'The Long Fall' by Walter Mosley

Walter Mosley's latest book introduces the reader to a new main character, and a myriad of supporting and passing characters that make their way through the main character's life. The protagonist, Leonid McGill, is a shady New York PI who has turned his life around and is trying to make his way through the world with his new set of values. Though he is not averse to somewhat illegal investigation techniques, McGill is basically the tough but honest PI that dominated the novels of Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler. This, combined with Mosley's brilliant character development and vibrant setting descriptions, make 'The Long Fall' an amazing read.

Unlike Easy Rawlins, Paris Minton, and Socrates Fortlow, Leonid McGill harbors little anger at the world around him, but rather participates in the world with an ambivalent knowledge of the unfair and seemingly random nature of the world. This makes for interesting confrontations and conversations throughout the novel, punctuated by Mosley's amazing talent for snappy, witty dialgoue.

'The Long Fall' contains most of the staples of Walter Mosley: interracial relationships, infidelity, murder, exquisiste foods, detailed family histories, and a main character that seems to have the world against him. The main difference between Leonnid McGill and Easy Rawlins, Paris Minton, and Fearless Jones, however, aside from the fact that Leonid McGill lives in 2008 New York, is that the plot of 'The Long Fall' is almost secondary to the events, memories, and experiences that make up the foundation for the plot to travel. As I finished the book, I almost didn't care about the mystery, as I was already enchanted with the dialgoue and character development.

If Hammett and Chandler had been born 50 years later, this is what their novels would be like. Walter Mosley has bridged the gap that was left when they stopped writing.

If Leonid McGill is the future of Walter Mosley's prolific literary canon, then I say Long Live Leonid McGill.