The Nightside stories are so hard boiled it’s hard to put in perspective, but I’m going to try anyway. If you took Dashiell Hammett’s corpse rolled it in batter then deep fried it till black, you would have a pretty good approximation of what Simon R. Green is going for. Nightingale’s Lament is the third book in the Nightside series, and follows the same mold the previous books do. The story is basically another case file for John Tayler. He’s been tasked to discover the the cause behind the mysterious suicides surrounding a young singer’s performances. Through the course of the mystery he once again uses his reputation and collection of odd characters to help in solving the case. Simon R. Green continues to introduce new and fascinating characters into his narrative.
So far with each installment Green has tightened up the writing, and really shown how exciting this world can be. The gritty fast paced style is really starting to grow on me. Nightingale’s Lament is full of memorable lines, I’ll call the them Taylorisms. For example:
“"I don't use guns. Never have. They have too many limitations."
“That man could brood for the Olympics, and pick up a bronze in self-pity while he was at it”
"Condiments, Never leave home without them”
Those are just a few of many great quotes. The book’s tone is almost always tongue in cheek, but it remains just serious enough to keep the suspense high. Green has something special with the Nightside series. I hope he continues to improve the narrative, and keeps these things coming out.
No comments:
Post a Comment