[.ca] Unnatural Inquirer (ISBN 0441015581)

Nightside noir:
Simon R. Green's Nightside is the REAL dark side of London -- a city full of sleazy supernaturals and dark secrets, perpetually locked in night. And "The Unnatural Inquirer" is Simon R. Green's eighth fantasy-noir set in the Nightside -- it's full of weird crimes, crazy inhabitants, and strange power grabs. This isn't quite Green's best, but it has his usual solid blend of mystery, horror, fantasy and dark humour. As the story opens, John Taylor and his new love Suzie Shotgun are dealing with voodoo mayhem at a gruesome adult carnival. But then Cathy sends him a new assignment, working for the sleazy tabloid The Unnatural Inquirer. Apparently a guy named Pen Donovan somehow recorded a vision of the afterlife on a DVD -- nobody knows whether it was heaven or hell -- and then disappeared. As with anything important, a lot of people in the Nightside want that DVD. And with a perky half-demon paparazzi beside him, Taylor starts prowling all the possible locations. But not only are the people he encounters dangerous, but something is pursuing them and erasing the nastier ones. Is the DVD truly a sight of the afterlife -- and is it worth dying for? Futuristic ice queens, space generals, Lovecraft homages, an evil King Arthur, corrupt cardinals and the offspring of a succubus and a wayward Rolling Stone -- Green certainly knows how to keep the Nightside series interesting. Though the Nightside is not the sort of place you'd want to visit -- let alone live in -- it makes for a wonderful horror-noir read. As with many of the other Nightside books, this a straight-line kind of mystery, where the hero investigates A, B, C and D before he finding the right person. And Green fills it with deliciously weird baddies (Kid Cthulhu?), spells (a T-rex in a museum), and he really goes to town with the tabloid titles from the Unnatural Inquirer ("Old Ones Fail To Rise Yet Again"). And he hasn't lost his touch for dialogue -- despite the many dark moments, Green always has some funny lines ("I really do hope it isn't the Devil again." "I could ask Mummy for you. She has contacts with the Old Firm..."). But the final confrontation is a bit anticlimatic, and it goes switching around from villain to villain... very, very fast. And Green weaves in some interesting relationship threads -- a major subplot through the story is John being tempted by a more "normal" relationship, rather than the one he has with Suzie. Which involves no sex at the moment, due to her past of sexual abuse. Suzie herself is only here for a spattering of pages, but we see more hints of the wounded teenager on the inside. Bettie is a fun and rather appealing young half-demon, and we see some old favorites here and there -- the Walker, the Collector, and Alex the surly barkeep. Not only does he get very gung-ho soldier in this one, but he reveals a startling secret about his love life. "The Unnatural Inquirer" suffers from a rather anticlimactic battle, but it's a solid noir mystery in a world that is (thankfully) nothing like ours. Worth a read.