Review – Hex and the City by Simon Green (4/5 stars)

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 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.