Rating: 
Summary: Bore-rine
Review: A Little Yellow Dog was the first Walter Mosley book I've ever read, and the first mystery I've read written by an African-American. From page one, I was hooked. It wasn't so much that the book was a Mystery, per se, but it was the writing style of Mosley that charmed me. I now see what people are referring to when they compliment Mosley's talent: he's quick witted, intelligent, detailed but doesn't over do it, puts you in the room, on the street, in the car, whereever the characters are, Mosley puts you there with them. He has the funniest expressions, just short little simple sentences that are profound and delightful. Since then, I have purchased a couple more books of his and look forward to enjoying them as well. I highly recommend Walter Mosley mysteries to people who just like good writing, lots of fast moving scenes, and thought-provoking, emotional, and funny, witty lines.
Rating: 
Summary: Captivating
Review: By no means would I call myself a big fan of mystery novels, but I really enjoyed this book. Walter Mosley did a superb job of developing very interesting and memorable characters who really a lot to the story. Also, Mosley did a wonderful job with the plot. Despite what "A reader from Oregon" claims, the story does not "lag, drag, and fizz out." This novel has an exceptionally captivating plot, even for a non-mystery fan such as myslef. There were enough twists and turns to keep me guessing until the end! I normally do not read many mystery novels, and this is actually my first Walter Mosley novel. And even now, I wouldn't say that I am "hooked." But I will likely read more of his novels and maybe even read the whole Easy Rawlings series. If you are a fan of Mosely and/or mysteries, you will surely enjoy this!
Rating:
Summary: Another Winner From Walter Mosley
Review: Can a book have atmosphere? If it can, then this book has it. The descriptions of the school yard took me back, in a flash, to my elementary school in Long Beach, California years ago. Do you remember school rooms in bungalows? And tetherball? Mosley is absolutely THE master of dialogue. Sometimes too much of one author can get tiresome, but not in this case. I read BLACK BETTY just before this book and the dialogue continues to be fresh and sparkling. I enjoyed the dry humor sprinkled throughout the story. It suits Easy very well and I'd like to see more of it in future books. The foray into the culinary experience was another new addition that I liked a lot. The main story line held together well and moved along almost effortlessly. I finished this book yesterday and I still don't know how I feel about the ending. I'm sure it will stay with me for a long while. Walter Mosley is one of the best authors around today, in my opinion. I eagerly await the next installment in the saga of Easy Rawlins.
Rating:
Summary: Another Winner From Walter Mosley
Review: Can a book have atmosphere? If it can, then this book has it. The descriptions of the school yard took me back, in a flash, to my elementary school in Long Beach, California years ago. Do you remember school rooms in bungalows? And tetherball? Mosley is absolutely THE master of dialogue. Sometimes too much of one author can get tiresome, but not in this case. I read BLACK BETTY just before this book and the dialogue continues to be fresh and sparkling. I enjoyed the dry humor sprinkled throughout the story. It suits Easy very well and I'd like to see more of it in future books. The foray into the culinary experience was another new addition that I liked a lot. The main story line held together well and moved along almost effortlessly. I finished this book yesterday and I still don't know how I feel about the ending. I'm sure it will stay with me for a long while. Walter Mosley is one of the best authors around today, in my opinion. I eagerly await the next installment in the saga of Easy Rawlins.
Rating:
Summary: Easy Does It,, Again!
Review: Easy Rawlins is the most unique protagonist in the mystery genre. He is always trying to get ahead without drawing unfavorable attention to himself. Whenever he seems to be making progress, crime and violence dog his footsteps . . . soon bringing the LAPD behind them to hassle him. If this sounds familiar, there is a good chance that Jean Valjean of Les Miserables is the real inspiration for Easy Rawlins. Having grown up in Southern California at the time Mosley is writing about, I am very impressed with his ear for language and his eye for detail about those time. In A Little Yellow Dog, Easy has moved into the 1960s and is operating closer to the legal side than ever before. He soon finds himself surrounded by corpses, accusations, and the potential to lose his job, his children, and his freedom. Faced with those terrible consequences, he returns to his old friends for help in unraveling a satisfying mystery. Clearly, part of the appeal of this book is that Easy's vantage point on America is different from that of most readers. He is a black man with community connections to those who bend and break the law, yet he is a good man. How he will resolve the conflicts that inevitably occur due to his personal values, commitments to others, and the racisim of his society provides a satisfying look at the true nobility of man. That's what takes this book well beyond the normal well-written mystery. I liked the way that Easy developed as a person in this novel, bridging the gap between his aspirations and his former life. This provides more interesting plot twists, character development, and a chance to revisit characters who worked well in the earlier novels. A Little Yellow Dog is a top-notch successor to the earlier books in the Easy Rawlins series. Don't miss it!
Rating: 
Summary: But why is he... I had to keep asking
Review: Here's a guy who is just trying to keep his life clean, after having a questionable past. He is obviously not involved in this killing, yet he continuously puts himself in situations that will get him linked to the case. All he had to do was tell the truth from the start. Someone who had such a sordid past, and had since managed to straighten out their life, would just keep their eyes down, and be as honest with the police as possible. At the begining, he keeps repeating that he doesn't want the police to get too interested in him, since he didn't get his job by honest means, and he doesn't want them to find out. Turns out, he got his job the same way 85% of Americans get their job; A friend put in a good word for him. How he got this new friend was a bit unscrupulous, but their is no amount of investigating that would have uncovered that. Even so, if he didn't want the police getting too interested, why did he keep putting himself in places and with people that were linked with the crimes. The whole plot was just way too ridiculous for me to let go and enjoy the story, which, by the way, I thought was written with too choppy a style of writting anyway. BTW, has anyone else noticed, at least three of the five star ratings are identicle to the word?
Rating:
Summary: LIFE WONT BE AS EASY FOR "EASY" ANY MORE
Review: In a perverse sort of a way, Easy Rawlins, as a result of the reformation and sudden death of his lifelong buddy, "Mouse," comes of age in this novel. In past novels, and through most of this one, he has always been able to depend on "Mouse" to back him up. But, by the conclusion of this novel, he is on his own for the first time. As readers of any previous Easy Rawlins novels know, "Mouse" would just as soon kill anyone as say hello to them, and this tendency, while getting him into a lot of trouble, has made many situations easier for Easy. No one has ever wanted to take on "Mouse" and consequently, the "bad guys" have kept their distance from Easy too. Alas, this will be no more. The newly reformed "Mouse," on one last adventure with Easy, gets shot while saving Easy's life one more time. His wounds prove to be fatal. The plot itself is a bit convoluted. Easy, who has left the street life and has been working for a few years as head of Janitorial services at Sojourner Truth Junior High School, is forced to save his reputation, his job, and his life because of three murders involving a teacher at his school, her husband, and her brother-in-law, several thefts of school property, and some missing smuggled heroin. While trying to help the teacher after the murder of her brother-in-law, Easy becomes a suspect in that and the following murders. For good measure, someone is trying to set him up as chief suspect in those thefts of valuable equipment from several schools. After all, as head of the custodians, he does have keys to all the secure areas. If you've read any of Mosley's other books, you know that Easy is going to take a few beatings and his life will be in danger more than once. The trail to the conclusion of _A LITTLE YELLOW DOG_ is long and tortuous The book has to be read to follow and understand Easy's approach to solving the multiple murders. Oh yes, I almost forgot, there really is a little yellow dog. He seems to love everyone except Easy, and amazingly enough, his animosity turns into a great big plus for Easy, but you'll have to find out how for yourself.
Rating:
Summary: A woman, a murder, a dog
Review: In Mosley's fifth Ezekiel "Easy" Rawlins mystery it's 1963 and streetwise, brooding Easy has established a "straight" life for himself and his two adopted street children. The supervising custodian of a school in Watts, Los Angeles, he arrives for work to find Mrs. Turner, a young, lovely teacher, distraught because her husband wants to kill her dog. A couple hours later there's a dead man in the school yard, the teacher has disappeared and Easy's stuck with a yapping mutt while the police fit him - a black man with a shady past and an attitude - for murder. Rawlins is a man of few words, keeping most of his dialogue interior. Mrs. Turner is beautiful, alluring, available. "'Call me Idabell,' she said.
Call me fool." Easy has his weaknesses but understands them. He's proud and as the bodies mount up, he evades the cops and pursues his own investigation - as much for the excitement as to save his own skin. Mosley's style is all personality - strong, eloquent, streetwise, stubborn, vivid and determined. Easy tracks his quarry with savvy and cynicism - if he doesn't get the murderer, the cops will get him. Mosley's latest is a tightly plotted, fast-paced and thoughtful read. Pure pleasure.
Rating:
Summary: A woman, a murder, a dog
Review: In Mosley's fifth Ezekiel "Easy" Rawlins mystery it's 1963 and streetwise, brooding Easy has established a "straight" life for himself and his two adopted street children. The supervising custodian of a school in Watts, Los Angeles, he arrives for work to find Mrs. Turner, a young, lovely teacher, distraught because her husband wants to kill her dog. A couple hours later there's a dead man in the school yard, the teacher has disappeared and Easy's stuck with a yapping mutt while the police fit him - a black man with a shady past and an attitude - for murder. Rawlins is a man of few words, keeping most of his dialogue interior. Mrs. Turner is beautiful, alluring, available. "'Call me Idabell,' she said.
Call me fool." Easy has his weaknesses but understands them. He's proud and as the bodies mount up, he evades the cops and pursues his own investigation - as much for the excitement as to save his own skin. Mosley's style is all personality - strong, eloquent, streetwise, stubborn, vivid and determined. Easy tracks his quarry with savvy and cynicism - if he doesn't get the murderer, the cops will get him. Mosley's latest is a tightly plotted, fast-paced and thoughtful read. Pure pleasure.
Rating:
Summary: Too Convoluted & Unlikely
Review: The fifth book in Mosley's Easy Rawlins series finds Easy in 1963, working as a maintenance supervisor for a public school in the Watts area of Los Angeles. For two years he's been living clean, having given up the "street life" and heavy drinking to work a straight job, while taking care of the two children he's taken in. Much is made of his desire to live a low-key, normal life, and yet... when a corpse turns up on the grounds of his school, he instinctively lies to the police, when telling the truth would likely have kept him out of the whole mess. Granted, it's well established in the series that the police are rarely (if ever) to be trusted, and there's always been a tension in the series about the allure of the "street life", however, when balanced against the moaning and groaning about wanting to lead a quiet life and raise his kids, it just doesn't make sense.
Instead, Easy lies--not to protect himself--but on behalf of a beautiful teacher he has a ten minute hookup with and who happens to be the corpse's wife, and even then, there's no clear reason for the lie. Soon, a second corpse shows up, and the lead investigator intuits that Easy's hiding something. Given several chances to come clean, Easy instead opts to plunge back into the streets to try and solve the multiple murders himself, which of course only puts him in a more compromising situation. Yes, it's made abundantly clear why a black man would not want to get involved with the police no matter what in 1963 (and not much has changed in 40 years), but wouldn't the savvy Easy of the previous four books would surely recognize that in this instance, simply being truthful is more likely to placate the police than his surly evasiveness?
From the start, the plot is wildly convoluted, and it grows ever more improbable. Almost as improbable as the transformation of his hell-raising, crazy friend Mouse, who at this point has also settled down with a wife and kid. Yes, one expects characters to transform over the course of a series, but in Mouse's case, the transformation is so utterly at odds with his stated nature that it seems entirely unreasonable. In any event, Easy runs back and forth all over LA, trying to solve the murders for the police he's trying to stay one step ahead of. The pieces of the puzzle are very complicated, and include a series of thefts from the school district, a herion smuggling operation, and of course, a few lovely ladies. The one thing that really keeps the book interesting is Mosley's vivid supporting characters, from low-lifes to bureaucrats, white, Hispanic, Asian, they all come alive on the page. Ultimately, though, one of the weaker books in the series.
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