and his mystery lady Gayle - who turns out to be much more than she appears - to stop him. They recruit the aid of a distant descendant of the Norse god Thor. Johnny Thunders is a leather clad godling who "looked less like a Norse deity and more like the god of Harley-Davidson worshipers, the kind of people who probably recited braking distances under a full moon and sacrificed a Kawasaki when they needed to beg a favor." Still, they'll need his help and more to stop the Hob and his father, the Serpent in the Sun, from bringing ruin to both worlds.

One thing that put this book over the top for me was that I identified immediately - and far too closely - with Toby. He's just turned 30 and is looking around at his life and wondering where those three decades have gone and what happened to his dreams and plans. Hmm ... sounds familiar somehow.

Aside from my commiseration with the main character, Green has presented a fantastic tale that weaves together ancient mythology and pop culture. It reminds me a lot of Neil Gaiman's fantastic "American Gods," but it's a little more fast-paced and intense.

Green has packed Mysterie with a cast of colorful characters who - aside from saving the two worlds - also have some personal issues to deal with. That added touch makes them more real and believable.

"Drinking Midnight Wine" has a little of everything - mystery, fantasy, horror, suspense and a wicked sense of humor. Green throws it all in a blender and what comes out is a very satisfying story. And besides, where else are you going to see a thunder god in a plaid robe and pink bunny slippers?