"Coiled-spring-of-a-PI King Oliver--a cop until he was unjustly incarcerated on Rikers--is almost relieved when his latest case, involving the Musk-like figure Alfred X. Quiller, drops him into the clutches of a white-supremacist gang. His reasoning: As a Black man, 'you would always lose against the system, ' but against these punks, he's 'got a shot.' Guess who comes out on top in Walter Mosley'scompelling novel?"--NY Mag
"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... The second King Oliver novel lives up to the excitement generated by its Edgar-winning predecessor."--Booklist
"There's no writer like Walter Mosley and no protagonists like his creations: Easy Rawlins, Leonid McGill, and now Joe King, returning in a new era noir, facing tough moral choices, and pulling the reader -- you -- up close and into every fraught moment."--Powell's Books Blog
"When a PI novel is written noir and gritty, in the style of Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler and Chester Himes, but without the tropes that have become cliched, you can bet the author is Walter Mosley. . . 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."--Washington Post
"Readers are treated along the way to the evocative prose and astute observations about human nature, race relations and family bonds that have distinguished Mosley's writing for some 30 years."--Paula Woods, Los Angeles Times
"Skitters across the spectrum between orthodox and radical like a polygraph needle wired to a nervy accomplice. . . Fans of his Easy Rawlins and Leonid McGill series will not be disappointed, for we remain in the realm of deliciously gritty noir."--Daniel Nieh, New York Times Book Review
"Mosley, a modern master of the noir form, brings readers a worthy follow-upto Down the River Unto the Sea. This time, Joe King Oliver is asked for a favor from a friend he can't refuse, a case that forces him to look into the unsavory connections between white nationalists, Russians, and high finance. Mosley knows exactly how to craft a mystery that keeps you at the edge of your seat all the while forcing you to reckon with sinister forces at the heart of American society."--Dwyer Murphy, Crimereads
"Mosley's characteristic writing style is on full display, including his love of unusual similes ("The window gazed upon New Jersey but it was a misty day, making the Garden State look like a half-formed idea"). Joe continues to fascinate as a protagonist, and the secondary characters enrich the storywhether they figure into the main action or not...a worthy successor."
--Publishers Weekly