Nightingale's Lament

Nightside, Book 3

De: Simon R. Green

Narrado por: Dan Calley

The name's John Taylor. I work the garish streets of the Nightside - the hidden heart of London where it's always three a.m., where inhuman creatures and otherworldly gods walk side by side in the endless darkness of the soul.

I have a talent for finding things. People...property...no problem. But now I'm after something different.

A local diva called the Nightingale has cut herself off from her family and friends, and I've been hired to find out the reason. I'm also wondering why her suicide-prone fans think she has a voice to die for. Literally.

To get the truth, I'll have to lend an ear to the most enticingly beautiful and deadly voice in all of the Nightside - and survive.

©2004 Simon R. Green (P)2022 Tantor

Enjoying the world and the story, could lose the slight transphobia

I'm greatly enjoying the world this is set in, always finding more unexpected and creative ideas, some more gruesome than others.
The build up of mystery surrounding John's parentage is excellent.
This book did include a lengthy scene in a night club with drag queen performers (I think?), who were referred to repeatedly as "trannies". It felt relatively clear that there wasn't an intention to be transphobic, but it was just a bit too much.

Also, every. single. time. there's a mention of John third eye, the phrase "his third eye, his private eye" appears. It was also a bit too much.

The narrator for this series is fantastic!

Love the Constantine-esque feel and flavor of this supernatural detective series! Here is the rest of your stupid 15 word minimum review….

Both Simon and Dan are spectacular

Simon is always a favorite-deeply intricate, amazingly created characters ... and of course, it is always three. o'clock in the morning in the nightside...

I have followed Simon's work for years, but come back always to the Nightside. I have all the novels, but the audio books are my goto. The accents make everything real! Highly recommended!

Another wonderful night side story!

Simon R Green has always captivated me with all his stories, and this one is a favorite of mine. I was caught off guard with the switch of the voice actor change from the previous story but soon came to live his style especially with dead boy. Worth a listen!

Classis series!!

I love this series!
I have read the series multiple times, but there is something different about listening to the series.
The voice actor is great!
I really think the voice matches the image I have created of John Taylor!
On to the next book in this series 😃

Better than the first

Is an awesome story. It was better than the first book. I highly recommended for those of you who really appreciate this something from the night side series.

Eh, it didn’t age well.

This was written in 2004, so maybe that’s an excuse- but calling people “tranny”, even in the early 2000’s was not really acceptable. I get that maybe this is how the character speaks, but that doesn’t seem to jive with the rest of his character. I do hope this doesn’t continue in the rest of the series!

Upstaged by Deadboy

“Don’t try to scare me, Billy Latham, I’ve sneezed scarier objects than you.”
John Taylor is so unbelievably overpowered that it kills most of the suspense.

“That’s the trouble with the Nightside: you can’t rely on people staying dead.”
The entertainment instead lies with the mystery and supporting characters. This third book sees the introduction of Deadboy and his futuristic car. I find Deadboy far more interesting than John, and their buddy-buddy detective work was one of the better parts of this rather dry installment.

“Condiments: never leave home without them.”
The characters were cheesier than usual, perhaps in deference to the nightclub venue. I liked that this story had better developed villains with lines and scenes throughout, as opposed to the previous books where the reveal only happened at the end. I agree with another reviewer that the unfortunate, and repeated, use of “tranny” to describe the entertainers was a bit cringe. However, it didn’t feel hateful:
it was just an overused phrase where I’d have preferred Queens or drag. At the end of the day,
they were just one more kind of oddity in a world full of oddities.