The Long Fall

THE LONG FALL: Walter Mosley: New York: Riverhead, 2009: 305 pages. Fiction.

Walter Mosley leaves Easy Rawlins and Fearless Jones behind, but not his hardboiled approach, in his new book, The Long Fall, and introduces a New York detective named Leonid McGill. McGill, a fifty-three year old former boxer, still works out on the heavy bag and is struggling as the story begins to become a different person from the one he has been: a man who would bring anyone down if the money were right, even railroading the “innocent” into jail if that’s what his clients want. But a tragic encounter with one of his victim’s children makes him decide to start anew. Easier decided than done, as it turns out, because former clients still want what he used to do, and it takes all of Leonid’s considerable intellect and toughness to stay on track. Right off the bat, McGill is hired to find four men, a third-party employer supposedly trying to find some childhood friends. One is dead, two are in jail, and the third has made a name for himself in the business world. After he has discovered and delivered the whereabouts of each man to his employer's operative, he is appalled to hear that all have been killed in brutal fashion. The rest of the story details his trying to make things right, following the trail of carnage back to its source. Walter Mosley writes like a house afire, and the great pleasure of reading this book is not just the puzzle, but the characterizations, the setting, and the absolutely spot-on dialogue. “The Long Fall” requires a breathless reading to discover what will happen next, but one also wants it not to end. First in a series, The Long Fall makes us anxious for the next installment.

LW