Walter Mosley’s character-based crime fiction series are such pleasure to read. He has the uncanny ability to imbue every page, even in midst of a speedy plot, with the thoughts and memories of his core character, so much so that the prime joy of reading is in growing into the heart and mind of that hero. James Lee Burke uses similar techniques, plus he offers ravishing place descriptions, but Burke’s two series characters are by now wrung out. Mosley, on the other hand, moves on, and his heroes bristle with life.
Known to Evil is Mosley’s second book featuring Leonid McGill, a New York private investigator repenting of a former dirty life. A nuggetty block of a man, his unprepossessing appearance hides a fertile, intelligent inner life. In this outing, McGill is asked by a feared gangster to locate a mysterious young woman, a task that immediately entangles our hero in violence. At the same time, one of his sons somehow invites the attention of Romanian gangsters. Mosley launches the convoluted plot at rapid pace and it never lets up. I found myself constantly sighing with amazement at yet another McGill action that startled me yet seemed completely consistent. The author’s hardboiled yet semi-poetic style has never sung sweeter.
Within the crowded PI subgenre, Leonid McGill is a winner and Known to Evil is Mosley’s best in years. 4 stars.