Sharper Than a Serpent’s Tooth

Sharper Than a Serpent’s Tooth (2006) Simon R. Green

To be honest, I was less than pleased with the last Nightside book, Paths Not Taken. The story was good, but I had a hard time accepting that John Taylor was really as cold-blooded as he came off. Luckily, Sharper Than a Serpent’s Tooth returns to the John Taylor of the earlier Nightside books. Still no one you want to mess with, but not a totally cold-blooded bastard.

At the end of the last book, things had pretty much come to a head. John Taylor’s mother, Lilith, was back to remake Nightside in her image, and didn’t care who she had to destroy in the process. Now John has to over come the converging futures that say that he will destroy Nightside–and possible the world in the process.

With the exception of the 5th book, which just rubbed me the wrong way, the Nightside books keep getting better and better. John’s voice is now entirely his own (in the first book he sounded to me very much like Robert B. Parker’s Spenser) and the other characters have also developed their own, strong personalities.

And they’re still funny.

“You here to cause trouble?” (the enforcer) said, in a voice so deep he must have had a third testicle tucked away in there somewhere.
“Almost certainly,” I said.
“Right, lads! said the enforcer, glancing back over his shoulder to address the rest of the street. “Pick up your feet, we are out of here. This is Dead Boy and John bloody Taylor, and we are not being paid nearly enough to take on the likes of them. Everybody round to Greasy Joan’s cafe, where we will wait out whatever appalling things are about to happen.”

There are so many things I like about these books: the stories, the characters, the fast pace, and the fact that they seem to come out every three months. (Which made up for the fact that the last major story arc took three books to complete.) And the story arc does finish with this book. So one way or the other, things are settled between John Taylor and Lilith.

Although there are lots of gruesome details in this book, I have to say that they were written in a way that doesn’t bother me, the person who constantly hides her face at movies. I’m not sure whether it’s Simon Green’s writing in particular, or the difference between seeing versus reading something horrific. I can tell you, though, that if they made any Nightside movies, I’d definitely NOT watch them.

If you’ve been reading the Nightside books, this is one you definitely don’t want to miss. If you have not yet read a Nightside book, I highly recommend starting with Something from the Nightside and reading through. These are short books, and they’re a lot of fun to read. Despite all the awful things that happen.

For what it’s worth, I also love the covers of these books. They’re general enough that they don’t give anything away, yet they still manage to portray the general feeling of the book.

And once you’re finished Sharper than a Serpent’s Tooth, then you can go here, and read the news from August 2005. (This link does not contain spoilers, per se, but information within will give you a good idea of how this story will resolve.)
Rating: 9/10

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