"Touched," the new novel by Walter Mosley, recognized mainly by his crime novels, is rooted in our fear for the future of humans and our planet. It finally happens: the different beings from "a vast range of planes and realities," as the author suggests, have decided that our species has entered the stage when our existence is no longer safe for the universe. Therefore, 107 people are chosen to become a cure, and Martin Just is one of those. Their methods are different and contradictory, but we follow the actions of just two individuals: Martin Just, a Black family man who symbolizes Life, and Waxman, who represents Death.

Another being, Temple, can sometimes overcome Martin. Temple is a much more potent, violent, and virile man. It's almost a schizophrenic transformation when Temple takes over Martin's body - with Martin's approval - when the real Martin is in danger. Martin, by nature, is a peaceful man, caring for his wife and two children. Still, he is prosecuted and imprisoned after one of his neighbors notices him standing naked on the balcony. In a primarily white, affluent Los Angeles neighborhood, the everyday life of a Black family is not easy, even in regular times, not just when Death is on the loose and we see zombies, a mysterious moth, and a dog who is worse than the Hound of the Baskervilles.

The novel's language demonstrates that we deal with the writer who knows his art. It's atmospheric, with beautiful sentences like "he didn't have so much as a paper bag for luggage." Even though science fiction thriller is not a genre I read frequently, I was impressed, especially by the insightful, philosophical conclusion that makes Life conquer Death. As Martin states at the novel's end, "Death was little more than the punctuation used to define the long story of Life."

Walter Mosley is probably best known for his long running Easy Rawlins crime series which started in 1990 with Devil in a Blue Dress and now extends to fifteen entries. But this series represent only half of Mosley’s prolific output which includes other crime fiction but also a strain of what can only be called philosophical science fiction, the first of which was 1998’s Blue Light. Touched, Mosley’s latest novel definitely falls into this vein.
Martin Just wakes from what has felt like a thousand year sleep. During that time he was taken and genetically altered by some alien intelligence and is one of over a hundred people who have been sent back to Earth as the “cure” for a future apocalypse. But before he can do anything much, Just is arrested and thrown into prison where, despite orders to the contrary, he is put in the same cell as a giant, white supremacist. But it soon turns out that Martin has not been dreaming, that he now has an alter ego called Temple who has prodigious strength and other powers. Which is fortunate when an avatar of death comes calling.
Touched, if anything, is weirder than this description. It also features among other things zombies, animal familiars and mind control. None of it really makes a lot of sense. The best that can be said of it that some at least plays as an allegory of Black experience in America. In particular through the character of Just/Temple, Mosely explores the two conflicting lives some people have to live, or personals they need to create in order to survive. But if this is the message it is muddled by the medium which is a confused and confusing speculative fiction premise that asks plenty of questions but provides very few answers.
At the end of Touched it feels like Mosely has more story to tell (there are over one hundred others like Just somewhere in the world for a start). But it is hard to think after this taster (Touched is only 176 pages) that too many readers will be back for more.

I am a fan of Walter Mosley's writing. Whether he's writing mysteries or science fiction, I always give his books a try. Touched is a science fiction novella focused on a man named Martin Just who awakens from a dream where he was taken by aliens and trained and changed to work towards mitigating the impact that life has on the universe.

It's a concept book, and the concept is interesting. I was just reading a snippet of an interview where Mosley said this is the first of 70 novellas. That's pretty ambitious, but I would enjoy reading more.

The story follows Just as he wakes and a series of events begins that both push him out of his middle class life and allow his alter ego, Temple, to come to the fore. The book becomes a meditation on life vs. death and introduces concepts that Mosley can explore in future novels.

While reading this I kept thinking of Octavia Butler's Patternist books. This is a short book that pulls no punches and puts the reader in some difficult situations. I really enjoyed this and hope to see more in the future!

3 stars for a book that is a departure for Walter Mosley. This book has the central character, Martin Just, awaken from a strange dream, in which he entered another world and realizes that he has a new mission, to be an "antibody" in the eradication of a terrible menace to the entire world. Martin realizes that he has an alternate personality, Temple, who takes over in time of danger. I have previously read four books by this author, and three of those were private eye mysteries. This book was not my cup of tea. The para normal element was just too weird.
One quote: "I had been sent, or maybe even created, to change the world by my being." It took me 3 days to read it.
Thanks to Rachel Gilman at Grove Atlantic for sending me this eARC through NetGalley.
#Touched #NetGalley.

One morning a family man awakens, believing he has slept for centuries and during those centuries he was given a plan, along with 106 other recipients, by the power of the universe to alter humanity. Deep in pondering his mission, he stepped out on his second-floor deck, unaware he’s nude with a morning erection. Seen by passersby, including a child, the police are summoned, and he is arrested by angry police and tossed in a system that has already judged him and set out to punish him as a pedophile before he’s had contact with an attorney. During his time in a holding cell, he uses supernatural powers, given him as part of his mission, he did not know he possessed. Released and back home, the story unfolds, pulling his family into the dangers associated with his apocalyptic mission. Loved the science fiction aspect to the book. This was my first book by Walter Mosley and I will definitely read more. #netgalley #touched

One of the strangest books I’ve read in quite a while!

Martin Just awakes one morning feeling like he’s been asleep for a hundred years. Wondering naked on to his balcony, he quickly finds himself accosted by police. Martin is a black man living in the affluent Hollywood hills of Los Angeles - is he being picked out, victimised? Worse is to come, as he’s thrown into a cell to be joined sometime later by a huge white supremacist intent on doing him serious harm.

What happens next is a little hard to fathom, but Martin is concious that he’s on a mission, that he’s been chosen. He’s not the only one, he's aware that there are others too. This discovery has emerged, he knows, from the long sleep. Now he’s two people, a Jekyll and Hyde, a man who is a stranger to violence and also a man who embraces it. He’s not sure how events will manifest but he understands that if he is ‘life’, then he must face down he who is ‘death’.

At times I found the narrative incomprehensible. It lurches from one strange scene to the next, piling one surreal event on top of another. The action scenes are straight out of a Marvel comic book, but the language and and the writing is that of a serious wordsmith. It’s incongruous. I'm afraid it's just too much for me.

I’ve enjoyed Mosley’s writing in the past, The Awkward Black Man is one of the finest collection of short stories I’ve read, and I’ve always been impressed by the way refuses to be locked into one particular style (compare Cinnamon Kiss to John Woman, for example). With this book he’s moving into John Boyne territory in terms of expanding his range, but I'm afraid it just didn’t work for me. On the plus side, it’s a short piece so I was able to complete it in one sitting.

It was interesting and fast-paced but, ultimately, I'm not sure what's the message here. The story got slightly confusing and maybe too ambitious. It's philosophical and sciencey parts were lacking, IMO,.

I really wanted to like this book so much more than I did, but ultimately it just did not land for me at all.

A sci-fi novella dealing with an enhanced human designated as the cure against another enhanced human designated as death. Will good be the victor or will evil win out?
Thought provoking read.
#Touched #NetGalley

I really enjoyed this short/novella. You are thrown into chaos and hope to make it through to the other size.

I just reviewed Touched by Walter Mosley. #Touched #NetGalley

Short and Crazy

A good start to my first Mosley. He did leave me a bit high and dry and I don't know if that is because he wants me to continue the story on my own or he is going to write more. We'll see, I'm able to do both, I can continue the story on my own and I can read more.

I liked Mosley strain of sci-fi, it's timely and raises questions. How he played with worldview by instantaneously changing the worldview of white supremacists to nature loving guys is superb. Here have some blood, it helps.......

An ARC kindly provided by author/publisher via Netgalley

From the first few pages, it is clear that one is in the company of a writer who knows how to build suspense and intrigue readers. The book's initial premise seemed intriguing enough, what if there are one hundred and seven individuals who each are a solution to humanity's chaos. I loved that there was a racial justice dimension to the story as well. However, halfway through the book, I was confused and unable to follow the plotlines and some changes felt too sudden and unwarranted.

Also enjoy books about Walter Mosley. First SF book of his I read, and definitely like the mysteries better, but this was also enjoyable. Will read more of his science fiction. #Touched #NetGalley

Huh. Not at all what I was expecting from Walter Mosley. A bit all over the place. Some sound observations/ideas, but didn’t really get off the ground.

Have you ever woken up from a bizarre dream that you just can't shake?

That's what happens to Martin 'Marty' Just, a mild-mannered, middle aged family man who is transformed upon waking one day.
He now has another entity existing in him- Temple- who is aggressive, supernaturally strong and everything Marty isn't. This entity has a mission, one he can't quite recall, but that will change the course of all life in the universe.
This short-ish novel has a lot packed into it-with a lot for longtime Mosely fans to enjoy, as well as those picking up one of his books for the first time.
In addition to the main sci-fi storyline, Mosely writes in his signature style on race, class, the criminal justice system, marriage and infidelity.
This book reminded me 'The City We Became' by N. K. Jemisin.

This is a book that I simply don’t know how to respond to. the idea in itself is quite interesting (life & death, good & evil only then in human form). But, and it’s a big but,it was written too haphazerdly, as if the writer didn’t know where he wanted to go with this story. Or he might have known where he wanted to go but wasn’t sure how to get there.

After reading some other reviews on his other works I found that Mosley is a beloved writer however Sci-Fi isn’t his regular theme. This is felt throughout the book. Fortunately this read was short and the writing style in and of itself wasn’t too hard to get through so I did finish the read. However even after finishing I am left with more questions then answers. Some fans hinted on this being the first novel in a series and if that is the case I might think about reading the next in line in hopes of getting some answers. If it turns out that this won’t be a series I would not recommend this read to people who don’t want to be left with existential questions after reading a work of fiction. Nor is this a recommendation to anyone who hasn’t already read some of Mosley’s work since after it you might not want to reach for any of his other novels either, although reviews might sugest these will definately be worth your time.

One morning a family man awakens, believing he has slept for centuries and during those centuries he was given a plan, along with 106 other recipients, by the power of the universe to alter humanity. Deep in pondering his mission, he stepped out on his second floor deck, unaware he’s nude with a morning erection. Seen by passersby, including a child, the police are summoned, and he is arrested by angry police and tossed in a system that has already judged him and set out to punish him as a pedophile before he’s had contact with an attorney. During his time in a holding cell, he uses supernatural powers, given him as part of his mission, he did not know he possessed. Released and back home, the story unfolds, pulling his family into the dangers associated with his apocalyptic mission.

With each new novel, Mosley’s writing becomes more visibly philosophical. His later novels go beyond his commentaries on race and social justice. The appeal in this one, for the reader of such texts, is Mosley’s takes on pseudo-philosophies, cosmology, and science fictions based on worldviews of prophecy, set against classical philosophies which propound a history of strange worldviews found in the works of philosophers from Plato to Hegel, a famous philosopher mentioned in this book. This, however, is sub-textual, not intended for every reader. For the particular reader, this is one of his best.

Mosley’s popularity and readability rests on his ability to take a popular genre and write a story recognizable to the average reader who enjoys a good sci-fi story or detective story or whatever genre in which Mosley is working at the time. In this one, he doesn’t disappoint his readers.

My thanks to NetGalley and Grove Atlantic for an advanced readers' copy.

I love science fiction and I love Walter Mosley. The trouble is that Walter Mosley does not write enough science fiction. Also this book is entirely too short(I'm not sure if this is a start of a series and I very much hope it is).
This isn't exactly a new story about mysterious interventions in the course of humanity giving some humans super powers for some unknown reason but Touched adds Walter Mosley adds his own themes to this story.
Hyper violent with modern themes of race and crime and punishment this is definitely worth picking up if you're a fan of Mosley or a fan of good sci fi.

I really enjoy Walter Mosley’s books, and jumped at the chance to read an advance copy of his new book. Unfortunately, I didn’t like Touched at all.

Martin wakes up one morning as a dual personality, Martin and another “being” who is super strong and believes he’s the antibody the the virus that is the human race. Is Martin schizophrenic or is there really an inter dimensional being cohabiting with him? Martin is opposed by Waxman, who may or may not be Death. Narrated in a confusing manner, with New Age philosophies abounding, I just could not connect to this book. While sorely tempted to DNF Touched, I managed to finish it. Others may enjoy Touched, but it wasn’t at all for me.

My thanks to the publisher and to Netgalley for providing an ARC of the book.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

It's a superhero novella with all.life on the line (the DNA molecule seems to be the issue).
It is set in modern-day Los Angeles but with many of the same themes and types of characters as the Easy Rawlins novels (which I love). The main character is an Incredible Hulk type with split screen consciousness and insane strength. It's Walter Mosley, so it's very well written. I do wish we had more time to meet the family in addition to the hero story. I guess I wanted some emotion with my action:). It's a quick read and it feels like it's setting up a more involved clash between universal forces.