This book contains the first two stories of the Nightside series. An urban fantasy in the style of the Dresden Files or Felix Castor. Overall, probably not as good as either but still a fun read if you like that kind of thing and it appears that I do.

Something from the Nightside is the first of the stories and introduces the main character of John Taylor, a private investigator who has a gift for finding things within the Nightside. A place he left behind 5 years ago to lead a more normal and safer existence in the real world. Unfortunately his gift doesn't work there and so his detective business is only just about been keeping afloat. As with all good noir tales it's about now that a dame walks in and this one proves no exception. She wants John to go back to the Nightside and find her missing daughter. It's a job he can't afford to refuse and if truth be told he really misses the place he left behind (even if at least half the denizens want him dead). As well as being introduced to the Nightside we get to meet some of the populace and those that survive seem destined to become recurring characters in future stories.

Agents of Light and Darkness follows on from shortly after the end of the first and finds John still working in the Nightside but not living there (it's safer that way). His new client wants him to find something that seems to have made its way to the Nightside and it would be better for all concerned if the wrong hands don't get hold of it. The Unholy Grail has resurfaced and if it isn't found soon then Armageddon might be the next stop as heaven and hell are mobilising their hosts and woe betide anyone who gets in their way. The other major players in the Nightside are also interested in possessing the relic also so John will have his work cut out on this job especially as he can't use his gift without attracting the wrong sort of attention. Looks like he might have to go all old school on this one.

The cast of characters in these stories are quite good, the pace is fast and the stories don't outstay their welcome. The author does sometimes make use of the same tired old clichés a bit too often. If you're up to date on the Jim Butcher series and have read all the Mike Carey ones then this might fill in a gap until something better comes along. ( )

Something from the Nightside

Many of the sleek and gleaming vehicles darting through the Nightside had to be new to Joanna; shapes and sizes and even concepts that had never known the light of day; some of them powered from sources best no thought about too much, if you wanted to sleep at night. Taxis that ran on debased holy water, limousines that ran on fresh blood, ambulances that ran on distilled suffering. You can turn a profit from anything, in the Nightside. I had to take Joanna by the arm as she drifted unrealisingly too close to the edge of the pavement.
"Careful!" I said loudly in her ear. "Some of those things aren't really cars. And some of them are hungry."

Walk down a particular tunnel, or through a certain door and you may find yourself in the Nightside. The Nightside is a magical and dangerous place; square mile of London where it is always three in the morning and the moon is much larger (or maybe much closer) than in the real world.

John Taylor used to live in the Nightside, but has been working as a private detective in London for the past five years, because too many people were trying to kill him on the Nightside. When a woman asks him to track down her runaway daughter Cathy, who is thought to be in the Nightside, he has to go back. Taylor has a power that only works in the Nightside; he can find anything or anyone, but using his power allows his enemies to track him, and whatever called Cathy to the Nightside seems to have the power to hide her from him.

Enjoyable.

Angels of Light and Darkness

There were angels all over the Nightside, crossing the night sky n such numbers that they blocked out the stars in places. At first, people came out into the streets, laughing and pointing, marvelling and loudly blaspheming, and more often than not discussing ways to profit from the new situation. And then the angels started dropping down into the Nightside like birds of prey, winged Furies in search of information and retribution, and God and the Devil help anyone who dared refuse them.

In the second of the Nightside books, the Unholy Grail (the cup that Judas drank from at the Last Supper) has surfaced in the Nightside. A priest hires John Taylor to find the Unholy Grail on behalf of the Vatican, so that they can keep it locked up safely. Both God and the Devil also want the Grail, in order to bring about the end of the world, and send their angels into the Nightside to look for it, and they are not the only ones who are desperate to find it. ( )