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grambles13's review against another edition
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
lgpiper's review
4.0
Last summer I read through the last three of the Easy Rawlins books by Walter Mosley. Apparently, Mosley has had second thoughts and has resuscitated Easy, but the new book isn't yet available on kindle. So, I figured why not try a different Mosley series, the one featuring Fearless Jones. This is the first of them in which we are introduced to the narrator, Paris Minton, a second-hand book seller who is in the business primarily because he gets to sit around all day reading books, and his friend Fearless Jones, an army-trained killer, who has a strong sense of honor, but who keeps getting into scrapes of one kind and another, and who seems always to enmesh poor Paris in his trials.
This book was fast-paced and interesting. It was set in 1954, and has much to say about the problems of racism. I think that might be one of my primary interests in reading Mosley, he's an acute observer of the problems and effects of racism. Basically, he is opening up a mostly unknown world to me despite my having been brought up in Baltimore before the Civil Rights era (believe it or not, I never knew about slavery in my home state until I read Frederick Douglass a few years ago. WTF?).
I found the story itself a bit convoluted and am not sure it makes a whole lot of sense, we have Nazis, Israeli spies, crooked cops, ambitions and wanton young women, crooked store-front preachers, etc. all involved in essentially the same scam. Whatever, Paris and Fearless eventually survive repeated attempts to kill them and more-or-less figure out the reasons they kept coming across dead bodies.
This book was fast-paced and interesting. It was set in 1954, and has much to say about the problems of racism. I think that might be one of my primary interests in reading Mosley, he's an acute observer of the problems and effects of racism. Basically, he is opening up a mostly unknown world to me despite my having been brought up in Baltimore before the Civil Rights era (believe it or not, I never knew about slavery in my home state until I read Frederick Douglass a few years ago. WTF?).
I found the story itself a bit convoluted and am not sure it makes a whole lot of sense, we have Nazis, Israeli spies, crooked cops, ambitions and wanton young women, crooked store-front preachers, etc. all involved in essentially the same scam. Whatever, Paris and Fearless eventually survive repeated attempts to kill them and more-or-less figure out the reasons they kept coming across dead bodies.
tbjork's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
coffeeneur's review against another edition
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Mosley is so good with characters! Sometimes I lost the thread on what's happening on the solving the crime side, but I can't get enough of his writing right now. It's a great ride
alisa4books's review against another edition
Gotta love Mosley! First in the Fearless Jones series doesn't disappoint.
amyiw's review against another edition
4.0
3 1/2
This starts at a run with the action and very colorful characters. You feel that it fits right in the time of the 50s in California. I ended up liking the two main characters Paris and Fearless quite a bit which is a big part of whether I end up liking a story. I think I ended up liking this more for the picture that it painted, and the characters and personalities, than the mystery. The mystery ends up being very convoluted and for me, took away from the story of the characters and life.
So the mystery, is about more than who burnt down Paris's store, a lot more. It really ends up hard to keep parts of it straight and much ends up being explained in a telling of why. For me this was the least interesting part of the over all picture and got a little much. Frequent action and violence then explanation was a bit dragging compared to the interaction.
What made it great was the descriptiveness of, how the racist cops were, how there were some without preconceived racism even with pushes from the cops, how women might have been thought to get ahead in these situations, how some that barely knew them helped them out, and then how the friends next door can leave you dry. This is what made this book alive and a good read.
25% in--------------------
I've been meaning to read a Walter Mosley book for ages. I don't know how I decided on this one as [b:Devil in a Blue Dress|37100|Devil in a Blue Dress (Easy Rawlins, #1)|Walter Mosley|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1336545202l/37100._SY75_.jpg|1344080] is the one I've known of for ages and was written in 1990. This one was written in 2001 but is set in Watts neighborhood of Los Angeles during the 1950s, before the Watts riots. I think I'm glad I started with this as it is probably less dated though since it is historical, although not distant, might not matter. Still it starts off right into the running. We get Paris, a bookshop owner in Watts, who live atop of his store. A woman comes into his shop asking for a man and quickly hide in the backroom when a big bruiser comes in looking for her. She is no where to be found and Paris pays the price, all the while thinking of his friend, Fearless Jones, a street tough also, who has pulled him out of these situations in the past but is currently serving time. The girl is found and only creates more issues and over and over Paris thinks about Fearless finally needing to bring him into help. These characters jump off the pages at you, we know Paris, or someone like him. We know the woman or someone like her; we know not to trust her too. And we get to know Fearless through Paris's thoughts.
This starts at a run with the action and very colorful characters. You feel that it fits right in the time of the 50s in California. I ended up liking the two main characters Paris and Fearless quite a bit which is a big part of whether I end up liking a story. I think I ended up liking this more for the picture that it painted, and the characters and personalities, than the mystery. The mystery ends up being very convoluted and for me, took away from the story of the characters and life.
So the mystery, is about more than who burnt down Paris's store, a lot more. It really ends up hard to keep parts of it straight and much ends up being explained in a telling of why. For me this was the least interesting part of the over all picture and got a little much. Frequent action and violence then explanation was a bit dragging compared to the interaction.
What made it great was the descriptiveness of, how the racist cops were, how there were some without preconceived racism even with pushes from the cops, how women might have been thought to get ahead in these situations, how some that barely knew them helped them out, and then how the friends next door can leave you dry. This is what made this book alive and a good read.
25% in--------------------
I've been meaning to read a Walter Mosley book for ages. I don't know how I decided on this one as [b:Devil in a Blue Dress|37100|Devil in a Blue Dress (Easy Rawlins, #1)|Walter Mosley|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1336545202l/37100._SY75_.jpg|1344080] is the one I've known of for ages and was written in 1990. This one was written in 2001 but is set in Watts neighborhood of Los Angeles during the 1950s, before the Watts riots. I think I'm glad I started with this as it is probably less dated though since it is historical, although not distant, might not matter. Still it starts off right into the running. We get Paris, a bookshop owner in Watts, who live atop of his store. A woman comes into his shop asking for a man and quickly hide in the backroom when a big bruiser comes in looking for her. She is no where to be found and Paris pays the price, all the while thinking of his friend, Fearless Jones, a street tough also, who has pulled him out of these situations in the past but is currently serving time. The girl is found and only creates more issues and over and over Paris thinks about Fearless finally needing to bring him into help. These characters jump off the pages at you, we know Paris, or someone like him. We know the woman or someone like her; we know not to trust her too. And we get to know Fearless through Paris's thoughts.
munchin's review against another edition
4.0
4.5 stars
Mosley writes wonderful, memorable characters in his mysteries but his stories do tend to fill up with complications and unnecessary convolutions.
Mosley writes wonderful, memorable characters in his mysteries but his stories do tend to fill up with complications and unnecessary convolutions.