Killing Johnny Fry- by Walter Mosley

While I admire the range of Walter Mosley’s imagination, given his forays not only into the mystery/detective genre via the Easy Rawlins series, but also his efforts in science fiction and explorations of the nature of good and evil (The Man in My Basement) I cannot say that I enjoyed his latest work which can’t be labeled anything other than pornographic. While I am no prude, I really didn’t think the novel’s graphic nature was justified by what I took to be its theme.

The novel revolves around Cordell Carmel, a middle-aged black New Yorker who one day discovers his long-time girlfriend having torrid sex in her apartment with a white man, Johnny Fry. Unseen, Cordell leaves, but the impact of this experience is life-changing. Not only does the formerly mild Cordell want to kill Johnny, but the realization of his own ignorance and inadequacies leads him into a series of sexual escapade with numerous women, to what ultimate end I really don’t know.

Perhaps this novel is meant to serve as some kind of allegory, because neither Cordell’s remarkable, but heretofore unknown sexual abilities, nor the conflict’s resolution were even remotely credible. After completing the book, one is left with a vague feeling of dissatisfaction, not unlike the way Cordell seems to feel despite his many conquests.

This disappointing experience notwithstanding, I will continue to look forward to anything written by Mr. Mosley. I admire his refusal to be defined by one genre; his willingness to take chances suggests someone who is still growing as a writer, someone who will probably continue to explore for the rest of his career. Could a reader ask for anything more?

Author Recommendation #4 – Walter Mosley

A couple of years ago I borrowed a DVD from the library entitled Devil in a Blue Dress, a 1995 film starring Denzel Washington and Don Cheadle. Although not an entirely successful movie, it led me to Walter Mosley, upon whose novel the movie is based.

Written in 1990, the book was the first in what has become known as the Easy Rawlins series. Mosley, a black author, sets this series in Los Angeles, beginning the story of his black protagonist, Easy, just after World War 11 and thus far, after 10 books, carrying through to 1966.

The books are much more than well-crafted mysteries, bringing to readers a character that, while sympathetic, has been molded to accept the realities of the racism of the time. It is with a somewhat weary cynicism, even fatalism, that Easy frequently agrees to help members of the white community, including the police, knowing from the outset that he will be the one to pay the price should something go wrong in his investigations.

Complementing his often complicated life is a host of interesting secondary characters:

His longtime friend Mouse, essentially a psychopath who, the reader senses, would not hesitate to dispatch Easy were he to violate the loyalty he expects from him;

Etta Mae, Mouse’s wife and the woman that Easy has loved for many years;

Jackson Blue, a man of genius I.Q. who wastes much of his life on dangerous petty scams;

Mofass, Easy’s front man for his real estate holdings

Jesus and Feather, Easy’s adopted children

These, and others, help to draw us in and to understand the character and the world of Easy Rawlins. We quickly learn that it is a world in which issues and morality, unlike the racial divide, are never black and white. Mosley frequently challenges his readers with an ambiguity that never allows us to forget that these novels are much more than crime fiction. Lucky for us.

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