Just Another Judgment Day-Simon R. Green

Just Another Judgment Day
Simon R. Green
Ace, Jan 2009, $24.95
ISBN: 9780441016747

Since time began, there has always been The Walking Man; an entity who travel’s God’s path by killing sinners regardless of their crimes against the Lord although he focuses mostly on those beyond redemption. He has become invulnerable with incredible strength and speed. He has no compassion, no empathy, no pity; he cares naught about their souls or their surviving loved ones. Heavenly justice is all that matters to this judge, jury and executioner.

Now he is coming to clean up Nightside, a city invisible within London; a place where sin thrives and whwere every perversion known to humanity flourishes in the open. The Walking Man demands the end of transgressions or else; he includes sinners and hedonistic self indulgers. Nightside will die once he purges the community. Private investigator John Taylor intends to stop the invincible Walking Man; he understands what he is going up against as all who ever opposed this legend died. However, he also comprehends passivity denotes death anyway. At the Adventurer’s Club House, John takes a last stand with many locals at his side; but in the end it will be him and The Walking Man with only one walking away.

As is the case in the previous saga, Nightside is a place where anything happens as John Taylor is well aware of from the numerous cases he has worked. This place is in his blood and in a sense his heritage. The irony of this deep two person character study is that John also dispenses justice on evil doers in his Marlowe tough guy manner. The difference resides on interpretation as John discreetly ignores self inflicted depravities that harm no one not involved in the dissoluteness; while The Walking Man does not discriminate as he goes after anyone who in his mind has violated God’s rules; hence the title. Simon R. Green has refreshed his terrific urban noir fantasy with a paranormal gunfight at the OK Corral showdown.

Harriet Klausner