Night Fall

May 7, 2018
In this epic conclusion to two long-running series, the Secret History books (following 2017’s Moonbreaker) and the Nightside books (2015’s The Big Game), Green pits the Drood family—the secret guardians of humankind—against the denizens of the Nightside—London’s dark heart where anything is possible. Previous Secret History entries were playful nods to James Bond with an urban fantasy twist, but this adventure throws away the rule book in favor of all-out war. Eddie Drood and his wild witch companion, Molly Metcalf, face off against the Nightside’s protectors, John Taylor and Shotgun Suzie. Forces on both sides rack up an impressive body count of established characters and newcomers alike, including more than a few fan favorites, with everything lovingly described in Green’s over-the-top, grandiose, freewheeling style: “The street was full of smoke and fire, the sound of crashing vehicles and the screams of the wounded and the dying.” With nods to his other urban fantasy works, such as Ghost Finders and Shadows Fall, Green tosses in everything including the kitchen sink in one final apocalyptic farewell. This is a worthwhile if not always happy ending for a sprawling cast of colorful characters, and readers will be curious to see where Green goes next. Agent: Joshua A. Bilmes, JABberwocky Literary.

Starred review from May 15, 2018
This finale--as in final, last, ultimate, never-to-be-another--wraps up two of Green's popular and successful fantasy series, the Secret Histories (Moonbreaker, 2017, etc.) and the Nightside (The Bride Wore Black Leather, 2012, etc.).Neither series needs much introduction. The Secret Histories are all about the Droods (less a family than a small nation), whose self-appointed mission is to keep reality safe from marauding supernatural creatures; the Nightside (where it's always 3 a.m. and pretty much anything goes--the weirder and more violent the better) doesn't want to control anything, especially itself. For centuries, solemn Pacts and Agreements have kept the Nightside unchanging and the Droods out. But now, impossibly, the Nightside's boundaries have changed, and something very, very scary is approaching--so scary that even the gods have abandoned the place. Does the prospect of a showdown between hordes of control-freak Droods in impenetrable armor and the immovable, laissez-faire, monster-filled Nightside appeal? Of course it does, and luckily Green's eager to tell us all about it. What's really going on, and why? Nobody knows, least of all John Taylor, the man known as Walker (he runs the Nightside), or the Nightside's mysterious Authorities. The Drood Matriarch, meanwhile, orders shamus Eddie Drood and his lover/sidekick, badass witch Molly Metcalf, to investigate while secretly preparing for war, if necessary to the death--of the Nightside, that is; the Droods always win. Before the grand face-off, though, Green showcases, often hilariously, most if not all of the weird beings and doings you might have missed in the previous books.A splendid riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma, conveyed with trademark wisecracking humor, and carried out with maximum bloodshed and mayhem. In a word, irresistible.

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