Status
Available
Call number
Series
Publication
Ace (2005), Mass Market Paperback, 256 pages
Description
Fantasy. Fiction. Mystery. Thriller. HTML:John Taylor is the name. I work the Nightside. Only in that dark heart of London where it�??s always three A.M., where human and inhuman can feed their darkest desires, do I feel at home. Probably because I was born there. What I do is find things�??people, objects�??and in this case, the truth about the origins of the Nightside. That�??s what Lady Luck has hired me to investigate. But the more I dig, the more I discover, not about the Nightside but about the great question in my life: exactly who�??and what�??was my long-vanished mother. Paying jobs are one thing. Personal quests are another. And I�??ve been warned that uncovering the facts about dear old mum could be a very bad thing, not just for the Nightside but for all of existence. Still I can�??t stop�?�I�??m John Taylor. Finding things is who I am. It�??s what I… (more)
User reviews
LibraryThing member Murphy-Jacobs
Ah, here at last, we get to the meat and potatoes of John Taylor's mommy issues. I'm going through this series fairly quickly (although that will slow down shortly as I wait to afford more of the audio versions) so I"m not so much reviewing individual books as the series This one has yet more
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exploration of the various levels of the Nightside, which is fascinating in and of itself and practically doesn't need so much of the mysteries and action to be enthralling. A bit more fun with various Major Players, more stink and dirt and horror, more Q & A, and plenty of fun for a summer read. Show Less
LibraryThing member wyvernfriend
An interesting book. Ties up a few of the plot hooks from earlier books. In this one John is asked to look into the history of the Nightside. No-one really wants him to do this and a few of the people opposed to this are willing to kill him to stop him.
To help him with his investigation he gets the
I really do enjoy this series and want to read more of them.
To help him with his investigation he gets the
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Madman (who has seen too much and now his madness can alter the world around him) and Sinner (who traded his soul for love and even though the woman he loves is a demon he still loves her so he is excluded from heaven and hell). This book introduces you to more characters, some more of the secrets and lies involved and tells us more about what John's background and possible future is.I really do enjoy this series and want to read more of them.
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LibraryThing member VioletDelirium
I hoped to like Simon Green's novels. So similar to the Dresden Files. But so pale in comparison. Just read Jim Butcher, don't waste your time with this series.
LibraryThing member hjjugovic
This fourth book in the series returns us to the fantastically awful world of the Nightside, a hidden world within London where it is always 3am. Our hero, John Taylor, is hired to investigate the origins of the Nightside, but his client has a hidden agenda. John's mother is finally revealed, as
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the larger story arc takes on a frantic pace. Stunningly creative, the Nightside grabs the imagination and keeps you coming back for more in a noir detective series that really is all about the night. Show Less
LibraryThing member greytfriend
The series improves. The suspense builds and the action is faster and more intense. Much less digression in this one. Almost every new character is actually a part of the plot. The author provided several new and major revelations while still maintaining the mystery. My curiosity is still peaked
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and I'm diving into the next one. Show Less
LibraryThing member pat1eiu
I thought this was an excellent installment of the Nightside series. Really got into John's and the Nightside's background. Showed more how He can be thought of as so powerful. I can't wait to get to the next one.
LibraryThing member krau0098
This is the 4th book in the Nightside series by Simon Green.
John Taylor is commissioned by the Lady Luck herself to find something near and dear to John's own heart. Lady Luck wishes to know the origins of the Nightside, John suspects that his own mother is linked to the Nightside's origins. John
This book was fast-paced, fun, and very creative. I loved Madman, Sinner, and Pretty Poison. They are wonderful characters with a lot of depth and creativity in their personas.
This book answers some questions about Walker, the Authorities, the Nightside, and John's mother. It was nice to get come closure around these questions. That being said this was a departure from the previous stories in that it is not a self-contained story and adventure. The end of this book leaves you desperately waiting for the next book to find out what happens.
On one hand I kind of liked the transition of this series to something that is larger than one book; on the other hand I miss the self-contained detective story with a mysterious over-arcing storyline. This story was just structured differently from previous ones and whether that is good or bad...well, only the next book will tell.
That being said I really liked this book. I found it extremely amusing, as well as extremely disturbing. I can't wait to get my hands on the next one.
John Taylor is commissioned by the Lady Luck herself to find something near and dear to John's own heart. Lady Luck wishes to know the origins of the Nightside, John suspects that his own mother is linked to the Nightside's origins. John
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joins up with Madman (who has seen things no human should and, as such, randomly changes the reality around himself) and Sinner (who has been rejected by both heaven and hell and as such cannot be killed) to venture into deeper and darker places beneath the Nightside than have ever been breached; at least ever been breached by people who later lived to tell about.This book was fast-paced, fun, and very creative. I loved Madman, Sinner, and Pretty Poison. They are wonderful characters with a lot of depth and creativity in their personas.
This book answers some questions about Walker, the Authorities, the Nightside, and John's mother. It was nice to get come closure around these questions. That being said this was a departure from the previous stories in that it is not a self-contained story and adventure. The end of this book leaves you desperately waiting for the next book to find out what happens.
On one hand I kind of liked the transition of this series to something that is larger than one book; on the other hand I miss the self-contained detective story with a mysterious over-arcing storyline. This story was just structured differently from previous ones and whether that is good or bad...well, only the next book will tell.
That being said I really liked this book. I found it extremely amusing, as well as extremely disturbing. I can't wait to get my hands on the next one.
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LibraryThing member les121
I am becoming more and more engrossed in this series with every book. In this fourth installment, we finally discover the origins of the Nightside as well as the identity of John’s long, lost mother. The mystery is captivating, the characters compelling, and the creativity astounding. In this
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novel, I was particularly impressed by Green’s vivid writing and his perfectly delivered dry humor. It’s the kind of prose that gives me chills in a good way, a single line containing a world of meaning and emotion. I loved every minute of this creepy, dark, thrilling adventure, and I can’t wait to read book five. Show Less
LibraryThing member PallanDavid
Another adventure with my favorite detective: John Taylor. In this, the 4th Nightside Novel, Simon Green leads his main character through a maze with eventually leads him to his mother. We find out who she (possibly) is as well as a beginning sense of how and why the Nightside was created.
LibraryThing member dswaddell
John Taylor has Lady luck for a client....literally. This time though the secrets he's being asked to delve into could destroy everything so the Authorities are serious about taking him down. The search could explain the Nightside...and the truth behind his mother. This is an interesting book in
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the series and where they go from here should be fun to read. Show Less
LibraryThing member bcquinnsmom
No. 4 in this great series; if you haven't read the other 3, then don't start with this one! You won't have a clue!
Hex and The City welcomes the reader back to the Nightside, hidden among the London city center. In this installment, our hero, John Taylor, a sort of PI, is hired by none other than
Very good installment; I absolutely love this series!
Hex and The City welcomes the reader back to the Nightside, hidden among the London city center. In this installment, our hero, John Taylor, a sort of PI, is hired by none other than
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Lady Luck to investigate the origins of the Nightside so that she can figure out why fortune lies more with some than others. He will earn more than money on this one...he will learn the identity of his mother in payment. But this is a tricky one; he is led from one to another of the oldest beings of the Nightside, each of whom has his own ideas about the Nightside's origins and about who John's mother may be. Reminiscent of an Arthurian quest (in more ways than one!), Taylor has to go back in the past, into the deepest depths of the Nightside and face not one but several challenges in his quest before he learns the truth about his mother. Very good installment; I absolutely love this series!
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LibraryThing member bookwormteri
If Clive Barker and Jim Butcher had a baby, and that baby grew up and wrote a book, that book would look like Simon R Green's Nightside series. I get excited when I pick up the next in the series, wondering what awful and wonderful creatures/people/beings I am going to meet. Who is going against
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John in this book? Who is helping him out? Is this the book in which the destruction of the Nightside and possibly the entire world begins? Possibly, for this is the book in which we meet his mother, and all hell breaks loose. The darkness that is the Nightside is so compelling it is hard to put these books down to do anything else. Read this series and be sucked in! Show Less
LibraryThing member Krumbs
Moving forward the wider story, but little stand-alone adventure. Seems as though this should have been part of another book; maybe merging together this and the next one?
LibraryThing member TheDivineOomba
Honestly, I don't remember the plot in this one. I remember the ending - and that lots of people died. This is a typical Darkside Book - John Taylor grabs his friends wrecks havoc in the darkside - all that good stuff.
I think that you can consider this is the set up book for the big battle that is
I think that you can consider this is the set up book for the big battle that is
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to come - the one that has been hinted since the very first book. What I like about these books are that it is short, easy to read, easy to understand, and no twisty stuff that requires thinking. Show Less
LibraryThing member Garfatron5000
Review of the audiobook:
I really enjoyed the first book, hated the second and was pretty unimpressed by the third. So it was with great trepidation that I started 'Hex and the City' with it's awful, awful title... And the good news is it's by far the best in the series! Starts predictably enough
I clicked immediately with new characters Sinner, Madman and Pretty Poison, unlike Suzie Shooter and Deadboy with whom the jury's still out, and the supporting cast are pretty decent too (Hern the Hunter, The Lamentation, Merlin Satanspawn, Lord of Thorns are all suitably ridiculous and insanely likable in a demented kind of way). Sure, there are still the endless repetitions of certain key phrases -'I opened my eye, my third eye, my private eye' (enough, Green!) - but it doesn't detract from a ripping good yarn that finally pits Walker against John directly and lifts the stakes to whole new levels.
This feels like a direct sequel to the first book with just a few details from the others thrown in to tie them together and genuinely reignites the series. Marc Vietor is outstanding in his interpretation of the principal characters and gets the black humour just right.
I really enjoyed the first book, hated the second and was pretty unimpressed by the third. So it was with great trepidation that I started 'Hex and the City' with it's awful, awful title... And the good news is it's by far the best in the series! Starts predictably enough
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with John being contacted by a new client, but one who pretty much says 'let's get all this wider story stuff moving, shall we?' by asking him to find the origins of the Nightside. What follows is a tighter, darker and more entertaining ride than we've had yet.I clicked immediately with new characters Sinner, Madman and Pretty Poison, unlike Suzie Shooter and Deadboy with whom the jury's still out, and the supporting cast are pretty decent too (Hern the Hunter, The Lamentation, Merlin Satanspawn, Lord of Thorns are all suitably ridiculous and insanely likable in a demented kind of way). Sure, there are still the endless repetitions of certain key phrases -'I opened my eye, my third eye, my private eye' (enough, Green!) - but it doesn't detract from a ripping good yarn that finally pits Walker against John directly and lifts the stakes to whole new levels.
This feels like a direct sequel to the first book with just a few details from the others thrown in to tie them together and genuinely reignites the series. Marc Vietor is outstanding in his interpretation of the principal characters and gets the black humour just right.
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LibraryThing member Kat_Hooper
Originally posted at FanLit:
Hex and the City is the fourth novel in Simon R. Green�??s NIGHTSIDE series. IÂ??ve been listening to NIGHTSIDE on audio lately because IÂ??ve been doing a lot of home improvements, especially painting, and NIGHTSIDE is such an easy read that I donÂ??t ever have
In Hex and the City, John Taylor is moving on to his next case in the seedy and decadent Nightside where itÂ??s always 3 AM. This time Lady Luck has hired him to discover the origins of the Nightside, something Taylor wanted to do anyway. During his investigation he meets some people/creatures who were fundamentally involved in the establishment of the Nightside. He begins to confirm his suspicion that his own mother, whom he doesnÂ??t even remember, is someone rather important. HeÂ??s not sure what she is or what it means for his own status in the Nightside, but the more he learns, the more nervous he gets.
The NIGHTSIDE books are quick, easy, and fun reads. Their strength is Green�?s setting: the Nightside is bursting with flavor. It�?s the kind of place you wish you could view in person �? through three feet of warded Kevlar-enhanced plexiglass. Life is both dark and colorful in the Nightside, and it�?s brutal, too. Simon populates the Nightside with some crazy characters (many of whom you�?ve seen before, but not necessarily all together in one city). Each installment introduces a couple more of them and also lets us spend time with some of our old favorites. In Hex and the City we meet a succubus named Pretty Poison who falls in love with Sinner, the man who sold his soul for true love. Then there�?s Madman, who was sane until he got a glimpse of what lies behind �?reality,� and the Lamentation who is the God of Suicides. We didn�?t get to see Razor Eddie, Dead Boy, or Shotgun Suzie in Hex and the City, but I feel certain that they�?ll show up in a future installment.
After reading four NIGHTSIDE novels back to back, it�?s obvious how repetitive the narrative and dialogue are. Green often uses the same words and phrases over and over. For someone who read the books as they came out originally, this may not be quite as noticeable, but even in the same book Green tends to use the same phrases repetitively. Of course this isn�?t a series I�?m reading for its �?literary merit� but it�?s also one of the reasons I can�?t give it a higher rating. Another reason is Green�?s tendency to put John in a situation that we�?re told is absolutely hopeless and then to create a deux ex machina (usually in the form of one of his friend�?s, or his own, heretofore unknown superpowers) to suddenly obliterate the unstoppable foe. Characters, places, and situations in the Nightside seem to constantly trump each other with their own outrageousness, making everything a bit over the top. Still, I�?m looking forward to learning, along with John Taylor, more about the Nightside, his mother, and his own destiny.
IÂ??m listening to Marc Vietor read the audiobook version, which was produced by Audible Frontiers. Vietor does a great job with all the characters. I like the audio so much that IÂ??ve purchased the rest of the series at Audible.
Hex and the City is the fourth novel in Simon R. Green�??s NIGHTSIDE series. IÂ??ve been listening to NIGHTSIDE on audio lately because IÂ??ve been doing a lot of home improvements, especially painting, and NIGHTSIDE is such an easy read that I donÂ??t ever have
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to stop and rewind, which is something you donÂ??t want to do when youÂ??ve got paint all over your hands. Audio readers know what I mean.In Hex and the City, John Taylor is moving on to his next case in the seedy and decadent Nightside where itÂ??s always 3 AM. This time Lady Luck has hired him to discover the origins of the Nightside, something Taylor wanted to do anyway. During his investigation he meets some people/creatures who were fundamentally involved in the establishment of the Nightside. He begins to confirm his suspicion that his own mother, whom he doesnÂ??t even remember, is someone rather important. HeÂ??s not sure what she is or what it means for his own status in the Nightside, but the more he learns, the more nervous he gets.
The NIGHTSIDE books are quick, easy, and fun reads. Their strength is Green�?s setting: the Nightside is bursting with flavor. It�?s the kind of place you wish you could view in person �? through three feet of warded Kevlar-enhanced plexiglass. Life is both dark and colorful in the Nightside, and it�?s brutal, too. Simon populates the Nightside with some crazy characters (many of whom you�?ve seen before, but not necessarily all together in one city). Each installment introduces a couple more of them and also lets us spend time with some of our old favorites. In Hex and the City we meet a succubus named Pretty Poison who falls in love with Sinner, the man who sold his soul for true love. Then there�?s Madman, who was sane until he got a glimpse of what lies behind �?reality,� and the Lamentation who is the God of Suicides. We didn�?t get to see Razor Eddie, Dead Boy, or Shotgun Suzie in Hex and the City, but I feel certain that they�?ll show up in a future installment.
After reading four NIGHTSIDE novels back to back, it�?s obvious how repetitive the narrative and dialogue are. Green often uses the same words and phrases over and over. For someone who read the books as they came out originally, this may not be quite as noticeable, but even in the same book Green tends to use the same phrases repetitively. Of course this isn�?t a series I�?m reading for its �?literary merit� but it�?s also one of the reasons I can�?t give it a higher rating. Another reason is Green�?s tendency to put John in a situation that we�?re told is absolutely hopeless and then to create a deux ex machina (usually in the form of one of his friend�?s, or his own, heretofore unknown superpowers) to suddenly obliterate the unstoppable foe. Characters, places, and situations in the Nightside seem to constantly trump each other with their own outrageousness, making everything a bit over the top. Still, I�?m looking forward to learning, along with John Taylor, more about the Nightside, his mother, and his own destiny.
IÂ??m listening to Marc Vietor read the audiobook version, which was produced by Audible Frontiers. Vietor does a great job with all the characters. I like the audio so much that IÂ??ve purchased the rest of the series at Audible.
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LibraryThing member jrg1316
Not just another case book. This one begins a 3-book series that delves into the origin of the Nightside and reveals who John Taylor's mother is. It doesn't end on a big cliffhanger, but it definitely leaves you eager to read the next book.
LibraryThing member MaryWJ
Similar to the others in the series, but it is a little tedious that John knows he destroys the world in the future and how it happens but it seems to be a big surprise to him in every book.
LibraryThing member JalenV
Hex and the City is the fourth book in Simon R. Green's Nightside series. I have, and have read, only books two, three, and six. This book opens with an auction that goes terribly wrong before John Taylor, private eye, manages to end the crisis. The real case is finding out the origin of the
This is bound to be a very difficult and dangerous case. Shotgun Susie and Razor Eddie aren't available, so John seeks out the Madman and the Sinner to help him. (Sinner comes with a bonus, his deadly girlfriend, Pretty Poison.)
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Nightside, for which John has been hired by Lady Luck herself. (At least it shuts up John's secretary, Cathy Barrett, who wants to accompany him on a case -- just not this case. In payment, Lady Luck will tell John who his mother was. This is bound to be a very difficult and dangerous case. Shotgun Susie and Razor Eddie aren't available, so John seeks out the Madman and the Sinner to help him. (Sinner comes with a bonus, his deadly girlfriend, Pretty Poison.)
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Subjects
Original publication date
2005
Physical description
256 p.; 6.78 inches
ISBN
0441012612 / 9780441012619