23 of 23 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
NO-HOLDS-BARRED READING OF A RIVETING THRILLER, June 8, 2001
Rather than reprising his popular central character, Easy Rawlins, deft wordsmith Walter Mosley introduces an equally intriguing hero - Fearless Jones. Again, Mosley shines at depicting black characters struggling to survive in an inhospitable white world.
When Paris Minton's book shop door opens and gorgeous Elan Love walks in, so does trouble. Paris is a laid back black man content to run his store in the Watts area of 1950s LA. He's ill prepared to deal with all the woes that beset him such as being used for gun shot practice, being robbed, and seeing his business go up in flames.
There's little choice for Paris except to send an SOS to his war veteran buddy, Fearless Jones - a man who more than lives up to his sobriquet. The pair embark on a surprise riddled chase fraught with excitement and danger.
TV and film actor Peter Francis James gives tension filled voice to this riveting thriller.
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18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Mosley still has it!!, May 30, 2001
FEARLESS JONES, while a great book, is something of a misnomer when it comes to titling this novel. This book is more about a somewhat fearful Paris Minton.
Paris Minton is a guy we all know. He's a guy who gets afraid when a much larger man threatens him. He's a guy who immediately determines a woman's desireability factor when he meets them for the first time. He's a guy, who though is thoughtful, sometimes acts before he thinks, to his detriment. He's a guy who hopes for a better tomorrow, while wondering how to get through today. He's a guy who makes mistakes, often wishes he could run from them, but struggles to correct them. He's a guy who is ... sometimes a little over confident, sometimes a little underconfident, and often self-deprecating.
The mystery in this book is a good one. Often, it seems the mystery and plot take a back seat to social explorations of 1950's Los Angeles, but the book never lacks for those side journeys. Also, even though the mystery often plays a secondary role in this novel and some of the clues are easy to decipher, the payoff is as good, thrilling, and magnificent as anything you'll read this year.
The characters in this book are frighteningly real. The situations presented gave me pause as I read them, as I pondered what I might do in those situations. The suspense is strong. The story centers around a fortune in stolen money, a sometimes missing woman, and Jewish/African-American relations. I don't want to say too much about the details of this novel, because I feel there is nothing greater than discovering the secrets of a great book. Exposing even minor details destroys tiny moments of joy for a book reader, and believe me, there are many pieces of joy within this book.
If you are a Walter Mosley fan, you will cheer this book as an exemplary examply of his talents. If you are a mystery fan who has never read Mosley, you would do yourself a huge favor to pick this book, the first to feature these characters, to join the Walter Mosley bandwagon. If you like period novels, you owe it to yourself to experience this slice of Americana.
Awestruck, Earl
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13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
One of Mosley's Best, June 11, 2001
"When me and my squad'd go out in Germany it was always the first man get killed get to us," he said in an impossibly calm voice. "Didn't matter if it was one'a us or one'a them. It's just that first dead man that reminds you that this is serious business." -From Fearless Jones
And it definitely is serious business for Paris Minton and his titular pal, Fearless Jones. I started reading Walter Mosley with his first Easy Rawlins novel, Devil in a Blue Dress. I enjoyed the tight writing and the very different viewpoint character. By the time Black Betty came out though, I felt that Easy had begun to run out of steam and I took a pass on the next couple of books by Mosley. Then I saw that Mosley had a new novel out featuring a new protagonist and I decided to give it a try. I'm REALLY glad that I did. In Fearless Jones Mosley takes us to the mean streets of Fifties era Los Angeles. Forget James Ellroy. No one has written about the sun blighted City of Angels with this much sheer pain and poetry since Raymond Chandler. Mosley makes you feel the tensions, be they racial, political, sexual, or whatever. It comes across. His prose is more stripped down than ever and it carries the story along quickly and with no wasted verbiage. Paris shares some similarities with Easy Rawlins but he's very much his own man. And Fearless? He's almost as dangerous as Easy's pal Mouse, but a lot nicer to be around. He's got an almost knight-like sense of honor and loyalty. (I suspect it's no accident that his first name is Tristan.) This is great crime fiction. I hope to see more of Paris and Fearless in the future. And maybe I'll go back and read the Mosley books I passed over.
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