While Mosley, for sixteen years now, has written some of the most vivid mysteries available and has become known for his dark and edgy Easy Rawlins books he chooses to adopt a lighter tone for, Fear of the Dark, his third installment in the Fearless Jones series. In this edition, Mosley pokes fun at racial stereotypes while graphically depicting racial tension in
America where in the 1950s, as well as, today in some arenas; minorities find institutionalized racism condoned. Be prepared, however, for Fear of the Dark is a heavily slanted social commentary on the stark realities of racism as a fact of life and is heavily laden with violence, sex and language that would give it an X box office rating. However, it also reveals the tragic results of racism and relates it as an ever-present obstacle that creates a nagging pressure and therefore is often a life-threatening danger to those subjected to it.  

The story’s setting is Los Angeles, California (era 1950) in the area known as
Watts where you find a black community filled with anger and frustration about their societal position as second-class citizens. Mosley uses this setting to set up a scenario in which Paris Minton, a mild-mannered bookstore owner, who is neither brave or ambitious, knows better than to report a murder to the white police, especially given the fact that he has been involved with the murdered victim’s white girl friend. In a panic,
Paris turns to his stalwart friend, Fearless Jones who believes that life is cheap and therefore has no fear of taking matters into his own hands when he feels it necessary to protect himself or others who need his help. On a positive note throughout his writing, Mosley nostalgically recalls pre-riots
Watts where black and whites were both welcome in Jazz clubs and white businessmen chose not to discriminate against blacks due to their color.  

Overall I found Fear of the Dark to be an honest depiction of how racism must be perceived by the blacks in our community, as well as, insight into the sometimes unintentional stereotypes we place on them, as seen by the inclusion of Useless. Useless is used by the author to portray a stereotypical, lazy, uneducated, low-key thief freeloader who has no desire to improve himself unlike Fearless who portrays a “live for the here and now” attitude as he attempts to protect himself and those he cares about (not always legally). Given that I would say that Mosley has done a credible job of giving us a believable murder mystery that will thrill those readers who are not offended by lurid and vivid details of how life is in parts of
America. 

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Tags: book review, bigotry, racism, fear of the dark, walter mosley, social commentary, mystery, murder, sex, google