Ghost of a Smile

Ghost of a Smile (2011) Simon R. Green

As much as I enjoy Simon R. Green’s writing, and as much is it frequently makes me laugh, I found Ghost of a Smile to be disappointing.

There is still plenty of dialogue to make me happy:

“That’s it?” said JC, after Happy had been quite for awhile. “I don’t know why I keep you around. Could you be any more vague? There are psychic pets on television on are more specific than you!”

and

“You have no idea how close to the wire that came,” said Happy. “It feels like my brains are leaking out my ears.”
“What makes you think you have any?” said Melody.
Happy glared at her. “Everyone’s got ears! I think I’d like to go home and lie down now, please!”

Yet despite the exchanges I love, the story mostly went on too long, with long sections that felt like filler rather than anything at all integral to the story. In fact, several chapters felt like they could have been summarized by, “they climb to another floor, where they discover more horrible and disgusting things, which they manage to overcome, and then they climb to the next floor.”

And then there was the end, which managed to have multiple cliff-hangers and newly introduced plot points.

Yuck.

So, sadly, I think I may stick to the Nightside books, and leave the Ghost Finders and Secret Histories alone.
Rating: 5/10

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