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Nightingale's Lament (Nightside #3)

3.95 of 5 stars 3.95 · rating details · 5,055 ratings · 153 reviews

In the Nightside, the hidden heart of London where it's always 3 AM, Detective John Taylor must find an elusive singer known as The Nightingale. Her silken voice has inexplicably lured many a fan to suicide--and Taylor is determined to stop her, before the whole neighborhood falls under her trance. But to catch the swift-winged Nightingale, he'll have to hear the deadly mu...more

Paperback, 244 pages

Published April 27th 2004 by Ace (first published 2004)

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Oct 01, 2010 Dan Schwent rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: fantasy-detective

While in hiding for causing blackouts all over the Nightside, John Taylor gets hired to find out why fans of a singer called the Nightingale are killing themselves. Taylor hooks up with Dead Boy, an undead youth eternally 17 years old and the trail takes them up against Mrs. and Mr. Cavendish, the Nightingale's managers. What sinister secret is at the heart of Nightingale's strange behavior, as well as that of her suicidal fans?

Simon Green is one sick bastard. I mean that in the best way possibl...more

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Oct 12, 2009 Justin rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: own, fantasy

The Nightside stories are so hard boiled it’s hard to put in perspective, but I’m going to try anyway. If you took Dashiell Hammett’s corpse rolled it in batter then deep fried it till black, you would have a pretty good approximation of what Simon R. Green is going for. Nightingale’s Lament is the third book in the Nightside series, and follows the same mold the previous books do. The story is basically another case file for John Tayler. He’s been tasked to discover the the cause behind the mys...more

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Feb 13, 2013 Fangs for the Fantasy rated it 3 of 5 stars

John Taylor has a new case – to rescue the Nightingale. A singer whose voice is so incredible she may be the next big thing in the Nightside where the incredible is the norm. A singer whose sad songs can literally cause people to kill themselves in grief – a fact that only adds to her popularity, not detract from it.

And a singer who may be being held against her will. At least, that’s what her father thinks.

Which sets John Taylor on track to speak to and free the Nightingale – but the Cavendishe...more John Taylor has a new case – to rescue the Nightingale. A singer whose voice is so incredible she may be the next big thing in the Nightside where the incredible is the norm. A singer whose sad songs can literally cause people to kill themselves in grief – a fact that only adds to her popularity, not detract from it.

And a singer who may be being held against her will. At least, that’s what her father thinks.

Which sets John Taylor on track to speak to and free the Nightingale – but the Cavendishes, her handlers, managers or owners, guard their prize jealously and have the vast power and influence to ensure that even John Taylor can’t just walk in the front door and make demands. A chain of investigation follows, tracking down what the Cavendishes have done in the past, and discovering exactly what they have done to the Nightingale.

To complicate things, John has upset the powers that be. A necessary act of revenge against the murderer of an old and valued friend has caused a large section of the Nightside to lose all power. The Authorities are not amused and wish to speak to John about it – and they’re quite insistant.

I am rapidly becoming unstuck trying to review these books. It’s difficult because I don’t have a lot of praiseworthy things to say about them. But I love them.

Which is a ridiculous contradiction, but it’s true.

The story is good – very well paced, well written, extremely exciting and with very well done action scenes. There are no twists though, no surprises that can’t be guessed well ahead of time. It’s somewhat predictable, we know how it’s going to end, we know who the bad guys are, we even know their super super secret that was very obvious from the very beginning.

Yet, it was good. It was predictable, I knew exactly how it was going to end – and it was still immense fun. Sometimes the journey doesn’t have to be surprising to be a fun one. It can still be exciting, still be fun of excellent fight scenes, still have some wonderful and enthralling settings and developments to keep you turning the pages. Even without twists and surprises, the story was compelling and enthralling. Even with the dramatic villain monologues – repeated dramatic villain monologues! In fact, it says a lot about the writing that it can make so many of these tropes that you shouldn’t ever do in writing work. Hard boiled film-noir-ish internal monologues allowing the protagonist to info dump? Yes we have lots of that – and it’s excellent and it works and I love it. Over the top villainous exposition “since I’m going to kill you anyway let me explain all my nefarious schemes!?” yes it’s there, lots of it – and it’s excellent and it works and I love it.

The protagonist, John Taylor, is pretty hollow. He’s a power fantasy – super charged, stare-‘em-down, show everyone who’s boss, power fantasy. And he’s a really good one. It’s hard not to have a little fun with him staring down major powers, with everyone flinching at his name, with him avenging his friends no matter the cost and with him kicking an ogre in the balls. It’s fun, mindless, power fantasy fun. But fun nevertheless. Sometimes some simple mindless fun is exactly what the doctor ordered. I honestly can’t point to any real defining characteristic of John than this – he’s got a nebulous history, he has this whole hard-boiled-film-noir-stereotype thing and vast amounts of power and hardassery over the classic heart of gold. He’s a walking stereotype, he’s a cliché writ large – but I really like him.

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Mar 26, 2012 Kate rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: contemporary-fantasy, fantasy, urban-fantasy

Another "meh" outing in the Nightside. This one was less overtly repetitive than Agents of Light and Darkness, and the "plot twists" were SLIGHTLY less telegraphed - it still became obvious who the baddies really were quite early on, but it took longer to figure out the client and the actual mode of Supernatural Badness that was going on. Still, the plot was tenuous - it mandated the comic-book-style "villains explain themselves" at the end, and even that felt utterly forced - and the prose was...more

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Mar 17, 2012 Bryan457 rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: crime-mystery-detective, cthulhu, fantasy, favorites, horror, immortals, superhuman, urban-fantasy

Wow!

I mean really, I'm not all that fond of horror and gore, and I'm still giving this 5 stars. It was fun, interesting, fast paced and thoroughly enjoyable. I can't believe the sheer number of interesting little bits Simon Green packed into 220 pages. Even being chauffeured from one point to another or catching a cab has interesting tidbits in it.

Some of the interesting things that happened in this book: Angry ghosts, friends and betrayals from John's past, oops serious power outage, now Walker...more Wow!

I mean really, I'm not all that fond of horror and gore, and I'm still giving this 5 stars. It was fun, interesting, fast paced and thoroughly enjoyable. I can't believe the sheer number of interesting little bits Simon Green packed into 220 pages. Even being chauffeured from one point to another or catching a cab has interesting tidbits in it.

Some of the interesting things that happened in this book: Angry ghosts, friends and betrayals from John's past, oops serious power outage, now Walker is looking for him, a singer who's causing fans to suicide, the power outage caused something to fail and created a "crack," now "something" from "outside" is forcing its way in, the "something" mentions the coming advent of John's mother, we meet Dead Boy and a siren prostitute who devours the life force and bodies of her clients, an unfinished vendetta from the 1800's involving hero Julien Advent and villains The Murder Masques, John gets a serious beat down, a club where male transvestites channel the spirits of famous female divas, The Jonah who can choose different probability lines where bad things happen to you messes with John, John dies, he trades a month of his life, we find out how Dead boy uses builder's putty.

A quick snip of one of the fascinating tidbits that create the unique atmosphere in these books.
"I looked around the bar, searching for something to distract myself with. A sailor had passed out at the main bar, and the tattoos on his back were quietly arguing matters philosophical over the low rumble of his snores. A mummy at the other end of the long wooden bar was drinking gin and tonics while performing necessary running repairs on his yellowed bandages. Roughly midway between the two, an amiable drunk in a blood-stained lab coat was endeavoring to explain principles of retro-phrenology to frankly disinterested Alex Morrisey.
'See, phrenology is this old Victorian science, which claimed you could determine the dominant traits of a man's personality by studying the bumps on his head. The size and position of these bumps indicated different personality traits. See? Now, retro-phrenology says, why not change a man's personality by hitting him on the head with a hammer, till you raise just the right bumps in the right places!'"

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Jan 19, 2012 Isabel rated it 4 of 5 stars

In the end, it all came down to her singing. I'd have to come back again, watch her perform, listen to what she did with her voice. see what it did to her audience. After taking certain precautions, of course. Certain defences. There are any number of magical creatures, mostly female, whose singing can bring about horror and death. Sirens, undines, banshees, Bananarama tribute bands . . .

After solving a case of sabotage at the Prometheus electricity generating plant, John Taylor is trying to kee...more

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Oct 26, 2011 Lisa (Harmonybites) rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Lovers of Dark Fantasy

Recommended to Lisa (Harmonybites) by: Gerri Leen

Shelves: contemporary, crime, fantasy, fiction, mystery, novels, horror, science-fiction

This is the third book in the Nightside series, featuring John Taylor, who isn't just a "private eye," he has a "private eye", a mystical eye through which he can find just about anything "in the Nightside." The Nightside is a hidden magical area within London where it's always three in the morning and inhabited by every feature creature you can imagine including poltergeist sedan chairs and headless bikers. That's its strength--the phantasmagorical setting created by Green filled with offbeat c...more

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Aug 10, 2011 Kathy Davie rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: fantasy, urban, young-adult

Third of the Nightside dark, getting darker with each story, urban fantasy series set underground in London, England.

The Story
John Taylor starts off with a bang and a quickly-ending flash which will not endear him to Walker nor the rest of the Nightside should they ever find out. And, it opens a huge can of worms that leads John into partnership with Dead Boy. John helps Dead Boy put the powerful aliens back into their dimension and Dead Boy helps John find Sylvia Sin…a horror created by the Ca...more

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Dec 30, 2010 Karissa rated it 5 of 5 stars

This is the third book in the Nightside series by Simon Green. It was an excellent and very creative story.

John Taylor is contacted by Charles Chabron to find out the whereabouts of his daughter Rossingol. Rossingol came to the Nightside to hit it big as a singer. She has signed up with some new managers, the Cavendishes, and is selling out all of her shows. Her success is coming with a strange side effect; after hearing her sing many of her fans commit suicide. As Taylor struggles to figure out...more

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Nov 05, 2010 Patrick D'Orazio rated it 5 of 5 stars

In this, the third installment of Simon R. Green's Nightside series, the author seems to finally relax and not obsess as much over the reader's understanding how strange the Nightside is in every paragraph. Don't get me wrong, there is plenty of new oddities taking up the pages here but it seems we are more in a groove now, going along with John Taylor, the noirish detective who lives in the Nightside, the utterly alien and magical dark underbelly of London. He gets hired to find things, since h...more In this, the third installment of Simon R. Green's Nightside series, the author seems to finally relax and not obsess as much over the reader's understanding how strange the Nightside is in every paragraph. Don't get me wrong, there is plenty of new oddities taking up the pages here but it seems we are more in a groove now, going along with John Taylor, the noirish detective who lives in the Nightside, the utterly alien and magical dark underbelly of London. He gets hired to find things, since he has a psychic gift that prevents anything from staying hidden from him for very long. While this makes him a great detective, it also makes him a target for plenty of powerful beings that also reside in the Nightside who consider him a danger.

This story starts out with what amounts to a short story encased in one chapter where Taylor tries to figure out who or what is sabotaging Prometheus, Inc's power station, which provides over 12% of the power to the Nightside. The brief interlude ends with a bang and with Taylor on the run, doing his best to avoid Walker, the representative of the authorities in the Nightside who hired him to do the job because of the trouble he caused by solving the case.
Soon after, Taylor is hired by the father of a up and coming singer, Rossingol, who is being managed and kept under wraps by the Cavendish's, a husband and wife team...or perhaps brother and sister team. No one is quite sure. Her father just wants to make sure she is safe, since things have changed ever since she came under their protective wings. On top of this mystery is the fact that there are rumors floating around that every time Rossingol sings members of the audience are committing suicide.
Missing in this tale are some of the secondary characters we have become aquainted with in the first two books, including Shotgun Suzie and Razor Eddie, but we are introduced to a couple more allies of Taylor's that are definitely interesting. Julien Advent, the Victorian adventurer and present day Newspaper Publisher, and my favorite sidekick thus far of the series: Dead Boy. We also get to see a few other of Taylor's rivals but there is little in this story besides his new sidekicks that will end up carrying over to future stories here.
I felt as if this tale was the strongest so far from Green on Taylor and the Nightside. The descriptions of this small universe buried inside London were still just as vivid as the two previous stories but he is more focused on the story itself without spending exorbitant amounts of time wowing us with the wonders that make up "The Nightside". I also enjoyed the first chapter as something that pretty much stands on its own as its own story separate from the rest of the book. I am growing more accustomed to Taylor and his unique gift, along with his impressive ability to slip in and out of situations without resorting to that gift (his reputation proceeds him for the most part and even powerful enemies show him a great deal of respect and often buy his bluff that he is more dangerous than he actually is). Green knows how to spin a tale and describe an environment so that you feel a part of it.
I am looking forward to further tales from the Nightside, especially if they are as solid as this story.(less)

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Jan 13, 2010 Robot rated it 2 of 5 stars

I honestly don't know why I keep reading these books... the man just has no sense of subtlety whatsoever. I'm pretty sure the only thing keeping me reading these is to see what new ideas Green can come up with, I will give him that, the man has a fascinating imagination. If he could just harness some of Jim Butcher's ability to tell a story and make you feel for the characters, Nightside would rival The Dresden Files.

The stories thus far just come and go far too quickly, things just seem to hap...more I honestly don't know why I keep reading these books... the man just has no sense of subtlety whatsoever. I'm pretty sure the only thing keeping me reading these is to see what new ideas Green can come up with, I will give him that, the man has a fascinating imagination. If he could just harness some of Jim Butcher's ability to tell a story and make you feel for the characters, Nightside would rival The Dresden Files.

The stories thus far just come and go far too quickly, things just seem to happen rather than develop. Characters do things and change without really easing into it. I so terrible want to enjoy the series more than I am, but I'm just not feeling a connection to these characters enough to be able to. John is given too much of a reputation to ever put the guy at fault really, it's just gotten him out of way too many things to make me even think there will be something that can stop him. The times when his mere reputation doesn't get him out of something some random person shows up to bail him out of trouble or he uses his "gift" like a cheat code to just instantly come out on top of the situation. I'm still wondering what the heck his little bullet trick is too, it just kind of popped out of nowhere with no explanation, only that he developed it because of what happened with him and Suzy.

The thing with John's mother... oye, this is where the subtlety really needs to be applied. There's just far too much blurted out about this that's it's really not much of a mystery what the deal is with her. Every time John comes up against something strong it tells him about his mother and how powerful she is... it's like Green doesn't think the reader would be able to piece together clues so he has to just come out and practically tell you what's up with her. I like hints, figuring things out, not just being told what the mystery is out flat and then being told over and over again.

... I should learn to write things in a more coherent way, instead of rambling. (less)

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Nov 03, 2011 Scott Weber rated it 3 of 5 stars

This is the third book in Simon Green’s Nightside series featuring John Taylor, detective to the supernatural. The tone is somewhere between The Dresden Files and Discworld, but not close to either one. In this story, John is hired by the father of an up and coming singer to get in contact with her. The father fears that something has happened to her since he has not heard from her in a while. In the course of the investigation we get to know some more of Nightside’s powers – like Dead Boy, a ad...more This is the third book in Simon Green’s Nightside series featuring John Taylor, detective to the supernatural. The tone is somewhere between The Dresden Files and Discworld, but not close to either one. In this story, John is hired by the father of an up and coming singer to get in contact with her. The father fears that something has happened to her since he has not heard from her in a while. In the course of the investigation we get to know some more of Nightside’s powers – like Dead Boy, a adventurer turned newspaper editor, and a couple of real estate moguls who are getting into the music business.
This book is a nice addition to the series. It lets us tour around in Green’s endlessly interesting world without resorting to some cataclysmic event to drive the action. In this way it resembles traditional mysteries as much as it resembles paranormal works. Green has two strengths he works from. First, he chooses good words and really puts them together well. These books are easy to read in that you never stumble over who is doing what when. The descriptions are light, giving you just enough to fill in the blanks so you can create your own Nightside. This light touch makes is so much more meaningful when he actually does go deep in a scene. Those scenes evoke emotion and sense of place more strongly than they would in a book with heavy description. The second strength is the world he has created lets him explore any number of ideas without seeming forced. 6 foot tall teddy bears doing manual labor? Ok, it fits. Asian Combat Mages? Yeah, there’s a place for them.
These strengths will work against Green for some people. The light touch with description leaves some characters less than three dimensional. It may be that Green is slowly, book by book, letting us get to know John Taylor and that is fine. It just has the consequence that after three books I know John but I don’t feel like I really care about him yet. The wide world with anything possible will be a problem for some people. At some point Green will introduce something that a given reader will not buy. My own belief was stretched at the existence of a car from the future with seemingly any feature needed at that moment. There are lots of “boxes” in this world and any one of them is likely to contain a “god”.
These books are not literature; they aren’t changing the course of fantasy/paranormal fiction. They are well written, light adventures that introduce you to a bunch of ideas you probably have never thought of. I wouldn’t recommend them to everyone, but the best measure of how much I like them is whether or not I will purchase more of them. The answer is yes.
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Feb 18, 2009 Leon rated it 4 of 5 stars

Another fun romp through the streets of Nightside. Now that I know most of the characters, I'm really enjoying the story. Of course in each book, he introduces new people into the growing list of ongoing characters.

Each of the characters have their own personalities and quirks. I'm really getting to like the group at large and can't wait to see what else he pulls in.

This story is a creative twist of the "Damsel in Distress" concept. Of course, a lot of his stories are of the same genre but I en...more

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Mar 10, 2013 Marc rated it 3 of 5 stars

I read the first two Nightside novels back to back 7 yrs ago while in the middle of moving house,and they were easy,entertaining light reads that helped ease a little stress. I don't know why it's taken 7 years to re-enter the Nightside,but with this third novel nothing's really changed. Supernatural private investigator John Taylor takes the case of an up and coming young female singer whose songs cause suicides. Taylor enlists the help of Dead Boy,and from then on it's a bit like Batman &...more

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Nov 22, 2011 Minesweeper rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: fantasy, fiction

The story is a fantasy/mystery in which John Taylor is hired to find out why a singer's songs are causing the audience to commit suicide.

The characters are definitely the best part of the book. John Taylor and Dead Boy are both fun and interesting characters, as are the Victorian Adventurer and Walker. Even the villains, Mr. and Mrs. Cavendish, are unique. They ate imbued with more personality than most villains in fantasy novels. I wanted to read about their history and wish they had more role...more

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Aug 12, 2009 Asher Gregory rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: fantasy

This one is actually better than the first. Keeping you on the edge and eager to read more. I've been eagerly reading at any moment I can to find out what happens next. The ending had a surprisingly but interesting twist. Better written and you finally get to experience a lot more of the horrors of the Nightside than just hear people babbling on about how horrible the Nightside is. John Taylor has finally stopped giving too many long, unending, out of the blue talks on how horrible the Nightside...more

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Dec 26, 2009 Mike (the Paladin) rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: fantasy, urban-fantasy

This was my introduction to the Nightside and I plan to read more(as a matter of fact i've already made a trip to my favorite used book store and picked up several). I like some Urban Fantasy (for example the Dresden books are some of my favorite novels) and these are starting out great. Nightside, a dark city within the city of London is a place you wouldn't want to get caught, but the stories are enthralling.

No spoilers here, but our hero in this volume sets out to investigate an insidious nig...more

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Aug 09, 2012 KG rated it 4 of 5 stars

Ya know, I really like this series! It’s darkly amusing, a comfortable read, has engaging characters – and is NOT REMOTELY predictable. Simon Green has such a twisted humor, combined with such a creatively macabre imagination! What's not to like? There is NOTHING mundane in his books (at least, not so far in this series!), and this book was just full of odd and twisted circumnavigations, with Lovecraftianly BIZARRE characters. Dead Boy! What can I say? He's dead - but he is one of the best team-...more

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Oct 01, 2010 Melissa Railey rated it 4 of 5 stars

This is the third book in Simon R. Green's Nightside series. In this book, John Taylor has been hired to check in on the Nightside's newest singing sensation, nicknamed Nightingale, and find out why so many of her fans are committing suicide after hearing her sing. In doing so, Taylor stumbles into a case that might be just a little bit more than he can handle.

I really like this series a lot. There's nothing outstanding about them but they're good, easy entertainment and make the daily commute a...more

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Mar 26, 2009 Karen rated it 3 of 5 stars

These books are chalk full of little things that are truly disturbing, but not in such volume as to make you abandon the main story in order to save your sanity. I get the vague impression, however, that I'm slowly getting desensatized to these things. As much as I'd like to find out how John comes into (and abandons, based on commentary in the short story from Mean Streets) his birthright, I'm seriously considering setting the whole thing aside for the sake of my soul.

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Jul 20, 2011 Mel rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: light-reading, fantasy

A little better than the second in the series, still enjoyable as an easy read. However, when one has to skip entire large paragraphs due to it being the same re-hashed material, it becomes clear that Green has no faith in his readers of having already read the first two books before picking up this one. Three (or so) mentions of why he can't use his gift is a bit excessive, and especially an issue when its mentioned twice in the same chapter. If you remove the repeated information, it reads lik...more

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Jul 12, 2011 Jenevieve rated it 3 of 5 stars

The 3rd book in the Nightside series. John Taylor has been hired to find a new, up and coming singer whose voice is to die for...literally. There have been a rash of suicides of fans of Rossingnol but she seems unaware and her managers seem uncaring of the fact until one comes and blows his brains out all over her on stage during a performance. Can John Taylor figure out why it is happening and can he stop it before anyone else has to die for her art?

I enjoyed it for the few twists included but...more

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Jan 14, 2013 Jennifer rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: paranormal

I read this book in two nights. It's a fun read.

Like the previous books in the series, the dialogue isn't always the best; John Taylor likes to hear himself talk. We also get the "Mwahaha! My evil plan is pure AWESOME!" speech from one of the villains.

The first time we witness Rossignol sing should be a big deal. It should be written with great description and emotion. It should be, but it isn't. John's account of Rossignol's singing is more like a summary. Very unimpressive. I don't come away f...more

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Mar 20, 2012 Nathan Burgoine rated it 4 of 5 stars

This is the third 'Nightside' novel I've read, and they're exactly what you'd imagine: dark gritty PI mysteries set in 'the Nightside,' a part of London that is supernatural and just to the left of reality. It's always three in the morning in Nightside, and the Powers and Authorities of Nightside are often quite hideous, depraved, and full of divine (or demonic) power. Basically, think Charles De Lint on a really dark/grim/gruesome bent, or mayhap Anne Rice without all the lace and frilly stuff,...more

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Jun 03, 2011 Meghan rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction-horror

Some interesting ideas in this series, but I really didn't like the book overall and won't read the rest of the series. I got the same vibe from the first two, but tried to give the series as a whole a chance before giving up. Not a huge fan of the writing style or how things just conveniently "happen" and are therefore labeled plot - I predicted the ending 50 pages before it even happened and the plot twist wasn't really a twist.

A decent part of the whole urban fantasy scene but not one of the...more

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Feb 12, 2008 Nancy Oakes rated it 4 of 5 stars

This is book #3 in the Nightside/John Taylor series; The other two are Something From the Nightside and Agents of Light and Darkness. If you want a good escape read, this is it. I absolutely love this series...a kind of a cross between horror, sci-fi, and crime noir. Give it a try.

The Nightside is now home to John Taylor, who previously lived in the Nightside, left it to work in the outside world and has now returned. He has many enemies, but he also has some amazing powers which tends to keep h...more This is book #3 in the Nightside/John Taylor series; The other two are Something From the Nightside and Agents of Light and Darkness. If you want a good escape read, this is it. I absolutely love this series...a kind of a cross between horror, sci-fi, and crime noir. Give it a try.

The Nightside is now home to John Taylor, who previously lived in the Nightside, left it to work in the outside world and has now returned. He has many enemies, but he also has some amazing powers which tends to keep his enemies (and everyone else) at bay. The Nightside is found in a dark corner of London (the way to the Nightside is obscured and only those who know about its existence can find it). In the Nightside, it's permanently 3 in the morning; it has its share of ghosts, ghouls, monsters, zombies, and other creepy folk. But other than that, the same type of living goes on in the Nightside...there's commerce, there is law, there are parts of the place smart people never go to and everything is taken in its stride.

In this installment, after having solved a mystery as to where a certain power plant has its energy source, John goes into hiding. While he's laying low, he receives a visit from one Charles Chabron asking him to look into the welfare of his only daughter, Rossignol. She is a singer, and lately her singing has inspired several people to go home and commit suicide. As John goes about the Nightside seeking help in finding and saving Rossignol, he meets with a host of creepy characters who try to get in his way.

At times funny, Nightingale's Lament does have at its core a good "mystery." It is simply a good fun read and does not aim for more but it is fun on a higher level and does not insult your intelligence. I mean, by the time you finish one of these books, you're scratching your head going "hmmm. Maybe...."

I would recommend this book, but even though someone noted that this book could be a stand alone away from the series, I would recommend reading them in order; the character of John Taylor and his experiences are built upon in each installment.

read: 5/03/2005(less)

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Feb 09, 2008 Chris rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: fantasy

This is the first of four Nightside books that I picked up via Bookmooch, a very nice little book exchange site. Someone had the four latest books, and was kind enough to send them over. Rock on. Since they're pretty quick reads, I'm taking care of all of them at once, and hoping that the newest one might find its way into my hot little hands for Christmas.

As I mentioned in the previous Nightside reviews, the setup for these novels is pretty simple, and Green gives it to you within the first few...more

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Mar 05, 2012 Jason B. rated it 3 of 5 stars

Green is reaching a little too far here. He's giving us a lot of characters, a lot of names, a lot of pills to swallow, while establishing very little of the backstory of the Nightside. While this is a plot point, (the fact that the backstory of the Nightside is shrouded in mystery) it doesn't help Green's ability to weave an entirely convincing narrative. I had hoped by this point that we'd have a firmer grip on things, but still he's penning fun, interesting and creepy beach-read stuff that ke...more

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Sep 11, 2011 Hester rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: novels, horror, british-writers

Green took more narrative risks in this book than in "Something from the Nightside." The structure is odd; it opens with a couple chapters that really are one long short story and then starts with the main plot. The only consequence of the short story is that John Taylor is on the lam. Oh, my. A private detective on the run. THAT is a plot twist.

In spite of this, the book was even more compulsively readable than "Something from the Nightside." Green adds to the cast of Taylor's friends and acqua...more

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Jan 01, 2011 Wendy Holcombe rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: dark-fantasy, mystery-ish

I think I liked this book so much because of the power the music has. I've never been one to be swayed that much by music, but I have a friend who can feel music that he hears deep in his soul. Because of him, I could understand how this singer's voice could move people the way it did.

I still think Simon Green repeats himself too much, and some of his descriptions about things are in way more detail than needed.

I like the Nightside, but I only want to visit there in the safety of a book.

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Fantasy

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Fantasy > Urban Fantasy

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Horror

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Mystery

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Fantasy > Paranormal

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Fantasy > Supernatural

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About Simon R. Green

Simon Richard Green is a British science fiction and fantasy-author. He holds a degree in Modern English and American Literature from the University of Leicester. His first publication was in 1979.

His Deathstalker series is partly a parody of the usual space-opera of the 1950s, told with sovereign disregard of the rules of probability, while being at the same time extremely bloodthirsty.

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Books by Simon R. Green

Something from the Nightside (Nightside, #1)

Agents of Light and Darkness (Nightside, #2)

Sharper Than a Serpent's Tooth (Nightside, #6)

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Trivia About Nightingale's Lament

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Quotes from Nightingale's Lament

“There are any number of magical creatures, mostly female, whose singing can bring about horror and death. Sirens, undines, banshees, Bananarama tribute bands...” — 84 people liked it

“I love to dance!" she said cheerfully.
"Sometimes I think the whole world should be put to music and choreographed!"

"This being the Nightside, someone somewhere is undoubtedly working on that very thing, right now.” — 4 people liked it

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Nightingale's Lament (Nightside #3)

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