Summary and Reviews of Fear Itself by Walter Mosley

Media Reviews

Entertainment Weekly ...visceral moments are so plentiful that the question of whodunit feels almost irrelevant...A-

Ebony ...a colorful crime noir story with vivid characters that keeps the reader guessing until the very end...

San Francisco Chronicle ...vibrant, colorful language...Mosley can still dazzle with an unexpected turn of phrase...

The Los Angeles Times - Thomas Curwen We've seen pictures of black and white, even brown and white Los Angeles from the '40s and '50s, but seldom from the inside out. In Fear Itself, Mosley taps into this world and shows us a city where opportunity is less than it seems and violence a measure of frustration. The sad thing is it's a picture of a city not unlike Los Angeles today.

The New York Times - Marilyn Stasio It's a tossup which gives more pleasure in Mosley's vibrant views of neighborhood life, the high-stepping, free-talking characters who bob and weave their way through this convoluted plot, or the colorful local haunts like Henrietta's Gumbo House where they do their shuckin' and jivin'.

The Washington Post - Laura Lippman Paris Minton is his third protagonist within the crime genre, and while Paris has some obvious parallels to Easy, he is very much his own man.

Washington Post ...the profound pleasures here are in his masterful evocation of a long gone Los Angeles...

Library Journal It is a rare thing for an author to release three books in a year's time and to have each outgun its predecessor....Fearless and Paris make a grand duo who can give Easy and Mouse a run for their money. You won't be able to turn the pages fast enough while hoping it never ends. Highly recommended.

Publishers Weekly The author depicts 1950s Los Angeles with his usual unerring accuracy.

Booklist - Keir Graff After a slow beginning, the ending just misses being great when a last twist softens what would have been a perfect noir judgment on Paris. Not Mosley's best, but still plenty good.