Known to Evil

In this follow-up to The Long Fall, underworld fixer turned legit P.I. Leonid McGill is trying to keep his family together and put his past behind him. That all changes when powerful political operator Alphonse Rinaldo hires him to locate a missing woman. It isn’t long before McGill runs afoul of contract killers and the police, not to mention a Romanian pimp who is threatening his son.

At his best, Walter Mosley is a modern-day Raymond Chandler with a great ear for dialogue and a socially conscious edge. At his worst, he is a repetitive, ham-handed polemicist. Fortunately, like the book that it follows, Known to Evil captures more of the former than the latter.

This is a book that succeeds on the strength of its characters, and McGill is one hell of an interesting protagonist. A short, middle-aged Communist’s son, he carries with him both heavy guilt for his past misdeeds and the force of will needed to keep his head above water in increasingly dangerous environments. He is both iron and glass, rolled into one. Though there is a seeming surplus of secondary characters, very few of them bleed together. The retired assassin Hush, compassionate cop Bonilla, surveillance expert Bug, and scheming son Twill all stand out as people, rather than types.

Known to Evil moves at a quick pace, but Mosley still finds plenty of room to incorporate back story and asides about the nature of McGill’s corruption-tainted world. Like any good mystery, the more information that is provided to the reader, the more questions that are raised.

If there is one fatal flaw to this book, it is the tremendously disappointing ending. A wrap-up in every sense of the word, it is one of the weakest I’ve encountered in recent memory. The last chapter in particular is heavily summarized and glossed over. Had Mosley taken the time to handle this properly, he could have generated a ton of interest for the next McGill book. Instead, his quick fix leaves the reader feeling shortchanged.

That aside, Known to Evil makes for a decent read. Traditional enough to satisfy most mystery fans, it also makes good use of a New York setting without feeling stale. A lack of depth, abetted by the lackluster conclusion, means this probably won’t resonate very deeply, but at least you won’t feel like you’ve read it all before.

7.25/10