Rating: 
Summary: Better than Easy?
Review: 1. What is the text about? A series of interrelated stories about an ex-con living in Los Angeles; redemption and change
2. What is good about it? The stories are crispy written and evocative. Mosley writes with strong themes but doesn't bash you with them.
3. What is not so good about it? Nothing. But it's not a traditional narrative and those seeking that type of work may be disappointed (but not likely).
4. Who might like it? Fans of Mosley's other work (the Easy Rawlins series); fans of sociological fiction, African American themed fiction.
5. Personal bias: None really, except I like Mosley's work a lot. This is more "literary" than the Easy Rawlins stuff.
Rating:
Summary: I learn from Mosely
Review: A friend gave me Mosley's book Walkin' the Dog, to show me what good writing was about. Mr.Mosley not only drew me in, but I wished I had received Always Outnumbered, Always Outgunned first, just so I knew more about Socrates Fortlow and how he arrived. I've since devoured the stories in both books, and made them part of my permanent collection of greats. Mosley is a prolific writer, who asks you to walk beside him through the streets of Los Angeles, eyes wide opened, and nostrils flaring, and if you dare to, take in the sight,sound,feel,and smell of the Watts ghetto. Mr. Mosley deserves acclaim for his effort and moreso for his extraordinary success in the creation of Socrates Fortlow, his friends and foe. Mosley is a winner. If you can't learn from him, you aren't listening.
Rating:
Summary: Enter another world!
Review: A marvelous work by a gifted writer! Each story is a life vignette of an ex-con who is attempting to get along in the complicated world of modern L.A. His attempts to reconcile his violent past with his moral code and conflicts are the struggles of everyman. I savored each page. Just terrific stuff! Thanks, Walter.
Rating:
Summary: Profound mixture of charcter, detail, individual morality.
Review: A masterful achievement. Without ever losing the drive of his stories Mr. Mosley constructs brilliant morality tales about characters you immediately care about and root for. He transforms mundane details of a table repaired, a meal shared, or an offer refused into deep emotional events. I loved this book.
Rating:
Summary: gripping stories from master storyteller
Review: After reading a couple of Mosley's Easy Rawlins mysteries, which I liked fairly well, I picked up this book of stories about the estimable Socrates Fortlowe. It is a wonderful collection, and also important, because it really questions that stubborn myth known as "the American dream", and it does so without putting down the people who still believe in that myth, against all possible odds. The Fortlowe stories are far richer than the Rawlins books, especially because the main character is so complicated, and because Mosley never lets him take the obvious way out of any situation. Highly recommended to anyone not afraid of books with attitude.
Rating: 
Summary: Decent, but: "Always Predictable....Always Manipulative.."
Review: Along with the simmerin', well-seasoned hoppin'-john, freshbaked, butter-lathered cornbread and fried porkchops (blanketed with hot, just-cooked, greasy onions), can anyone else smell a sequel comin' `round the corner? Or is it just me? The sequel-odor is quite strong and none too subtle. But not necessarily offensive...A deliberate "hello", formal introduction to a new (anti) hero. Goodbye "Easy"? One hopes that would not be the case. "Always Outgunned..." (I'm not going to spellout the entire title) was - is - a well-written book, with a seamless (formulaic?) style. Maybe a bit too smooth and predictable, relative to Mosley's earlier works, featuring the "Easy Rawlins" character. Characters are fleshed-out pretty well and there's enough going on to snag the reader's interest - entertaining him/her for a while...but one definitely can predict where the protagonist is headed. A highly manipulative piece of work...Would make a good teleplay. There's the (obligatory?) brush with romance and "true reform". There's the expected do-gooder, band-of-old-guys-take-back-neighborhood, adopt-a-kid bits as well. Nice. Sweet. Good, technical job here, but (again) Predictable. Not as challenging, visceral or as fun as Mosley's earlier works (forget the experimental, unpleasant, confused "RL's Dreams"), but a worthy addition nonetheless to one building a "Mosley Library". As a matter of fact, the book seems especially written to appease (comfort?) the loyal fans of the author, holding their hands while uttering frequent "there-theres" as they get used to the idea of a New Guy On the Block, perhaps a tad forlorn at their "loss" of "Easy". But I ask: Is Mosley headed towards a rut? If one is a "Mosley Nut" (you know who you are), then I'd say: "Buy the slick-looking, hardcover version of this book, read it twice and put it on the shelf." SP
Rating:
Summary: Mosley Receives an A for imagery, incomplete for plot
Review: Always Outnumbered, Always Outgunned is a collection of 14 stories revolving around Mosley's newest street hero, Socrates Fortlow, an ex-convict formerely convicted of a rape and double murder. The selections chronicle the tribulations that Fortlow faces after he is released from a twenty-seven year jail sentence. However, Mosley fails in his mission to present Fortlow as anything more than an ex-con. Absent are the sophisticated thought processes of the famous Ezekiel Rawlins, replaced by a character who seems to function merely on base instinct. Similarly, although these stories all seem to have a centralized theme, Mosley makes no Joyceian attempts to tie all of the stories together with a common theme that would create a larger (or at least more complete) picture of the persona of Socrates Fortlow. I do have to give Mosley kudos for his use of imagery. He makes the modern-day streets of Watts come alive with his particularly vivid descriptions. However, th! e grandiose backgrounds that Mosley paints are not enough to discourage us from discovering the largely disjointed foreground.
Rating:
Summary: Yeah!
Review: Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned is The Prodigy’s long-awaited follow-up to 1997’s double-platinum #1- charting The Fat Of The Land. Returning with a sleazy, funky and far more punk album than anything Liam Howlett has ever recorded, the premier electronica dance act for the alternative masses targets both its core fan base at clubs and a new generation of technofreaks with Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned.
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Summary: a novel whose protagonist haunts the reader
Review: as a volunteer in a local prison, i read this book with interest. i had never read any of walter mosley's fiction novels and had no preconceptions. socrates rings true as a man who has done wrong, knows it, and strives to rise above it, knowing that he can never forgive his past crimes. as rilke says: "This is how he grows: by being defeated, decisively, by constantly greater beings." i am anxious to share this work with the men in my group - men who know this same struggle.
Rating:
Summary: Outstanding!
Review: Before I read this book, I would never have known that I could fall in love with a character who is a violent ex-convict. Socrates Fortlow, two-time murderer and one-time rapist (at least the crimes of which he has been convicted) has spent most of his life learning to survive behind bars.However, eight years after his release from the Indiana State Penitentiary, and his relocation to South Central L.A., he has become much more like his namesake. This collection of interrelated short stories together form a remarkable tale of subtle, and perhaps even unconscious, redemption. Socrates becomes a mentor, best friend, and invaluable member of society. In addition, he learns that not all is black and white, whether it be with regard to morality, or as between the races. The stories and their moral teachings are subtle, like well-crafted fables. I read this in one evening, unable to put down this wonderfully written book.
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