The Long Fall

I found this to be a compelling launch to Mosley's new series. As with the Easy Rawlins books, Mosley brilliant weaves biting social commentary into the conventions and fast pace of noir fiction. Some reviewers have argued that Mosley spends too much time on character development -- filling in the back story on even minor characters. For me this was refreshing. Much of his recent writing outside of the (seemingly) concluded Rawlins series seems rushed with hasty and superficial character development. Here he takes the time to draw his characters fully. And for me, noir fiction is driven by character, not plot (as in who-dunnits). So I'm looking forward to future chapters in the Leonid McGill story.

Have I ever mentioned that Walter Mosley is one of my very favorite authors (crime fiction and otherwise) in the whole world? So when THE LONG FALL came out, needless to say I felt compelled to try this first book in his new Leonid McGill series set in New York City, instead of the LA of Easy Rawlins and Paris Minton.

Among the many things I enjoyed about this book was meeting Leonid McGill, another one of Mosley's flawed, but likable, protagonists, haunted by terrible (as in criminal) things he's done in the past, but seeking redemption and something approaching a semi-normal life. Which is to say that, like a lot of Mosley protagonists, McGill just wants to be left alone to live his life and do his work without worrying that cops or show more thugs (interchangeable characters in his novels, at times) aren't breaking his door down.

That can't happen, of course. Because then there'd be no story to tell. So, it all starts when McGill is hired to find four men. He's been given their "street names"--now he has to hunt down the real people and tell his client, Ambrose Thurman, who and where they are. However, things get a bit weird when the four men start, um, being killed.

And Thurman isn't exactly who he seems to be, either.

Meanwhile, Mosley gets two other plot threads going. (He's good at that.) One involves finding A Mann (yeah, that's his name--A Mann) for a disreputable fellow from McGill's checkered past. The other involves a potentially tragic plan McGill's step-son has conceived.

Two of Mosley's favorite themes and plot devices come into play here. One is the racially-mixed--and, in this case, slightly dysfunctional--family. Katrina (interesting name choice) is McGill's Scandinavian wife. McGill is black, as Mosley's protags always are. She and McGill seem to have fallen out of love, but hang together nonetheless. Not entirely clear why. Inertia? Katrina's great cooking? (McGill brings up her cooking a lot.)

Anyway, there's a lot of stuff going on here. And a WHOLE lot of characters to keep track of. Each time I picked up the book, I'd find myself asking, "Okay, where is McGill now? Albany or New York? And who's the guy he's talking to? And what's going on?"

That brings me to the second Mosley trademark: the deadly sidekick. He makes an appearance in this book as the character Hush. Great name. Great character, too. Hush is to McGill as Mouse is to Easy Rawlins or Fearless is to Paris Minton. (You Mosley readers know what I'm saying.) He does what needs to be done, helping to resolve matters without McGill getting his hands terribly dirty in the process.

As usual, Mosley's writing is so good, I find myself almost green with envy at his word choices. . . .

The entire review is on my blog, The Book Grrl, at http://thebookgrrl.blogspot.com/2009/07/beinging-in-it-for-long-fall.html show less

This is Mosley near the top of his form, creating a new character with such a complete back story that it's hard to remember this is the first time we've met Leonid McGill. McGill is a tough black PI with some heavy baggage: a communist upbringing, a wife he doesn't love, 3 kids who aren't all his blood, a none-too-pure past, and a death on his conscience. The latter has pushed him to a decision to go "straight", setting him and us up for a classic noir journey through the underworld as Leonid struggles to be upright in a profession that rarely makes that easy. Robert B. Parker called this book "quite simply splendid", which is perfectly fitting, since Parker's Spenser had that white hat gig sewed up for such a long time. McGill is more show more complicated, less predictable than Spenser; Mosley's prose is denser, much less dialog-driven, and he requires more of the reader than Parker did. But anyone who appreciated Spenser's unwavering adherence to his "code" is going to love watching McGill try to "get there". Live long and write, Mr. Mosley.

Review written in September, 2014 show less

I had mixed feelings while reading this...half the time I was kind of bored and the other half I was totally engaged. I was bored because this was not written in a way that allows the reader to try solving the mystery. I'm not very big into the genre but if I pick a mystery up its because I want to try piecing it together on my own- knowing full well that if it's worth it's salt I'll be totally wrong anyways. There were not enough clues for me to do that here and as a result I was bored by the plot. What kept me engaged, however, was our main character Leonid McGill. I thought he was a really well developed and really intriguing character. For a "new" character L.T. feels like he's been around forever, and that's just good writing.

I tried very hard to stay objective while I read this book. But really, it was impossible. The author also wrote “The Devil in the Blue Dress,’ which was made into a film starring Denzel Washington. In “The Long Fall,” he creates a character, Leonid McGill, who is an intelligent, charming, ex-boxer with killer instincts but a good heart, and somehow, I was just incapable of not imagining him as Denzel Washington. (If McGill were white, I would have had just as hard of a time not thinking of him as Humphrey Bogart.) Mosley’s prose is compact, like his protagonist, and it even reads a bit like a screenplay.

So yes, I really liked this book and I loved the character. But to be honest, I can’t say if it was Leonid or Denzel I was show more liking so much. Probably both.

McGill is a private investigator in his early fifties whose work used to be “dirty,” but now he’s trying to go straight. It’s not easy. His past keeps trying to catch up with him. He goes after the stress aggressively. He boxes at the gym three times a week. He keeps trying and failing to give up smoking. With drinking, he doesn’t even try.

He has a Scandinavian wife, and children in a rainbow of colors by a mishmash of fathers, but his love is a father’s love for all of them. The other characters are as multi-dimensional as Leonid. They neither lose your interest nor stretch your belief system.

Mosley incorporates the diversity, rage, and complexity of blackness into his created world in tightly coiled sentences that pack a punch. At one point, McGill walks into an obviously white bar named Oddfellows in Albany. He writes: “It wasn’t 2008 everywhere in America. Some people lived in the sixties, and others might as well have been veterans of the Civil War. In many establishments I was considered a Black Man; other folks, in more genteel joints, used the term “African-American,” but at Oddfellows I was a nigger where there were no niggers allowed.”

His prose is admirable for expressing so much so economically. Take this paragraph: “The best time to kill someone is when they’re going through a door. While passing from one place to another most people are a little off guard, distracted by the subtle displacement separating here from there.”

Mosley’s book is well worth reading, even if you don’t picture Denzel while you read. But especially if you do! show less

I got this book from a second hand bookstore and it was a great deal. It has turned out to be a great read during a vacation. I really enjoyed how the action started from page one. McGill gave me a lot to think about. I can't wait o read the next book in the series.

I hadn't read a mystery novel in some time, and this was right up my alley. My only other exposure to Walter Mosley was the excellent [b:Always Outnumbered, Always Outgunned|84557|Always Outnumbered, Always Outgunned|Walter Mosley|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1348622123s/84557.jpg|81620], so I didn't know what to expect. Unsurprisingly, it was a great read.

Mosley draws Leonid McGill as a flawed human being who has had a difficult life. He has insecurities—especially regarding his height—and he often ruminates on them, bringing to the reader's mind the problems and complexes they themselves might have. Despite his shortcomings, McGill does his job expertly and efficiently, never once failing to lie, fight, and gamble his way out show more of dangerous encounters.

The same cannot be said to most other characters. Twill is the only other personality that is developed. The others are there as props, used to offer context and clues to the world McGill inhabits. They serve no other purpose than to fill McGill's life; in fact, it seems many of them have no lives of their own. However, hints of strong characters are there, and I'm sure they're developed later in the series.

The story flows well and the text is easy to read and follow. Mosley doesn't waste time with useless details. As a matter of fact, I felt that he used pinpoint accuracy in developing images and situations for McGill's encounters and people who surround him.

Having said all that, the book felt hollow and chaotic at times. Most of the characters, as I noted, felt one-dimensional; some of the encounters felt hackneyed; and many of the characters seemed to draw from stereotypes. Race issues is something that Mosley brings up from time to time, and I got the vibe that he wasn’t entirely comfortable in his own skin, though the same cannot be said for his confidence. The plot, while fast paced, seemed like it was touching on the surface of a greater conspiracy. It left me wanting more. There are also hints at chaos from time to time: there are a few threads going on simultaneously, yet Mosley keeps introducing even more. This was highly confusing, especially since he kept introducing new names till the third act.

This book is, despite its shortcomings, a very good read. I’ve read two books by Mosley now—they haven’t disappointed me in the least. Mosley is a brilliant writer who has tight control over his stories, though there are irregular lapses. If you’re looking for a mystery novel worthy of attention, then this is it! show less