Synopses & Reviews
"Mosley writes with great power here about themes that have permeated his work: institutional racism, political corruption, and the ways that both of these issues affect not only society at large but also the inner lives of individual men and women." — Booklist (Starred Review)
NATIONAL BESTSELLER
Joe King Oliver was one of the NYPD's finest investigators, until, dispatched to arrest a well-heeled car thief, he is framed for assault by his enemies within the NYPD, a charge which lands him in solitary at Rikers Island.
A decade later, King is a private detective, running his agency with the help of his teenage daughter, Aja-Denise. Broken by the brutality he suffered and committed in equal measure while behind bars, his work and his daughter are the only light in his solitary life. When he receives a card in the mail from the woman who admits she was paid to frame him those years ago, King realizes that he has no choice but to take his own case: figuring out who on the force wanted him disposed of — and why.
Running in parallel with King's own quest for justice is the case of a Black radical journalist accused of killing two on-duty police officers who had been abusing their badges to traffic in drugs and women within the city's poorest neighborhoods.
Joined by Melquarth Frost, a brilliant sociopath, our hero must beat dirty cops and dirtier bankers, craven lawyers, and above all keep his daughter far from the underworld in which he works. All the while, two lives hang in the balance: King's client's, and King's own.
Review
"Great stuff....The vibrant characters and pulsating dialogue are primo Mosley." Marilyn Stasio, New York Times Book Review
Review
"Remarkable....Walter Mosley's latest novel [is] all the more relevant in Black Lives Matter era." Lloyd Sachs, Chicago Tribune
Review
"Walter Mosley is back with a whole new character to love....As gorgeous a novel as anything he's ever written. And with Joe King Oliver I'm betting, and hoping, he's given us a character we haven't see the last of." Richard Lipez, Washington Post
About the Author
Walter Mosley is the author of the acclaimed Easy Rawlins series of mysteries including national bestsellers Blonde Faith, Cinnamon Kiss, Little Scarlet, Bad Boy Brawly Brown, the Fearless Jones series including Fearless Jones and Fear Itself, the novels Blue Light and RL’s Dream, and two collections of stories featuring Socrates Fortlow, Always Outnumbered, Always Outgunned, for which he received the Anisfield-Wolf Award, and Walkin’ the Dog. He was born in Los Angeles and lives in New York.