Knitting and sundries: All I Did Was Shoot My Man by Walter Mosley

Monday, February 6, 2012

All I Did Was Shoot My Man by Walter Mosley - BOOK REVIEW

Title: All I Did Was Shoot My Man
Author: Walter Mosley
Publisher: Riverhead Books, a division of Penguin Group
Release Date: January 24, 2012
Hardcover, 326 pages
ISBN 10: 159448824X
ISBN 13: 9781594488245
The Book Depository / Amazon

Goodreads description:

In the latest and most surprising novel in the bestselling Leonid McGill series, Leonid finds himself caught between his sins of the past and an all-too-vivid present.

Seven years ago, Zella Grisham came home to find her man, Harry Tangelo, in bed with her friend. The weekend before, $6.8 million had been stolen from Rutgers Assurance Corp., whose offices are across the street from where Zella worked. Zella didn't remember shooting Harry, but she didn't deny it either. The district attorney was inclined to call it temporary insanity-until the police found $80,000 from the Rutgers heist hidden in her storage space.

For reasons of his own, Leonid McGill is convinced of Zella's innocence. But as he begins his investigation, his life begins to unravel. His wife is drinking more than she should. His oldest son has dropped out of college and moved in with an ex-prostitute. His youngest son is working for him and trying to stay within the law. And his father, whom he thought was long dead, has turned up under an alias.

A gripping story of murder, greed, and retribution, All I Did Was Shoot My Man is also the poignant tale of one man's attempt to stay connected to his family.

My Take:

Last year I read and reviewed my first (but Mosley's third) installment in the Leonid McGill series, When the Thrill is Gone (link to my review). It was enough to make me love this character - a thinking man's P.I. with a philosophical bent:

The path of my life appeared before me-hard and clear. I could,

in the dream, turn around and take everything back. I could pass

through time and decide not to help Zella or lie to Shelly. I could

travel all the way back to the womb and be another person or no

one at all. But I was too comfortable on that quartz plinth under

the summer's sun. Laying there my life seemed to have enough

meaning to engender nostalgia - the greatest enemy of human logic.

In All I Did Was Shoot My Man, Leonid is back, trying to atone for some of his past wrongs. When a woman named Zella gets out of prison for the double crime of shooting her boyfriend for cheating on her with her best friend as well as being part of a multi-million dollar heist from the Rutgers Assurance Corp., he meets her at the station with start-up money, a place to stay, and a job.

When people Mosley knows are actually associated with the heist start to turn up dead, Leonid convinces Zella to go to one of his safe houses while he tries to figure out who is responsible. The consummate multi-tasker, he is following up leads on his own father (who deserted the family when Leonid was young), trying to keep his younger son out of trouble by hiring him, looking for the baby that Zella was pregnant with when she went to prison, and working to keep from being killed himself.

Mr. Mosley has come up with another winner - part mystery, part thriller, part family drama - completely entertaining.

QUOTES

I mean Katrina and I hadn't been intimate or jealous of each other's lives in years. We had three children but two of those had nothing to do with my DNA. Katrina said they were mine and I went along with the sham because they were in my house and Katrina maintained that house. She also made the best food I ever ate in my life.

"Mr. Plimpton, I'm going to sit on this couch and wait until I either speak to Miss Lowry or somebody she reports to. You can go back into your rat's maze and tell the king rat that I said so."

"Somebody's trying to kill me?" I asked.
"I believe that your name might be on a list somewhere."
"What kind of sense does that make?"
"You think you're so innocent that no one could ever mean you harm?"
"No. What I wonder is why would you care?"
"I'm a cop, LT. It's my job to protect the welfare of even garbage like you."
I disconnected the call. No reason to argue or protest. I was interested at the obvious anger that Kit was feeling. He rarely showed his feelings. I didn't much either. That's why we might have been friends in another life.

Kit watched me for a few moments before saying, "That was some impressive killing you did. Naked too."
"I hope I didn't embarrass Officer Palmer."
"She said that after all she heard about you she thought your Johnson would be bigger.'
"Tell her that the air conditioner was on."

Writing: 4 out of 5 stars

Plot: 4 out of 5 stars

Characters: 4 out of 5 stars

Reading Immersion: 4 out 5 stars

BOOK RATING: 4 out of 5 stars

Sensitive reader: Some rough language.

BLOGGERS: Have you reviewed this book? If so, please feel free to leave a link to your review in the comments section; I will also add your link to the body of my review.

Author website

BUY IT: At Amazon, The Book Depository, through the publisher's website, and through other on-and-off-line booksellers.

Disclosure: I received a complimentary ARC of this title from the publisher to facilitate my review. No other compensation was received and I was not required to post a positive review.