John Taylor is a detective. He arrived in London from the Nightside some years ago and now makes his living, in London, finding lost things. A gift he has had from birth allows him to see the echoes of things that happened previously which makes his job an awful lot easier.

But business is rather slow at the moment so when a wealthy woman, Joanne Barrett, comes to his office asking if he could help find her missing daughter he immediately accepts. But as his investigation begins he discovers that Joanna's daughter has gone to the Nightside – a place he swore he would never return to. To find the girl he and Joanna will be forced, against his better judgement, to go into the Nightside.

On the surface this book seems like pretty much any other detective story but as you read further you start to realise that there is much more to this book than meets the eye.

Taylor was born in the Nightside and, as he meets a number of old acquaintances, the story hints at details of his previous life that will hopefully be explored further in future stories. The Nightside itself is the dark side of London, a place where it is permanently three A.M. and you can buy or do anything you please. Things that you think only exist in nightmares live in the Nightside.

This is an unusual story, not strictly speaking horror, more of a dark fantasy. It is incredibly easy to read and has a rather interesting twist in its tale that I, for one, did not see coming. In feel the book reminded me of Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere - it's set in a similar kind of dark foreboding world.

Usually this kind of story would be set somewhere in America so it was rather refreshing to read a book that is set in England and is written with a more subtle, English style. Simon Green is an author that I will definitely have to read more often – especially other Nightside books.

Synopsis
You can find anything in the Nightside-if it doesn't find you first.

John Taylor is not a private detective per se, but he has a knack for finding lost things. That's why he's been hired to descend into the Nightside, an otherworldly realm in the center of London where fantasy and reality share renting space and the sun never shines.