(Originally published at BET Online. But I had a falling out with them and they removed all the reviews. So I'm returning them here.)
As
someone who’s not entirely thrilled with Walter Mosley’s science fiction—and
by that I mean that I really didn’t like “Blue Light”—I’m
happy to report that the writer has taken us back to the world of his
now legendary and iconic private eye Easy Rawlins in Bad Boy Brawly
Brown. With his Rawlins titles always marked with the name of a
color, Walter Mosley offers more than just readably exciting genre books:
they reach the level of passionate social history and Great Art. Bad
Boy is no exception. I couldn’t put it down.
This new book takes us to the Los Angeles of
1964. It features, in no particular order: the rise of a group that sounds
suspiciously like both the Nation of Islam and the Black Panthers, some
surprising commentary on the value of a high school education in a white
society, and some out and out premonitions about the fate of black leaders
and the COINTELPRO (The
CIA’s counterintelligence operations and do a google search if you’re
curious.) operations.
By the way, we know this is fiction written
by a black man because Easy essentially closes down the LA headquarters of
COINTELPRO after a vigorous letter writing campaign to the NAACP and local
media. Good job Easy. If only you were real…
There is also the usual assortment of shady
characters, police beatings, fistfights, gunshots, big scores, dead bodies
and dark sexual secrets. There’s also the question of whether Easy’s equally
legendary sidekick Mouse actually died in the last book “A Little
Yellow Dog”. All of the aforementioned factors are tied into a
complicated Raymond Chandler plot that I wasn’t even close to figuring out
until the very end. But, to be honest, I enjoyed the journey so much the
destination became moot.
After all, Mosley’s Easy Rawlins books
aren’t just detective novels. They are, in fact, social snapshots of a time,
of a place and of a people. If you want to see a perspective of how working
class black folk were living in 1964—and you’re too lazy to dig through the
works of Manning Marable or John Hope Franklin—just read the Rawlins books
and you’ll get a pretty good perspective of How It Was. The busy work of his
genre motifs of fisticuffs, corrupt cops and black female molls is always
seen through a historical prism. The Vietnam War and the civil rights
movement serve as the backdrops this time. (Where will Easy be during the
Watts riots and the day Bobby Kennedy got shot…?) Yet it’s Mosley’s
commentary about these ideas and movements, as seen through Easy’s jaded
44-year-old eyes, that’s just so interesting. For example, one character
talks about how the cops plan to kill or discredit all the important black
leaders. Easy makes the call that his adopted son Jesus would be better off
being home taught than facing hostile instructors at the public school.
There are also the usual Easyisms. Easy has a
nice habit of falling into off the books Big Scores and then there’s this
food thing. We learn that the collard greens have the scent of vinegar and
bits of salt pork. The lasagna has a thick red sauce. Mosley really gives
you the feel of a place with his eye for tastes, smells and textures.
There’s also some great intelligence in the storytelling throughout. I
thought it was a stroke of genius when we find that the smoker Rawlins huffs
and heaves after just running two blocks.
Final verdict: Bad Boy Brawly Brown
is great storytelling combined with a social conscience. It’s a great read
and just more proof that Walter Mosley just might be the best black male
fiction writer alive today.
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