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Hex and the City
For other uses of the word Succubus, see Succubus (disambiguation).
Hex and the City is a novel written by Simon R. Green. It is the fourth book in the Nightside series by this author. In this book, a Succubus named Pretty Poison is a central character in the story. She and her love Sinner have their story resolved within this book's pages.
Details
- Title: Hex and the City (Book Four in the Nightside Sides)
- Author: Simon R. Green
- Format: Paperback
- Publisher: Ace
- Pages: 256
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0441012612
- ISBN-13: 978-0441012619
- Release Date: February 22, 2005
Synopsis
Lady Luck has hired John Taylor to investigate the origins of the Nightside--the dark heart of London where it's always 3 A.M. But when he starts to uncover facts about his long-vanished mother, the Nightside--and all of existence-- could be snuffed out.
Book Review
The following review is from the Amazon.com link in the External Links below:
- 5 out of 5 stars
- Mother's Nature
- Reviewed On: August 11, 2007
- Reviewed By: Arthur W. Jordin
Hex and the City is the fourth urban fantasy novel in the Nightside series, following Nightingale's Lament. In the previous volume, John Taylor and Dead Boy brought Rossignol back from death and Walker took the Cavendishes away. Then Taylor found that his client has been dead for two years; hard to collect from a ghost.
In this novel, Taylor is hired by the Great Auction Hall to watch over the chaos butterfly. Supposedly, possession of the butterfly means control of future events. Most of the major players, or their agents, are in the hall for this auction.
Everything goes well until bidding starts on the butterfly. First everybody starts humming or singing the same song and then the wards and protections break and blow apart. Soon psychenauts show up from the Outside and Taylor takes certain corrective actions.
After the auction hall incident, Taylor passes on the details of where to send his check and goes out for a dinner date with his secretary. Cathy has already selected Rick's Cafe Imaginaire, where the food comes from extinct or imaginary animals. They order dragonburgers and salads, with Cheshire Cat ice cream for desert. After the meal, Lady Luck drops by to offer Taylor a job.
Lady Luck wants Taylor to find out the origins of the Nightside. She offers to tell him about his mother in return for his services. Since Taylor wants to know about the origins as much as about his mother, he agrees to take the job. Naturally, Walker tries to dissuade him.
In this story, Taylor consults the wishing well in the Mammon Emporium. While the future is subject to change without prior notification, the well has a good reputation for predicting the present. For one drop of blood, the wishing well tells him the present location of the Madman.
The Hotel Clappe is very willing to provide Madman's room number if Taylor will only take him away. The desk clerk even says please. Madman sees reality in all its terror and strange things happen around him. Madman agrees to accompany Taylor in his search.
Next Taylor recruits Sinner for the search. Sinner had sold his soul for true love, but Satan cheated. Sinner didn't care and went to Hell still loving Pretty Poison, the succubus of his dreams. Satan wouldn't have a happy Sinner in the nether regions, so he threw him out and Pretty Poison went with him. Rejected by both Heaven and Hell and not really alive nor dead, Sinner is impervious to just about any form of attack.
Taylor interviews residents who have been in the Nightside for a long time; first Merlin, then Herne the Hunter and finally the Lamentation disavow all knowledge of the origins. So he searches back through time. Eventually, he discovers his answer, but the information is more than he really wants to know.
This story involves Taylor's mother. After three volumes filled with allusions to his mother, we finally learn something about her nature and even a little about his father and his friends. Maybe the information wasn't worth the effort, but Taylor does get more than he had expected.
Highly recommended for Green fans and for anyone else who enjoys tales of arcane adventure, exotic environments, and strange fellows.