Provocative ... Skitters across the spectrum between orthodox and radical like a polygraph needle wired to a nervy accomplice ... Freedoms betrayed, classes divided, races at war — such heady themes lace the length of Mosley’s 46th novel. Fans of his Easy Rawlins and Leonid McGill series will not be disappointed, for we remain in the realm of deliciously gritty noir ... The byzantine plot, the suave private eye, all the uncanny similes; it’s a cocktail that skilled authors will serve as long as bartenders are still pouring Negronis ... As for Every Man a King, it’s a sterling example of a genre that it scarcely transcends.
Every Man a King reminds us why [Mosley] is a master of the genre ... The issues of inequity, race, poverty, wealth and class are all here in prose and plot, animated by everyman characters unbowed by convention, who leap off the page level-eyed and unrepentant ... There are layers of complexity. Actions don’t just have equal and opposite reactions, they slam back deadly, twofold ... Just when you think the story can’t get twistier, it does, but you don’t mind because Mosley’s writing is so rich, and his characters are not like anyone else’s, anywhere. It’s noir with a social conscience, noir with its thinking cap on.
The plot takes some overly byzantine turns, but Mosley again shows his talent for character building, not only in the many-sided Joe, as vulnerable as he is resilient, but also in a superb supporting cast, including Joe’s daughter, Aja, and mercenary Oliya, who could easily front her own series.
Mosley demonstrates once again why he is a master of the craft, weaving a searing look at the concepts of race and social justice into a page-turning crime novel. A complex, compelling protagonist and eclectic supporting cast deepen the pleasure of the read.
Entertaining ... Joe continues to fascinate as a protagonist, and the secondary characters enrich the story whether they figure into the main action or not. While it may not quite measure up to his outstanding series opener, this is a worthy successor.
