I liked this a little more than the last one. I can tell that this is a series that is going to be all over the place as far as how well I liked the story. They are super fast reads though, so until they stink up the barn, I will continue. ( )

What started off as a creative and interesting read quickly devolved into an ejaculation of cool ideas that never fully coalesced. The biggest issue with Hex and the City is that all our heroes are so overpowered that every situation they get themselves into are quickly over in a couple of pages despite the author trying to build it up as the thing that will surely end them. It's anti-climactic and honestly comes off as lazy writing. The characters are cool on the surface, but feel like they are trapped in the box of their creation. The story itself works as a macguffin, but doesn't provide any interesting hooks through the rest of the story causing it to fall flat. Even the twist at the end had me scratching my head and asking, "Why?" It's a good enough read for some creative ideas brought to life, but don't expect it to capitalize on those ideas in any meaningful way. ( )

In this installation, we finally find out who and what John's mother is and how the Nightside was formed. This series is a good in between read when you've read a lot of heavier stories. ( )

Hex and the City is the fourth book in Simon R. Green's Nightside series. I have, and have read, only books two, three, and six. This book opens with an auction that goes terribly wrong before John Taylor, private eye, manages to end the crisis. The real case is finding out the origin of the Nightside, for which John has been hired by Lady Luck herself. (At least it shuts up John's secretary, Cathy Barrett, who wants to accompany him on a case -- just not this case.) In payment, Lady Luck will tell John who his mother was.

This is bound to be a very difficult and dangerous case. Shotgun Susie and Razor Eddie aren't available, so John seeks out the Madman and the Sinner to help him. (Sinner comes with a bonus, his deadly girlfriend, Pretty Poison.)

NOTES:

Chapter 1: See Carnacki the Ghost-Finder by William Hope Hodgson for the guy John Taylor says he used to work with.

Chapter 2:

a. The old 'Avengers' show John mentions is the British one in which the most famous duo was John Steed and Emma Peel. It has nothing to do with the Marvel Comics superhero team.

b. To understand the favor John did for Rick of Rick's Café Imaginaire, read 'The Hunting of the Snark' by Lewis Carroll.

Chapter 3:

a. We meet the Madman and learn his back story..

b. Jessica Sorrow, the Unbeliever, appeared in book two, Agents of Light and Darkness.

c. We meet Sinner and Pretty Poison. Sinner's back story is included.

d. John Taylor still owes the the Prospero and Michael Scott Memorial Library their only copy of I Did it My Way by Baron Frankenstein.

Chapter 4:

a. A few of the clubs in Nightside are mentioned, including membership requirement.

b. Parts of the Londinium Club are described, as is Bad Penny.

Chapter 5:

a. The "Twilight Zone" theme is the ring tone on Taylor's cell phone.

b. Strangefellows bar is even older than Merlin Satanspawn.

c. Alex Morrisey learns something about his ancestry that he's not happy to hear.

d. John has a Vision in which he learns who his enemies are.

Chapter 6: This takes place in Rats' Alley.

Chapter 7:

a. Taylor and helpers are being followed by 7 combat magicians from the Hooded Claw Clan, 2 supernatural trackers, and the Holy Trio (Jesuit demonologists).

b. See Agents of Light and Darkness for the unholy grail case.

c. The Freak Fair is described, as well as the Maxwell Mausoleum.

d. I suspect the person who taught Taylor about carrying around a bit of celery was the 5th Doctor from the 'Doctor Who' TV show.

e. We learn the fate of the Brittle Sisters of the Hive.

Chapter 8:

a. Our quartet enter the World Beneath Nightside to consult the Lord of Thorns. The descriptions make it clear this is NOT a place to visit if you can help them.

b. I suspect that the man running the pastel blue barge on the World Beneath canal was the Phantom of the Opera.

c. Bub, who guards the way to the Lord of Thorns is probably Beelzebub, the Lord of the Flies.

d. I hope the Lord of Thorns isn't, as rumored, Joseph of Arimathea. His description of himself reminds me of Darkwing Duck announcing his presence to crooks, only even more extravagant. The Lord of Thorns has his own guess about who John's mother is.

Chapter 9:

a. We learn some things about Walker's past. Also, his wife is Sheila, their son Keith is at Oxford and their other son, Robert, is in the military.

b. Marianne Faithfull was a 1960s singer and songwriter.

c. There's a vision of Henry Walker, Mark Robinson, and Charles Taylor (John's dad), performing a ritual in 1967. Doctor Who is mentioned again.

d. Aleister Crowley was real.

f. Possibly the 'Dagon' mentioned in the poster is the H. P. Lovecraft Dagon, not the Syrian god.

g. John's mother's alias was Fenella Davis.

Chapter 10: Alex's insult to John probably references 'The Rime of the Ancient Mariner' by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, the poem that is the source of the phrase to have an albatross around one's neck.

Our journey to various places in the Nightside amply demonstrates that it's not a good place to visit, let alone live. Mr. Green's descriptions are as evocative as I've come to expect from him. As John, Madman, Sinner, and Pretty Poison search for someone who can tell them the origin of the Nightside, Walker and the Authorities make it clear how strongly they feel that the origin story is one that needs to remain untold. John can't count on Walker being his late father's old friend to keep him alive. There's also that pesky problem of how to prevent the horrible future John encountered during a Timeslip in an earlier book. I didn't see the last chapter coming, but I did enjoy it. ( )

Fun and entertaining to read. Interesting world building. ( )