- Unknown Binding
- Publisher: New York : Norton (1990)
- ASIN: B000VZMN3G
- Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Although the author may tire of such comparisons between himself and the great Raymond Chandler, there is no better way of describing the street-wise, hard-boiled, and downright sexy way his character Easy Rawlins swaggers through a story. To describe him though as a black Philip Marlowe would demean his very essence, in that he is unquestionably his own man.
Set in LA in the 50's this is as far from Happy Days as can be. Our anti-hero is a veteran of WWII, who makes occasional reference to his experiences during the conflict, and how they have moulded him. He enjoys hard liquor and harder company, but above all he loves women. They of course land him in more trouble than he can handle, as he sets out to earn a wage as a Private Eye.
It is the truly remarkable skill as a writer that Moseley can take such a seemingly stereo-typical character, and make me as a reader believe in him. His greatest triumph being that by the end of the book I actually cared as to what happened to him as a person, rather than just the story itself.
This book stands out amoungst the Easy Rawlins saga as a whole due to its singular characters, and plot-line. Saying that though, I challange anyone to read it and not be at least tempted to read one other (for which you will be pleasantly rewarded).
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I was so captivated by Mosley's latest novel ("When the Thrill is Gone"), which I happened upon by accident, that I thought I'd go back to where it all seemed to start for him.
"Devil...." is very different and features a different protagonist and world. Easy Rawlins is an African-American ex-soldier who has just lost his job while living in LA in the late forties. But he owns a home and doesn't want to miss his next repayment so takes on a job to find a missing woman on behalf of a rich man.
Easy is very well-known and he certainly knows everybody in shady circles and is quite prepared to operate on both sides of the law's fine lines. He is though somebody the reader aligns with readily.
I liked the setting and the descriptions of the times. The hunt and story are not complex although I did get thrown by names occasionally. There was enough crime mystery there, with a twist or two, for the novel to sit in this genre, although some may view the book as a social commentary of the times first. It is also not a long book.
The writing style, pace and structure will likely appeal more to readers of Chandler and Hammett than followers of Child or Kernick.
I have really warmed to Mosley as a writer, however, and will be buying up more books for my Kindle, with the bias in favour of his more recent protagonist, Leonid McGill, who appeared in ".....Thrill....".
"Devil...." is very different and features a different protagonist and world. Easy Rawlins is an African-American ex-soldier who has just lost his job while living in LA in the late forties. But he owns a home and doesn't want to miss his next repayment so takes on a job to find a missing woman on behalf of a rich man.
Easy is very well-known and he certainly knows everybody in shady circles and is quite prepared to operate on both sides of the law's fine lines. He is though somebody the reader aligns with readily.
I liked the setting and the descriptions of the times. The hunt and story are not complex although I did get thrown by names occasionally. There was enough crime mystery there, with a twist or two, for the novel to sit in this genre, although some may view the book as a social commentary of the times first. It is also not a long book.
The writing style, pace and structure will likely appeal more to readers of Chandler and Hammett than followers of Child or Kernick.
I have really warmed to Mosley as a writer, however, and will be buying up more books for my Kindle, with the bias in favour of his more recent protagonist, Leonid McGill, who appeared in ".....Thrill....".
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This is the first of the Easy Rawlins series and it is very well done. Of particular note is the striking feel for black Los Angeles in late 40's and early 50's that Mosley conveys effortlessly. The mystery is a bit convoluted but convinces on the level of the messiness of reality if nothing else. The dialog has been smoothed out somewhat to strike a balance between street talk and mainstream English, and occasionally it jars, but it's a minor point and does not detract from the flow of the story. Because we are 60 years down the road from the time of the events, the cops look a bit stereotypically nasty and corrupt, but they accurately reflect how things were then. Recommended.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Closer to the Bone than Mosley Would Ever Come Again
"Devil in a Blue Dress," (1990), was the first in what would prove to be the ten entry Easy Rawlins series, much discussed, honored and analyzed, by Walter Mosley, a mixed-race... Read more
Published 6 months ago by Stephanie DePue
Awful
I bought this book because I like hard boiled detective/mystery stories and have read all the classics. Read more
Published 15 months ago by mattk
A must read crime novel
This is a new edition of the first in the Easy Rawlins series of novels, with a good introduction by Val McDermid. Read more
Published 22 months ago by J. H. Bretts
paints a picture
This novel paints a picture of post war black america where the black race were still subjected to segregation and racism even after giving the same as their white counterparts... Read more
Published on 27 Jan 2010 by C. S. Bancroft
Almost as good as Chandler
I love the Big Sleep, I've read the book almost as many times as I've seen the film and that's a lot and Devil in a Blue Dress runs it a close 2nd. Read more
Published on 9 April 2007 by T. Josham
A Fine Book, But Hardly a Masterpiece
The first Easy Rawlins book is more enjoyable for its physical and cultural setting than it is for its mystery or characters. Read more
Published on 26 Jan 2003 by A. Ross
A Slumming Angel
This book was our introduction to Ezekiel Rawlins, 'Easy' as his only real friend calls him. It is fast moving and very complex in a bare bones kind of way. Read more
Published on 12 Jan 2003
Out-Chandler's the Master
Although the author may tire of such comparisons between himself and the great Raymond Chandler, there is no better way of describing the street-wise, hard-boiled, and downright... Read more
Published on 21 Mar 2002 by T Marshall
An exciting but unusual detective novel
This is an exciting novel which takes you though the seedy underbelly of Los Angeles post second World War. Read more
Published on 3 Mar 2002 by J. Mannion
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