ISBN: 1770868-005 Order from: Amazon.com
This often bleak tale of the crime and investigation in the black communities of California in the fifties, the mystery features interesting characters, occasional glints of humor and irony, and ultimately some hope.
Reviewed by David on October 30, 2004
Genre: Mystery (Amateur Sleuth, Black Culture, Noir)
Synopsis: Easy Rawlins is troubleshooter of sorts in the poor black community of Southern Los Angeles in the late fifties. Easy's friends are often criminals, and the police have ambivalent feelings for him. They suspect him as a criminal, and despise him for that as well as for being black. But they have some respect for his ability to find things out amidst the people despised and oppressed by the police; ones who return the full measure of scorn and distrust.
The deaths of poor black bar girls of easy virtue are hardly a priority for the police. But after the third one, even the white police show some curiosity. The curiosity turns into blackmail when a white girl is killed with the same MO, and Easy reluctantly agrees to seek the killer.
Aside from Easy's reluctance to plunge back into the semi-criminal world of the victims and witnesses is the growing tension between him and his beautiful wife, Regina. And the police seem less help than a hindrance. But Easy, however beset by problems, cannot stop his curiosity and his skill. Sooner or later, he will find out the truth—even at a very high personal cost.
Full Review: This is a well-written book, with a clear, sometimes painfully clear picture of the black life in the fifties. The life is full of poverty, resentment, discrimination and distrust, even as it combines human kindness and crime in one continuous spectrum of flawed people living in a flawed society.
The characters are solid, as is the world-building. The mystery is relatively pedestrian; however, in the process of uncovering we find more about Easy and his morality—sometimes shaky but ultimately sound—and his world.
The book has its share of true noir cynicism, but it also has a leavening of kindness and friendship that ultimately make it a hopeful reading experience.
Overall: 5.5; Plot: 6; Characters: 5.5; Style: 6; World-building: 6; Originality: 5.5;
Copyright date 1992, Books on Tape (Recorded Books), 1994, Audio cassette, 7 cassettes
ISBN: 1770868-005 Order from: Amazon.com