Customer Reviews

The Unnatural Inquirer (Nightside, Book 8)

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(14)
3 star:		(10)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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)

_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.

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.

I'm a Simon R. Green fan from way back, and have purchased everything he has written but in particular my favorite pieces from him are the Nightside books as they are just out there, but have that taste of history and myth as well as the here and now.

Great stuff, great characters.

That being said, I think this is probably the weakest of his series on the Nightside as this one just seemed to read too much like a short story and I'm a bit disappointed in myself for picking up the hardback edition with the old man type (large) as I think as a paper back this is going to be quite a slender book.

If you're a fan of the series as I am, you'll enjoy the heck out of it, but like myself you might feel a bit disappointed in how things line up in this book as everything sort of has that 'meh, I can write another one cause I know it'll be bought' or more to the point, a short story. At least that's what it felt like for me.

Still, good reading.

While I still found this installment to be interesting not seeing Suzi Shooter for almost the entire book just felt wrong and really Green seems to be casting about for a new way to keep the series interesting that he just can't seem to find. Hell to Pay was fine not only did it deal with the power vacuum left over from the Lilith War it also had an A story that was interesting. That is not the case in this book. Shooter is gone replaced with an idiotic stand-in I wanted to strangle after 10 pages. The interesting power vacuum stuff raised in the last book was not touched on at all and the part of the story where John goes in search of yet another magic object that could spell the end of all life in the Nightside is starting to wear a little thin plus the item isn't even all that impressive when you stack it up against all of the others he has dealt with over the years.

In spite of my problems with this book I am actually kind of encouraged it has not been my experience with Green that he continues down a bad track when he realizes he has dug himself into a hole. I hated "Nightside's Lement" and almost put the series aside but the book after that unfortunate installment was the start of all of the events that lead to the Lilith war so just because something is a little stale right now doesn't mean that it will stay that way. I am hopeful. Maybe another trip through time would help?

Overall-I'm going to keep on trucking with this series but the next installment is really going to have to "wow" me to get me back on board.

When John Taylor is hired by the Unnatural Inquirer to locate a missing DVD, he is paired with a perky reporter. The Unnatural Inquirer paid a man named Pen Donavon for a recording that supposedly comes from beyond the grave. And everyone is dying to get their hands on it.

Green's Nightside series is a guaranteed fun and fast-paced romp through London's paranormal underworld. With eclectic characters beyond most imaginations, John Taylor is just as dangerous as the darkest creatures from the Nightside. With his special gift, Taylor is able to find anyone. Though this time, someone or something is blocking his gift. And Taylor will have to hunt down Pen Donavon the old fashioned way. Laced with dark humor and plenty of action, this paranormal detective series is always highly entertaining.

I found the new book of the Nigthside as dark and with the same spices that always. I've got to admit that there were moments in which it turned out to be an easy read, with nothing new coming, but when I thought I had seen it all, all that this book had on offer, the author did pack some punches that surprised me.

In this book John Taylor gets assigned to find a record from Heaven or Hell, and as a help, she has a half sucubus that indeed shows her sex appeal on John Taylor. About that, I didn't like the lack of respect that Taylor shows toward Shootgun Suzie, but well, if he thinks it was nothing...

Anyway, the book plot is John searching for this recorded DVD and the encounters with some Nightside players that really surprise you... or that don't... That's the problem with the Nightside books, they're good, I love them, really, but they end being more of the same when you've read them all...

But the surprises Mr. Green throws and the quick humor and irony of the infamous John Taylor are things that are always welcomed.

All ina ll,t his book is one the fans of the Nightside will enjoy as they did the previous ones. Recomended lecture.

The Unnatural Inquirer (2008) is the eighth fantasy novel in the Nightside series, following Hell to Pay. In the previous volume, John Taylor changed the contract in regard to Jeremiah Griffin's children and they were set free. Melissa broke out of the pentacle and helped herd the children from the cellar. But Jeremiah was left to fulfill the contract.

In this novel, Taylor has just finished a case for the H. P. Lovecraft Memorial Library in which a book was reading the patrons. Outside the entrance, Walker and Suzie Shooter are waiting for him. Walker has hired Suzie to find Max Maxwell, but the man has disappeared beyond her kenning.

Maxwell has found the Aquarius Key and used it to force the Voudon gods to possess his minions. The loa are very irritated and have turned the tables on Maxwell. Now he is hiding from a herd of possessed bounty hunters. Naturally, Taylor soon finds Maxwell and gives him to Walker for incarceration in the Shadow Deep.

Then Cathy calls from the office and tells Taylor that the Unnatural Inquirer wants to hire him for a large amount of money. Naturally the gossip sheet wouldn't tell his secretary about the case, but did give Cathy a place where he will be met by a runner who will guide him to their office.

The Unnatural Inquirer has a larger circulation than the Night Times, but also has more enemies. So many people have tried to attack their offices that they brag about the futility of such attempts. Their main offices are located within a pocket dimension.

Taylor is met by Harry Fabulous and keyed into the Reception office. As soon as they arrive, every alarm in the place goes off. Taylor apparently has every indication of armed and dangerous. After Harry explains that Taylor is there by invitation, Security desensitizes the system to ignore him.

After a long wait, Taylor is taken to the office of Scoop Malloy, the Sub-Editor. Scoop introduces him to Bettie Divine, the daughter of a Rolling Stone and a succubus groupie. They will be working together on the case. Of course, Taylor vehemently disagrees to the partnership, but the paper offers a lot more money.

Scoop explains that Pen Donavon -- a low level curiosity dealer -- has offered the paper a DVD with a broadcast from a supernatural source. The paper eventually offered him a contract and he was on his way to the offices when he disappeared. None other than Donavon has seen the contents of the DVD, but the Inquirer is ready to buy it for the sheer publicity value.

In this story, Taylor finds Bettie remarkably easy to get along with, even if she is cheerful to the point of bubbliness. Her clothes change over time to keep her attractive regardless of the ambiance. She thinks he is a celebrity and his conversation reinforces this idea. He mentions -- and meets -- people about whom Bettie has only written stories.

Taylor first tries to find the DVD with his third -- private -- eye, but someone -- or something -- powerful clamps down on his senses. He quickly closes off the third eye, but still feels the effects. So Taylor tries the old fashioned way.

He starts at Donavon's store and living quarters. The store is full of Timeslip junk suitable for tourists and his quarters are so messy that it is impossible to tell whether they have been searched. Taylor does get to see the television upon which the signal was received and the DVD was made, but finds nothing of any use.

Then he goes to the Street of the Gods to get the latest gossip. He finds that his information is better than their rumors, but the gods and priests start getting ideas from his news. Taylor and Bettie leave just as the riot starts.

Next, Taylor tries getting information from the Collector, but the man has relocated after his moon facility was leaked to the press. Taylor finds his current location from Walker. After some strenuous efforts, Taylor gets into the new quarters, but the Collector doesn't know where the DVD can be found.

Then Taylor tries the Cardinal, a collector of religious artifacts. Taylor gets into the place by threatening to tell the Collector where the Cardinal is residing. But the Cardinal knows nothing either.

Taylor is running out of ideas when his phone rings. Alex tells him that Pen Donavon in sitting in the Strangefellows bar asking about him. Taylor uses his membership card to transit to the bar.

This tale stirs the Nightside into a religious and financial frenzy. Everybody who is anybody is looking for the DVD. The rumors of its contents are growing by the minute. Does it herald the second coming?

The story shows Taylor in his usual mix of bluff and tricks when faced by overwhelming odds. Bettie is aghast at his termination of thirteen combat sorcerers who are trying to kill Taylor and herself. Her image of a knight in gleaming armor is beginning to fray around the edges. Enjoy!

Highly recommended for Green fans and for anyone else who enjoys tales of strange powers, hellish deals, and unrequited love.

-Arthur W. Jordin

I was very disappointed in this installment of the Nightside series. When you get rid of your archenemy (Lilith), you need to replace them. There is no one left in Nightside, aside from Walker, that John Taylor fears or cannot defeat, and Walker does not pose a threat to John at present. This story was 246 pages of interesting characters that he defeated in two pages, and there was no variety of defeat...just the standard Taylor looking within and "it's the easiest thing to tear/rip/remove" and destroy.
Another problem is the character was two dimensional. I could deal with that because I remember the Taylor from the Lilith Wars, but this time he had no morals. One page he says he won't cheat on Suzie and the next he's making out with demon girl. I could list all the other examples, but let's just say he did not stick to his guns.
Conflict, conflict, conflict...this story needs some good conflict. We all live with conflict, we all deal with conflict, and what makes a story worthy of reading is the story's conflict is more interesting and pivotal. I guess the Nightside series premise has changed to "mess the John Taylor leads to your destruction." Not very interesting. Superhero stories are getting boring. Granted ordinary people don't sell, but how about characters with issues, fears, morals, deficiency, and dilemmas we can care about.
I would hate to think Nightside is becoming a formula series...if that's the case, there are better things to read.

Green solidly comes through again with this entertaining Nightside novel. Partnering with the demon reporter Bettie Divine, the plot was for the most part fun and fast paced. The ending, however, as usual returned to Shotgun Suzie and John Taylor, the two emotionally damaged and codependent characters. While in earlier novels there was something touching about this pairing, it's beginning to play quite old since it doesn't seem to go anywhere. The John/Bettie interlude was hopeful, but ended up flat. Here's hoping Green takes a new direction in future books. The hardcover format is also distressing. These are not long books, and I'm not sure the cost of the hardcover is justifiable.