'Agents of Light and Darkness' by Simon R. Green

ISBN: 0441011136
ISBN-13: 9780441011131
Format: Mass Market Paperback, 233pp
Publisher: Ace /Penguin Group (USA)
Price: $6.99

John Taylor has a new case in Agents of Light and Darkness, the second book in the Nightside series by Simon R. Green. When the Unholy Grail turns up it’s only a matter of time before the people living in the Nightside think of John Taylor and his gift for finding things. But it isn’t only the major and minor players who are looking for this evil object; the forces of light and dark are after it as well. Heaven and Hell will turn the Nightside into a battleground looking for the Unholy Grail unless John can find it first.

Contracted by a mysterious priest by the name of Jude, John sets out to recruit some help. He finds Suzie Shooter vegetating on her couch, her apartment a mess, but when he mentions work she brightens up and suits up in her signature studded black leather. Suzie, by the way, has a poster of Emma Peel on her wall with ‘My Hero’ scrolled in lipstick underneath it. I just love that.

So with Suzie by his side, John sets out to find the Unholy Grail. But things aren’t always what they seem, this is the Nightside after all, and nothing is going to be easy. When it is always 3am and the bad guys don’t have to wait for dark you never know what you might find around the corner. But he’s John Taylor, I mean come on, they know better than to take him on. That doesn’t stop them from trying though.

Besides the gruesome, graphic, utterly wonderful horror, there is a lot of humor here: dark, bitter, twisted smiles that curve the corners of broken lips as the grin-wearing fool wipes blood out of his eyes. I guess the phrase would be darkly comic. Well, Simon R. Green has mastered it and makes it seem effortless.

Razor Eddie, the Punk God of the Straight Razor, is back as well. From John and Suzie to Cathy, The Collector, and the gang at Strangefellows, how can you not love these characters? And with details like The Little Sisters of the Immaculate Chain Saw and Nasty Johnny Starlight, you have something that is so far beyond amazing it borders on insane. Yes, insane.

I read a lot, I think I read more than is good for my brain sometimes, and these books stand out like a decapitated body in a church. Read them.

You can purchase an electronic version of Agents of Light and Darkness straight from the publisher here. While you are at it check out the tribute site to Simon R. Green, Blue Moon Rising.