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As soon as Tristin (Fearless) Jones knocked on Paris Mintonıs used bookstore door, Paris knew that danger was just around the corner. Whenever his good friend, Fearless, comes to visit, Paris expects that trouble will come right on in there with him. This time was no different. Fearless had been working for Kit Mitchell (the Watermelon Man) on Kitıs farm. Kit didnıt go into work everyday but he hadnıt shown up for a while, even on payday. Fearless didnıt think much of it until a woman, claiming to be Kitıs wife, asked Fearless if he knew where her husband was. When Fearless told her that he hadnıt seen the man in a few days, the woman asked him to look for Kit. The problem was that Fearless was not the only person looking for the missing Kit. So were some mean looking men -- and the police. Because Fearless knew his true strengths, and thinking wasnıt one of them, he went to his close friend, used bookstore owner, Paris Minton, for help. Fearless had just enough time to tell Paris about Kit when a strange man came knocking on Parisı door, looking for Fearless and Kit. Paris knew, just like so many times in the past, that just by opening his door to Fearless, he would be drawn into some very dangerous business. FEAR ITSELF, is author Walter Mosleyıs second Fearless Jones novel. Once again the strong, brave, but not too smart Fearless is teamed up with the somewhat cowardly, but well read and well meaning, Paris Minton, to solve a mystery in Watts, Los Angeles, during the 1950s. At that time, Watts was a black community made up of a people who were very uneasy whenever a white person appeared amongst them. With good reason. The only white people there were either police, who would arrest a black man for any reason, and white men who were doing illegal and dangerous activities. Walter Mosley takes everything he knows about the area, and the time, and creates a world filled with his own unique attention-grabbing people. Fearless and Paris remind me a lot of his other characters, Easy Rawlins and Raymond "Mouse" Alexander. Like all of Mosleyıs books, the inhabitants of FEAR ITSELF are well crafted characters, that, although far from perfect, all have stellar qualities. You can tell that the author has a lot of respect for the people who live in his books. Mosley might point out their shortcomings, but never says anything bad about them and he always takes the time to tell his readers about their finer points. The problem with this book is that there are so many characters, you need a scorecard to figure out who is who. Adding to the difficulty is that some of the characters are called by assorted names by different people, so it makes it that much harder to work out how they fit into the overall story. There are also numerous plot lines that donıt seem to be related, so it is confusing at times. Yet, once you get used to all the names and relationships, it gets a little easier to tell the players apart. But, I assure you, by the end of the book youıll find itıs well worth the extra effort. Even though I donıt think this is his best novel, on the whole, I liked FEAR ITSELF. Walter Mosley is a first class writer. His books are filled with wonderful, likable people and his writing style is basic and straight forward. Mosley isnıt trying to impress anyone with $10 words, and he gives us a great sense of the Watts community. If youıre a Mosley fan you will continue to be one after reading FEAR ITSELF. If youıve never read this author, you should give this book a chance. And be sure to give his other books a read. Youıll enjoy them!
Reviewed by Sharon Katz, July 2003
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