Simon R. Green, Hell to Pay

Hell to Pay

Simon R. Green

Ace, January 2007, $6.99, 272 pp.

ISBN 0441014606

The Nightside is a realm within London that only certain people know about. It is a place where darkness never ends and good and evil exist side by side, although Heaven and Hell can not interfere directly with the people who live there. Anything or just about anyone can be bought or sold there for the right price; creatures of myth and legend, and people from the future and other dimensions can be seen there. Now that the Lilith war is over and PI John Tyler won the hostilities but refused the crown, he is in need of funds.

Jeremiah Griffin and his family are among the few human immortals in the Nightside. He changed his will, leaving everything to his granddaughter Melissa who is as strong as he is. However, someone kidnapped her from the mundane and magically projected Griffin home. He calls on John to find her with in twenty four hours, as she needs her to sign some papers before she is eighteen. However, a powerful force is blocking John's sight, which normally allows him to find anyone or anything; thus he must search the old fashioned way and hope he can find her without getting anyone, including himself killed.

A new story arc has begun now that the Lilith war is over, which brings with it freshness and an audience wondering how Simon R. Green will match the previous excellent arc. Walker is in charge, even though the authorities that gave him power have disappeared. Change is coming, but John, a heroic figure, is more interested in solving his case than in taking over the Nightside or becoming part of the new world order. Mr. Green writes dark fantasy with lighthearted moments, such as when the hero gets himself out of one predicament only to land back in trouble, as John lives life leaping out of the proverbial boiling pot.