Customer Reviews

Known to Evil: A Leonid McGill Mystery

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

In a world of overused superlatives; Walter Mosley stands out as TRUE recipient of the word 'genius' and any other accompanying synonyms. I get nervous when writing a review for one of Mosley's books because I feel like a third grader standing in front of the `Mona Lisa' and being told to critique it. So instead of trying to wrack my brain, write something profound or critique the work of a word-smith master... I'll just tell you how much I enjoyed this book (that kind of IS the purpose of a review, huh?).

Leonid is a poor man's private eye. And like any good private eye, he has people on the good (and bad side) of the law, and the good (and bad side) of society. He's like a modern day mercenary, a gun for hire, a man's-man when you're in a pinch... a professor in philosophy for the street. Leonid is caught up in another octopus-type mystery. I say "octopus-type" because there are a LOT of characters and a LOT going on within the streets of New York. Come to think of it, New York is probably the only city with enough chutzpah to handle Leonid AND Mr. Mosley. Leonid's personal life is convoluted. Leonid's professional life is convoluted. Together they create a labyrinth of shady characters, bad cops, loose women, and nocturnal friends.

The brilliance of `Known to Evil' is that it makes the classic black-n-white mystery noir seem brand new. While at the same time, continues to concretes Walter Mosley as a living literary legend. Most of us strive to leave a mark on this world by the time we die. With Leonid, Mosley is starting on his second Grand Canyon.

I love Leonid McGill. It shows him as a human being with all the problems with America in general. His wife is cheating on him, he is cheating on his wife, his marriage is loveless, his children aren't genetically his except Dem, and his life is in trouble. It is a great character and overall Known to Evil is a great book. The only reason it doesn't get the Five stars is because of the ending. It was a weak ending. The Long Fall had a good ending and an excellent beginning and middle and so does this book in the latter. It has a good beginning, it is very very strong in the middle but the ending kind of lacks, well spice. Other than that one complaint, this is a very very good book.

Walter Mosley continues to develop the protagonist Leonid McGill in his novel titled, Known to Evil. The motivation of private detective McGill is to act in ways that atone for his bad behavior, and it his redemption that becomes a life goal. In some ways McGill is both hero and everyman. Thanks to Mosley's fine writing, the dialogue seems realistic, the characters are well-developed, and the insights about human condition are profound. The personal circumstances that led McGill to this moment in his life and those of society at large contain a randomness that's sobering.

Rating: Three-star (Recommended)

Leonid McGill, the new PI in Walter Mosley's novels is way over the top. But he is a guy you would want on your side. There is nothing it seems that stops the man, savage beatings, gun shots, the hoi-paloi of the top ranks in the NYC Police Department. He knows them all and it seems they know him, and many are out to get him.

Leonid has so many different identities that sometimes it is difficult to keep them straight. He has one of the most beautiful office suites, marble and all the accoutrement's. These were obtained from nefarious schemes. Leonid used to play it loose, now he plays it slightly bent. His home is an apartment with so many unusual locks that only explosives could tear it apart. And, best of all, are the people and friends that Leonid knows. The ex-hired killers, the guy with the best computer ever heard of, the phone lines set up for many unusual requests and companies, and the people that have your back. Leonid has an unusual home life. His wife left him 9 years ago, only to return a few years later, sorry for her mistake. Leonid took her back, but all love was lost, and I can't figure that one out. He has two sons and a daughter, we don't see or hear much of them, but they do make trouble. Leonid is a man on his own but with all of these friends he has assistance right around the corner. This time, Leonid is asked to find a woman for one of the high mucky mucks in city government. He is given a bag of money and a few clues. Where this leads is one interesting time. Walter Mosley has always written entertaining characters, and I think Leonid is one of his best. Leonid is bright and calculating, but he has a heart and emotions, and he helps out where he can. When he calls on one of his ex-hired killers from LA, he makes sure that the subject is not killed, just injured enough to give out all the information. Leonid has fallen for Aura, a lady he met while his wife was away, and even though she has taken up with someone else, he follows her and thinks about her all the time. Leonid is always busy and rarely sleeps. When he does sleep it is on a cot in his office at home. His many identities come with different outfits and personalities. Leonid has a great sense of humour and I chuckled frequently. The tough down and dirty parts of the novel are written exquisitely so that we feel every blow and slice. Never mind, Leonid has the strength of ten men and is able to free himself from many difficult situations. This part of Leonid is over the top, but somehow it all fits with his personality, so I accepted it pretty easily. Leonid is one tough customer.

Leonid McGill is a guy after my heart. A PI who does his job, throws money around pretty easily, makes friends with ex-hired killers and waitresses at his favorite bar. And, for a guy his age, using 3 condoms in one night is pretty nifty!

Highly Recommended, prisrob 04-09-10

The Long Fall

Whispers in the Dark

The introductory novel in this series had a classic feel in a modern noir style. This new book is still an amazing read, but there's a bit of a self-consciousness here. The secondery characters such as Hush, Alphonse Renaldo, Carson Kittredge, Bethann Bonilla, don't seem to live and breathe on the page as they did in THE LONG FALL. There are no characters as appealling as Hannah Hull was in the earlier book. Still it is a very strong book with powerful comments on today's society along with a decidedly entertaining mystery, and I do look forward to the next Leonid McGill novel with bated breath.

This is an fantastic novel. Leonid McGill despite his flaws continues to fight the good fight. In this novel he is hired by the fixer Rinaldo to find a missing girl but the catch is he's not know what, or why. Despite his misgivings continue on. Also he must save his sons who seem to be on the wrong side of law. As always his novels as action-packed and it keeps you guessing until the end. If you miss his first Leonid McGill The Long Fall this new novel Known to Evil is a must get.

As usual I find the writing of Walter Mosley wonderful. I love the story line and the continued development of the characters. Good reading!

Walter Mosley made the difficult decision a few years back to stop writing about the literary creation that made him famous: Easy Rawlins, the unconventional black private eye from Los Angeles. He instead introduced a new detective series set in contemporary New York featuring a middle-aged black man named Leonid McGill. THE LONG FALL, the first installment in the series, released in 2009.

KNOWN TO EVIL, the second McGill book, confirms what longtime readers of this author have long known: Mosley is one of our best writers, not just of crime fiction but of all genres. The challenge he faced was to write a detective novel relevant to the America of the early years of the 21st century. The detectives created by Hammett and Chandler, and even late 20th-century writers like Ed McBain and Robert B. Parker, were products of the last century, as great and enjoyable as those characters were.

Mosley's McGill bares little resemblance to those earlier heroes. McGill is a likable character, but he has lived his life in a sea of corruption. He worked as a freelancer fixer for the mob, and anybody else who could pay, and freely admits to spending 20 years involved in criminal activity. "I framed these lowlifes for crimes that other crooks needed to get out from under --- all for a fee, of course," he says early on. One cop, upon meeting McGill for the first time, says, "They say you got your finger in every dishonest business in the city."

At 54, McGill has not exactly seen the light but is seeking some sort of redemption. In his midlife crises, he is wracked by guilt and relentless headaches over his past. He says, "Innocent or not, anyone can be made to look bad. And I had enough skeletons in my closet to make a death row inmate seem angelic. But I wasn't worried... just overwhelmed by the circumstances of my life." And what a life! Married for 23 years, with 20 of them marked by mutual infidelity, father to children not his own, and convinced he drove away the one woman he loved, McGill is alone, even when he is surrounded by family. While struggling to stay straight, his past is always present.

When a powerful New York political fixer needs a job done, McGill is not in a position to say no. Alfonso Rinaldo is the unofficial, unelected "special assistant to the City of New York." He is not an assistant to the mayor but to the entire city somehow --- the power behind the powers. He needs McGill to check up on a mysterious young woman, but no further details are forthcoming. McGill goes to an address and literally walks into a double homicide with the bodies still warm.

Now McGill has a real problem. Is he finally being set up himself? The cops are thrilled to see McGill stumble onto their crime scene. Various members of the NYPD have been looking for something to nail him on for years. McGill can't mention Rinaldo's name to the cops or else he will be in even deeper trouble. When it turns out that neither victim was the young woman, Rinaldo insists that McGill continue looking for her, not even telling him why he wants her found.

Before THE LONG FALL, Mosley said he wanted to write a contemporary urban noir. And he has succeeded beautifully here. McGill is not a knight-errant. He is a man just trying to survive, a small dangerous fish in a world of invisible giant sharks. Like a noir character from the classic period, his journey through the underworld of modern-day New York takes him from the secret warehouse detention centers of the National Security State to the sparkling corporate towers of midtown Manhattan. At one point, he meets a woman as powerful as Rinaldo on the top floor of a bank skyscraper accessible only by private elevator.

"`New York is like a boiling cauldron,' [McGill] said, only dimly understanding why. `We are all consumed therein.'

`That's down on the street you are talking about,' Sanderson told me with a dismissive wave of her liver-spotted hands. `Up here it's different. Up here we can make a difference.'"

Mosley writes about that difference. And, like in the Rawlins books, there is plenty of social commentary about modern America here. McGill says, "The government, even in a democracy, has the power to indict and condemn with impunity --- below a certain income bracket, that is. And even though I was working for Rinaldo, that didn't mean he would protect me. My independent status made me expendable, and if I tried to bring him down with me I'd end up one of those lamentable suicides hanging from the bars of a subterranean cell."

The corruption at the heart of this book revolves not around the murder of two people or the disappearance of a young woman, but deals with the fact that the system we have been brought up to believe in perhaps bares little reality to what actually goes on behind the scenes where the actual power lies. And maybe the real crime is that we are all guilty on some level. McGill says, "At any moment almost any American (barring movie stars, publicly acknowledged billionaires and sitting members of Congress) could be whisked away to that nameless building, en route to one of our satellite Siberias, and kept there until a botched water torture or the shrug of some judge sent them home."

But then McGill abducts off the street an assassin sent to kill the young woman and calls in a specialist he knows to torture the man in a Brooklyn warehouse until McGill obtains the information he needs to get a handle on his case. He lets the man live, but he knows he is not much better than the state officials who use "enhanced interrogation techniques."

Walter Mosley has written a vibrant detective series for the new century, reflecting the America of today. We live in uncertain times, and Mosley captures that perfectly here. McGill's old boxing trainer, now dying of cancer, says to him, "...there comes a time when you just don't win anymore." McGill responds, "But there is always a chance at a comeback." KNOWN TO EVIL is an entertaining, powerful mystery novel, one of the best of the year. And it will be enjoyable to watch Leonid McGill fighting for his comeback over the next several years.

Leonid McGill never one to follow rules is assigned to track down a missing women but without her being aware of his investigation. In his pursuit through the streets of New York many doors need to be opened. While I am shaking my head and agreeing with Mosley insights, admiring his acumen the plot is not as imaginative as I hoped. Still I thoroughly enjoyed his main character's LT's observation on how difficult it is to unravel the truth; and how honest he is with himself. Mosley has ended many a character and I wondered if LT's dysfunctional marriage, his ended love affair, his rebellious children and the violence might close down another underground hero. All and all quite an allegory on human nature as we know it in the 21 century. Lt's is not only a combination of Charlie Chan with his first son humor but also amazingly of Dante's Inferno. The many doors Lt has to open remind me of the different levels of hell. Trying to get out Lt better not look back.

Let me say right up front how much I enjoyed reading this book. I do miss Easy Rawlins and the Los Angeles of my youth, but I am slowly warming up to Leonid McGill. Walter Mosley is a master craftsman when it comes to the English language. I love what he does with it; his frequent references to other literary works (how he managed to get Beowulf into this story is still beyond me); and the dialogue he often uses is enough to stop your breath at times. There are at least three significant plots woven into the fabric of this novel, and Mosley maneuvers us through them with amazing skill. In the end, everything makes sense, even if some things remain unresolved. What is Leonid going to about his wife and her young lover? Or, for that matter, Leonid's unbridled love for his mistress? The only problem I have with "Known to Evil" (and it's not really a problem per se) is the almost overwhelming number of characters that people this story. You almost need a roadmap to keep up with so many minor characters: some of whom are only mentioned in passing. And then there's the unusual combination of first and surnames. It's as if Mosley is just too clever with the names of some his characters. When you read "Known to Evil," you'll know what I mean.

"Known to Evil" is an amazing work of fiction. The more you read it, the more it pulls you in. No matter how clean a character appears to be, s/he is still touched by evil. And I think that Mosley is making an observation about all of us. If you enjoy noir and you like it set in New York City, you have to read this book.