Despite the fact that the second book in Simon R. Green‘s Eddie Drood series was sub par, you really should be reading the rest of Simon Green’s books. Especially his Nightside series.

John Taylor is a private eye who also happens to have mystical powers. These powers give him the ability to find lost things. Unfortunately for him, despite thinking he has escaped the Nightside, he’s drawn back in, and one there, he’s returned to the intrigues and mystery that drove him away in the first place.

What is the Nightside you ask? It’s where dark deeds are done and your worst nightmares are available at any price. It’s where all the scary things you were hoping didn’t really exist actually live and hang out.

Nightside is appalling. But so is John Taylor.

The Nightside is full of Gods and monsters, visitors from the past and from the future, and people who simply don’t fit in the real world.

Like John Taylor.

John Taylor is Spenser living in a modern Thieves’ World, only with magical powers. John Taylor is wanted dead by many in Nightside, although he has no idea what he’s done to earn that death sentence. And of course many who want him dead are also willing to hire him, because he may be a right bastard, but he’s also John bloody Taylor, part of the Nightside royalty although no one is quite sure why.

These books are both fantasy and horror, but they’re not frightening (which is what I typically associate with horror). The creatures that fill the Nightside are horrifying monsters, misshapen and evil. Because that’s what the Nightside is. The place where evil can go and hang out.

Why, you are asking, would anyone want to read about John Taylor and the Nightside? Because these are tales well told. Good mysteries, but most importantly they’re a lot of fun. John doesn’t take himself seriously–nor does he take anything or anyone else seriously. Despite his powers, he often relies on slight of hand and a nasty reputation to get things done. That doesn’t mean he doesn’t do nasty things–he does, and sometimes quite willingly. But he also tries to do good, at least in his own way.

That doesn’t mean these books are for the faint of heart. Nightside is a dreadful place where dreadful people and creatures live. Really awful creatures in many cases, such as the Lamentations or even Dead Boy.

Best of all, since Nightside is such a terrible place, Simon Green can have his characters do really terrible things and you don’t feel bad about it at all. But John Taylor and his friends are witty and amusing, so even when they’re being appalling, they’re still a lot of fun.

Nightside: Something from the Nightside (2003), Agents of Light and Darkness (2003), Nightingale’s Lament (2004), Hex and the City (2005), Paths Not Taken (2005), Sharper Than a Serpent’s Tooth (2006), Hell To Pay (2006), Unnatural Inquirer (2007)