roshk99's review
2.0
Listened to this as an audiobook, and somehow I couldn't get into it. The prose was actual very well-written, with clever literary references and complex characters. I think it was just too dark, gritty, and intense. It was hard to relate to the main character (though maybe that was the point) and he seemed, a bit unrealistically, connected to every nefarious happening in the city.
nonna7's review
4.0
Walter Mosley is, in my opinion, one of the best writers we have in the United States. Personally, I think he is undervalued because so many of his books are "crime novels." This is the 5th in the Leonid McGill series about a complex and somewhat enigmatic private detective, former thug, still viewed with suspicion by the NYPD. Leonid bears the name of a former Soviet leader because his father was an unabashed member of the American Communist Party. In this book, Leonid learns that his son, Twill, who is now working in his detective agency, is out on his own without consulting him and has placed himself in a very dangerous place. At the same time, Leonid is on a job in Philly and meets up with a beautiful but very dangerous woman with whom he begins a passionate affair. In the meantime, his wife is in a private hospital after having committed suicide. He feels guilty because he doesn't love her, but still cares for her. He loves Aura, the woman who manages the building where he rents his office. However, they haven't seen one another for a while, and he misses her. He soon learns that Twill is up to his neck in a secret group dominated by a Fagin-like character who calls himself Jones and and employs a group of young people who commit an incredible number of crimes every year. To complicate things even further, a man who had requested his help with a case is found murdered. It doesn't take long for him to learn that there is far more to this than he realized. Leonid isn't a hero. He is willing to blackmail anyone who he thinks deserves it. He doesn't want to kill, but will do so when he must. This is such an interesting and complex character. If you haven't read any of them, start at the beginning. Walter Mosley is worth savoring.
jakewritesbooks's review
4.0
I understand that as readers, we bring our own perceptions and biases to books in ways authors do not intend. Such is the exchange between creator and those indulging their creation. I genuinely try to connect with what writers are saying in books despite my own bullcrap. I hate it when readers/reviewers talk about reading or watching something and say “I’m just going to pretend its this instead.”
But with Walter Mosley’s Leonid McGill series, I can’t help it.
In the early aughts, Mosley turned from making hardboiled/mystery fare and added touches of existentialism to all of his books. Even the mysteries became about something more. Plotting was never Mosley’s strong suit so he just chucked it out the window in favor of tangents and deeper characterization.
It’s not what I expected when I started diving through Mosley’s extensive catalogue but I like it. However, I’ve come to appreciate it…with reservations. My working theory on the Leonid McGill books, and how I’m able to enjoy them, is that Leonid McGill is actually dead and he’s stuck in some form of the afterlife atoning for his bad deeds as a fixer of the mob.
For me, that explains the surrealism, the sheer implausibility, the lackadaisical plotting, the wild characterization, and the fierce introspection of these books. There’s just no way that these are grounded in any semblance of reality for me. You wouldn’t believe that the same guy who wrote the Easy Rawlins series wrote these. They show an author who has changed his voice, or at least displayed his versatility for the better.
They’re unlike any crime novels I know for the better. But I have to read it my way.
Sorry, I didn’t say much about this particular book but the facts are simple: this is similar to other Leonid McGill books and it also continues the saga of his private life. Check it if you like the others.
But with Walter Mosley’s Leonid McGill series, I can’t help it.
In the early aughts, Mosley turned from making hardboiled/mystery fare and added touches of existentialism to all of his books. Even the mysteries became about something more. Plotting was never Mosley’s strong suit so he just chucked it out the window in favor of tangents and deeper characterization.
It’s not what I expected when I started diving through Mosley’s extensive catalogue but I like it. However, I’ve come to appreciate it…with reservations. My working theory on the Leonid McGill books, and how I’m able to enjoy them, is that Leonid McGill is actually dead and he’s stuck in some form of the afterlife atoning for his bad deeds as a fixer of the mob.
For me, that explains the surrealism, the sheer implausibility, the lackadaisical plotting, the wild characterization, and the fierce introspection of these books. There’s just no way that these are grounded in any semblance of reality for me. You wouldn’t believe that the same guy who wrote the Easy Rawlins series wrote these. They show an author who has changed his voice, or at least displayed his versatility for the better.
They’re unlike any crime novels I know for the better. But I have to read it my way.
Sorry, I didn’t say much about this particular book but the facts are simple: this is similar to other Leonid McGill books and it also continues the saga of his private life. Check it if you like the others.
greatexpectations77's review
3.0
I was really pleasantly surprised by this book. I don't read a lot of male characters or male writers, but I was impressed by the amount of agency and depth of the female characters in this book. And McGill recognizes their strength and respects them. This book really made me realize the extremely low bar that I've set for male writers and their characters. But I'll likely continue this series. I liked that it was set on the East Coast. Sometimes I felt like I was having to keep track of a lot of characters at once, but I expect this was partially my own fault for beginning with the fifth book in the series.
djreads's review
4.0
These characters just make me smile. I love his writing style and end up devouring his books so quickly. I hope there's another one in this series soon!
braydin's review
adventurous
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
guiltyfeat's review
4.0
Mosley usually delivers, but this was the best of his that I'd read in a while and the best of the Leonid McGill stories. All the modern noir tropes are there - the hero who fights better than anyone else, the friend who is the most feared hitman on the planet, the friend who can hack anything anywhere and the friend in the police who can get him out of any jam. And yet, there is something more about these stories. They're a little sexier than the Easy Rawlins ones and McGill's problems seem more real and more heartbreaking. I still have a deep fondness for Easy, but this was just more fun than I've had with one of Mosley's books in a while.