Though the prose is a bit rough in spots, Mosley's third outing for L.A. bookseller Paris Minton and the intrepid Fearless Jones is as entertaining as its predecessors, Fearless Jones
and Fear Itself
. Trouble comes to Paris's door in the form of his cousin Ulysses "Useless" S. Grant IV," who needs help after getting mixed up in a scheme that has gotten totally out of hand. Despite refusing to even let Useless cross his threshold, Paris is drawn, violently, into the fray. Mosley isn't afraid to cast his characters in heroic molds and does so explicitly when Paris recalls Bullfinch's
Mythology
and muses: "Fearless was the hero, I was the hero's companion, Useless was the mischievous trickster." As in any good heroic adventure, Fearless and Paris face a variety of monsters, traps, sirens and other temptations. Mosley's talent for sketching memorable minor characters of every hue ("buttery brown," "copper," "brick," "olive with a hint of lemon") is fully evident, while his reading of the racial temperature of the 1950s is as dead-on as ever. (Sept.)
Details
Reviewed on: 07/31/2006
Genre: Fiction
Compact Disc - 978-1-59483-572-8
Compact Disc - 978-1-4159-3463-0
Downloadable Audio - 978-1-59483-573-5
Hardcover - 417 pages - 978-0-7862-9146-5
Mass Market Paperbound - 352 pages - 978-0-446-61789-5
Open Ebook - 163 pages - 978-0-316-13559-7
Open Ebook - 978-0-7595-6819-8
Other - 978-0-7595-6822-8
Other - 978-0-7595-7476-2
Other - 978-0-7595-6821-1
Paperback - 290 pages - 978-0-7538-2289-0
Paperback - 271 pages - 978-1-85242-948-5
Peanut Press/Palm Reader - 978-0-7595-6823-5
