The Unnatural Inquirer (Nightside, Book 8) [Hardcover]

Simon R. Green (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 2, 2008

The publisher of The Unnatural Inquirer—the Nightside’s most notorious rag—has offered John Taylor one million pounds to find a man who claims to have evidence of the afterlife stored on a DVD. The Inquirer made the guy a sweet deal. Then he and the disc vanished. And if Taylor’s not careful, he may be next.

--This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The engaging eighth book in Green's popular offbeat Nightside series (after 2006's Hell to Pay) drops another paranormal mystery in the lap of series hero John Taylor, a PI in the shadowy realm of Nightside. Pen Donavon, who claims to have a DVD depicting actual footage of the afterlife, has vanished shortly after signing an exclusive deal with the tabloid Unnatural Inquirer. Various factions seeking to control the Nightside are leaving a considerable body count behind as they hunt for him. Accompanied by sexy half-demon reporter Bettie Divine, Taylor navigates the treacherous terrain with his typical skill before tracking down the real force behind Donavon's disappearance. Green skillfully blends action and humor, and shows no sign of running out of ideas. This installment will undoubtedly rope in new readers who enjoy his blend of dark humor and the supernatural.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

John Taylor has another one of those days, beginning with a showdown at the defunct Nightside carnival between the Voodoo Apostate, the gods he tried to dominate, and Taylor. Next, a call from the editor of the Unnatural Enquirer asking Taylor to find a man who disappeared en route to deliver an afterlife recording he had just sold the rights to. Teamed with a half-succubus demon-girl reporter, Taylor visits the Nightside’s key players and politics as people jockey to replace the recently destroyed authorities. Meanwhile, some heavy-duty characters also seek the recording. More fast, fun, adventurous detection in a setting in which nearly anything’s possible. --Regina Schroeder

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 18 and up
  
• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Ace Hardcover (January 2, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0441015581
• ISBN-13: 978-0441015580
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.4 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (35 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #478,612 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Simon Green is the author of the bestselling DEATHSTALKER cycle, the New York Times bestseller ROBIN HOOD: PRINCE OF THIEVES, and many other novels. He lives in Bradford-upon-Avon in Wiltshire.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars It's the Nightside (4.5 stars), January 5, 2008

By 

R. Kyle (USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Unnatural Inquirer (Nightside, Book 8) (Hardcover)

The Nightside is London at its worst, always at 3:00 AM. As PI John Taylor says, "the place runs on irony." Legends, living and dead, walk the streets and lives are cheap.

In this 8th Nightside saga, Pen Donovan has allegedly made an Afterlife Recording on DVD. "The Unnatural Inquirer," Nightside's version of a supermarket tabloid, contracted to buy the recording from him and Donovan disappeared.

It's the Nightside, and there are many people who'd want the recording. Walker, the Voice of the former Authorities, wants the recording destroyed because of the havoc it would wreak. The inhabitants of the Street of the Gods simply do not want to know. The Collector, who'd stop at nothing to get what he wants, would love to add such an item to his hoard.

Scoop Malloy, the second editor, calls John Taylor in to find Donovan and bring back the recording. Only condition: their reporter Bettie Divine, who is a half succubus, must accompany John.

Simple, all John has to do is focus his Powers on finding the recording and they're done. Unfortunately, someone's blocked him, so he has to resort to good old-fashioned detective work, going from place to place interviewing the prime suspects. Ah, this is why detectives earned the name 'gumshoe' in the first place.

In order to find the DVD, John and Bettie practically do a traveloque of the Nightside's hot spots and most nefarious residents, from Hawk's Wind Bar and Grille, home of the 60's in the Nightside, to Kid Cthulhu and his warrior sorcerers, the Buckeroo Gang.

"The Unnatural Inquirer" was a good fun read all the way through. Green's a splendid character writer and humorist and he does keep you reading.

What I found interesting in this case was adding Bettie Divine to the mix. She didn't add much to the story save as a foil for all reporters and a potential love interest for John instead of Suzie Shotgun. That begs the question, do two damaged souls remain together--or can someone start again--if they even should.

Also, the question of the Afterlife and our own connotations was fascinating. Do we really want to know? If so--why or why not?

The Nightside series is stand-alone in that the main issue in each novel is solved within its pages. Stories do continue from the first book and the characters are fascinating to follow, but you can read this book on its own and enjoy it.

Here is the Nightside series in order:

Something from the Nightside (Book 1)
Agents of Light and Darkness (Book 2)
Nightingale's Lament (Book 3)
Hex and the City (Book 4)
Paths Not Taken (Book 5)
Sharper Than a Serpent's Tooth (Book 6)
Hell to Pay (Book 7)

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A fun tale and an enjoyable read., January 4, 2008

By 

C. Good (North-Central Montana, U.S.A.) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Unnatural Inquirer (Nightside, Book 8) (Hardcover)

_The Unnatural Inquirer_ is the eighth book in Green's Nightside series, and it is a good detective story. For those not familiar with the Nightside, it is the rotten supernatural heart of London, where it is always 3 A.M. and anything and everything is for sale. The Nightside was created to be outside the domains of either Heaven or Hell, and a lot of strange and powerful characters make their home in the Nightside. John Taylor is a cynical and hard-boiled private investigator along the same lines as Chandler's character Philip Marlowe; unlike Marlowe, John has some very powerful abilities of his own and can be quite cold-blooded and ruthless if he's pushed.

The book opens with a brief lost-person and lost-item case for John Taylor to solve. After dealing with that case John gets a call from the offices of the "Unnatural Inquirer", the cheapest and most scandal-mongering tabloid in the Nightside. The Unnatural Inquirer has purchased exclusive rights to a DVD which shows a transmission from the afterlife, but the DVD and its owner have disappeared and it's up to John to find them.

As in "Hell to Pay", something or someone shuts down John's gift for finding things. John resorts to the time-tested P.I. tradition of tracking down and either cajoling, interrogating, or threatening anyone who might have a lead in the case. In their determination to get SOME kind of story out of this no matter what, the staff of the Unnatural Inquirer have assigned Bettie Divine to be a partner for John and follow his every move.

At the end of the day, the DVD and its owner have been located (if you want to know what happens to them you'll have to read the book), John's reputation gets even nastier than it was before, and John's favorite bar is again shot up, incinerated, and just generally trashed (this is a common occurrence, much to the bar owner's irritation).

Some parts of _The Unnatural Inquirer_ seemed a bit too close to plot elements used in _Nightingale's Lament_. And while Bettie Divine's character was enjoyable to have along, she didn't really add a whole lot to the detecting. However, her presence and her temptation force John to decide whether he's happy with his girlfriend Shotgun Suzie, and if not then why should he stay?

As with many of the other Nightside books, the detective cases are just one half of what is going on. The other half is John struggling with questions many of us face (although not on the grand scale he encounters, thank goodness!!!), such as whether it's better to be partners with the cheerful person who likes an idealized version of you, or the taciturn person who sees you as you are and still loves you; how long can self-inflicted guilt last and how much is enough; and if the whole basis of religion is faith, then does anyone really want to KNOW? As one deity on the Street of the Gods remarks, "It's our job to provide mysteries and wonder, not grubby little facts."

Walker, who was formerly the very visible and very powerful voice of the Authorities, is still around and is still hip-deep in the power and politics of running the Nightside. The Authorities all died during the Lilith War, and John has started asking some very pointed questions about who is backing Walker now? I think there is also some foreshadowing that Walker and John Taylor will eventually come to blows.

I'd like to give the book five stars for the religion and free will themes, John's relationship with Suzie, the detective work, the truth about what is really on DVD, and the surprises of Kid Cthulhu and Alex Morissey's new girlfriend. But some of the plot elements were just a little too convenient and there were at least three typographical errors I found, including one where the names of two characters got mixed up. So I'm giving it four stars overall.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Nightside noir, January 14, 2008

By 

E. A Solinas "ea_solinas" (MD USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Unnatural Inquirer (Nightside, Book 8) (Hardcover)

Simon R. Green's Nightside is the REAL dark side of London -- a city full of sleazy supernaturals and dark secrets, perpetually locked in night.

And "The Unnatural Inquirer" is Simon R. Green's eighth fantasy-noir set in the Nightside -- it's full of weird crimes, crazy inhabitants, and strange power grabs. This isn't quite Green's best, but it has his usual solid blend of mystery, horror, fantasy and dark humour.

As the story opens, John Taylor and his new love Suzie Shotgun are dealing with voodoo mayhem at a gruesome adult carnival. But then Cathy sends him a new assignment, working for the sleazy tabloid The Unnatural Inquirer. Apparently a guy named Pen Donovan somehow recorded a vision of the afterlife on a DVD -- nobody knows whether it was heaven or hell -- and then disappeared.

As with anything important, a lot of people in the Nightside want that DVD. And with a perky half-demon paparazzi beside him, Taylor starts prowling all the possible locations. But not only are the people he encounters dangerous, but something is pursuing them and erasing the nastier ones. Is the DVD truly a sight of the afterlife -- and is it worth dying for?

Futuristic ice queens, space generals, Lovecraft homages, an evil King Arthur, corrupt cardinals and the offspring of a succubus and a wayward Rolling Stone -- Green certainly knows how to keep the Nightside series interesting. Though the Nightside is not the sort of place you'd want to visit -- let alone live in -- it makes for a wonderful horror-noir read.

As with many of the other Nightside books, this a straight-line kind of mystery, where the hero investigates A, B, C and D before he finding the right person. And Green fills it with deliciously weird baddies (Kid Cthulhu?), spells (a T-rex in a museum), and he really goes to town with the tabloid titles from the Unnatural Inquirer ("Old Ones Fail To Rise Yet Again").

And he hasn't lost his touch for dialogue -- despite the many dark moments, Green always has some funny lines ("I really do hope it isn't the Devil again." "I could ask Mummy for you. She has contacts with the Old Firm..."). But the final confrontation is a bit anticlimatic, and it goes switching around from villain to villain... very, very fast.

And Green weaves in some interesting relationship threads -- a major subplot through the story is John being tempted by a more "normal" relationship, rather than the one he has with Suzie. Which involves no sex at the moment, due to her past of sexual abuse.

Suzie herself is only here for a spattering of pages, but we see more hints of the wounded teenager on the inside. Bettie is a fun and rather appealing young half-demon, and we see some old favorites here and there -- the Walker, the Collector, and Alex the surly barkeep. Not only does he get very gung-ho soldier in this one, but he reveals a startling secret about his love life.

"The Unnatural Inquirer" suffers from a rather anticlimactic battle, but it's a solid noir mystery in a world that is (thankfully) nothing like ours. Worth a read.