As always with Mosley, the prose is succinct, nearly mathematical in its precise balance, with sudden moments of restless beauty ... But within that studied, memorable prose, there’s an underlying loneliness. Rawlins has his companions, but much of his torment is designed to be dealt with alone. As Farewell, Amethystine winds to its conclusion, that solitude is devastating.
Mosley’s plotting can be a bit hard to follow at times ... However, the main attraction of the Easy Rawlins novels is the superb prose. Mosley’s dialogue, much of it straight out of Watts and Compton, is pitch perfect, and some passages have the sensuous rhythm of a basement slow dance.
This entry in the Easy epic may sometimes feel a bit by-the-numbers, but in the end, it also feels somewhat like a prelude to a potentially fresh—and dangerous—chapter in Rawlins’ life.
Mosley sheds keen light on the difficulties of navigating life in America as a Black man. This far into the series, though, Easy’s all-but-guaranteed investigative success drains the narrative of some of its dramatic tension.
