Down the River unto the Sea

Thank you to NetGalley for an electronic ARC of this book. I have never read Walter Mosley before, but what a great book!

Joe King Oliver is a former NYPD cop that was at Rivers for a crime he did not commit, and is now out ten years later working as a private investigator, running his agency with assistance from his teenage daughter. One day he receives a letter from the woman who set him up, and he has no choice but to investigate his own case from the past. He is also investigating a case to free a man on death row that was also set up, and the two intertwine throughout the book.

The author keeps a good pace going throughout and the final scene was quite suspenseful. I enjoyed the interactions between the characters, mostly Joe and his daughter, but also between Joe and Mel, a sociopath he must team up with to solve these cases. Joe also struggles throughout the book with what he really wants by investigating what happened to him, is it to be reinstated, to be exonerated, or just the satisfaction of knowing who it was that set him up? Watching him work through this is very interesting, as he enlists help from people you would not expect.

I love the crime / cop thriller genre and this one did not disappoint. The ending was not expected but very satisfying. I do recommend this one when it is released in late Feb 2018.

Since this is not my first roll in the hay with Mr. Walter Mosley's writing I expected exactly what I got. What I got was a gritty, police procedural of an ex-detective, Joe King Oliver, making his way in life as a Private Investigator on the mean streets of Brooklyn. Let's refer to him as King from now on.

King narrates as he investigates two cases that may or may not be connected, yet are still extremely personal. His investigation into the frame-up that essentially took the life he had as a cop is deeply personal. Someone orchestrated bringing him down and it appears that plan is still in play. What he wants to know is the why and who.

Simultaneously, but seemingly peripherally, King agrees to work on helping to free Man, who's currently on death row. What entices him about the case is that word on the streets is that there may have been corrupt police officers who set this guy up as well. The nightmares or solitary confinement still haunt King, along with the disappearance of a key witness for Man urge King to poke around despite the caution not to.

What Mosley does best here is introduce us to a complex character in so little pages. Because this novel is less that 300 pages, Mosley doesn't spend time with any unnecessary words, yet, there's so much detail and intrigue that totally captivates the reader. Yes, Down the River Unto the Sea moves at an alarming pace, still it does not leave the reader feeling deprived.

Mosley allows King the space to change and develop as a character. We see King dive deeper and deeper into a world he really doesn't want any parts of. He's tried to maintain being an honorable and respectable police officer, even without the badge, up until these cases beg him to choose a side.

Ultimately, Down the River Unto the Sea is my favorite read yet of 2017. It's only my second read, but I know what I like. I've only read a few Walter Mosley novels but I'm a fan. There's grit. There's grime. There will even be pages you want to turn away from. No this novel is not for the faint of heart. No I won't be sending Walter Mosley up the river. He's too worth reading to do that.

Copy provided by Mulholland Books via Netgalley

It's been quite a long time since I read a Walter Moseley book and I had not realized how far he has come as a writer.

Joe Oliver is a tormented ex-cop who was the victim of conspiracy and betrayal. But he has had some good luck in his life within his family and the community and even with some of the criminals he had hunted and he tries to focus on those good thing as he goes through his life as a private detective.

It's the perfect noir set up. A beautiful young woman walks into his office and offers him a wad of money to help a wrongly accused man (not entirely wrongly as it turns out). Then a letter arrives on Joe's desk from the woman who had entrapped him, confessing her crime and offering to help him clear his name. The two cases are not related, but Joe entangles them in his mind and heart and comes to believe that helping the victimized man will lift his own burden of victimization. He activates a network of colorful and dangerous characters and off we go into a vicious and black world of criminal New York.

In Mr. Moseley's hands, Joe is tormented by the knowledge that he was once an honest cop who was destroyed because of his honesty. But Joe's honesty wasn't heroic or noble, it ruined his life and lead to the deaths of witnesses and bystanders. Joe became an animal for a while, in order to survive, because he had been an honest man.

The two crime stories are connected only through Joe which requires a double set of characters and the large cast is a bit hard to keep straight sometimes. But the pace is relentless, the action cruel, and Mr. Moseley's command of his story is masterful.

I received a review copy of "Down the River unto the Sea" by Walter Mosley (Mulholland) through NetGalley.com.

NB Amazon no longer alerts reviewers when comments are posted. If you would like a response to your comment, please write to me using the address in my profile.

Joe Oliver had once been a respected NYPD homicide detective. He had also been a convicted felon. Framed by his enemies, beaten and broken in prison, he is suddenly and unexpectedly released. None of it makes sense but Joe accepts his fate and moves on, becoming a private investigator. But, a note comes his way, from a woman who says she had been paid to help frame him. What follows is vintage Walter Mosley. A twisted and dark story that runs through the underbelly of NY and is populated with characters of all types—evil and treacherous, heroic and compassionate. To ferret out the truth, Joe hooks up with his smart and sociopathic friend Melquarth Frost. But, nothing is as it seems. Neither friend nor foe is easily discernible and Joe quickly find himself in a world he barely understands. And one that could end his life in a NY minute. Love this story.


DP Lyle, award-winning author, lecturer, and story consultant

Fans oif Mosley's Easy Rawlins books will not be disappointed by his new hero, Joe Oliver, private detective. Oliver is a former cop who was set up to be disgraced, fired, and sent to prison, where he suffered physically and emotionally. Ten years later he has built a private detective career, and enjoys a warm relationship with his 17 year old daughter, the bright spot in his life. When his one good friend from his cop days asks for a favor, Joe has no idea of the complexity and risks he will face, even putting his ex-wife and daughter in grave danger. This is a suspenseful page-turner about corruption, betrayal, and power, with some surprising twists.

First person narrative of a man not in blue no more and then orange and then as a pi from Queens in a one man service, King Detective Service.
There are simple truths and there are more complex truths and there is freemen in sense of no longer in prison and following his days to exonerate himself and another in a case brought to his attention.
The author successfully engages the reader and walking in this protagonists shoes at odds with conflicts and the dealings with the discoveries and how and why there can be any exonerations.
Our pi is up against it, caught in a web of conspiracy and corruption that spread far and wide.
Clear and present dangers within, inner-city men in need for survival with some hard choices to be made, clear and present skill and mastery in telling from Walter Mosley.
A seasoned writer with a well seasoned pi tale of redemption revitalised in a Walter Mosley strain of telling.

If you're a fan of the great Walter Moseley, you will recognize that this is a very personal book and one that I believe is truly one of his best works.

I wholeheartedly recommend you read this spectacular story of how badly one uncontrolled moment can change a life forever. Spectacular.

Solid detective story. I enjoy Walter Mosley and this was the quality I expect from him. Fun noir detective story.