The Dark Side of the Road

Book Source ~ Library

The Dark Side of the Road

Ishmael Jones, #1

Simon R. Green

1 May 2015

Mystery | Paranormal

224 Pages

My Rating ~ 4 bites

These days he goes by Ishmael Jones, but he’s been many people in the past. With growing technology it’s harder and harder for him to remain hidden, so he works for The Corporation doing secretive things, things most people don’t want to do. In exchange they pay him well and keep him off the world’s radar. When his handler, the Colonel, calls him and asks him to join his family for Christmas, Ishamel is taken aback by the invitation, but complies, feeling an urgency to get there as quickly as possible. Racing through a blizzard he arrives to discover things are going bad fast. It’s up to him to solve the Colonel’s problem, but will he survive doing so?

I really enjoyed this supernatural tale of murder and mystery. Locked in a mansion at Christmas in the middle of the worst blizzard in decades, who is doing the killing? And why? Reminds me of something Agatha Christie may have done. Anyway, Ishmael is a very interesting character (I won’t spoil his background) and while the mystery is top rate and the tension first class, the execution of it is a bit simple and at times, dumb. It’s hard to explain. I must mention the poor editing when it comes to identifying the Colonel as Penny’s half-brother. She keeps calling him her stepbrother even though they share a father. And in one paragraph he’s first her half-brother and then her stepbrother again. Fix that shit! It pisses me off! But overall I am impressed with the world in which Ishmael exists and I look forward to continuing with the series.