This was my first book by Mosley and evidently in the previous entry in the series "Easy Rawlins" had Easy go over a cliff in his car. Fortunately Mosley brought the Black detective back to continue in this episode, set in 1967 in the early days of hippie era. After wakening from a two month coma, Rawlins is quickly asked to track down a missing young man, Evander "Little Green" Noon who was last seen in Los Angeles hanging out with hippies. Kept on his feet with a home-made medicine, Easy manages to accomplish the task and along the way experiences life in new age California. which Mosley relates in authentic detail, including omnipresent racism, free love, and drugs. More a time capsule than a mystery, this features excellent plotting and characters. ( )

Easy has been yanked back from the brink of death (or maybe actually from across the threshold) by Mouse, and Mama Jo, and others who care deeply about him. But he isn't too keen on living these days. The life he nearly left behind (in [Blonde Faith]) was in shambles, and he could only think of one way to fix it. Now, he wakes to a request from Mouse that he try to find out what happened to Little Green Noon, a young man whose mother is distraught at his disappearance into the hippy culture of the Sunset Strip. Only for Mouse would Easy take this on in his current state, and he isn't sure he won't still want to check out for good once the job is done. But we know that's not how things will turn out. Too many people love him, and he's never let them down yet. ( )

It's been 5 1/2 years since the last Easy Rawlins detective novel. At the end of Blonde Faith, Easy drives off a cliff, despondent over the loss of his lover, who has chosen another man. Easy is hanging on by a thread, after Raymond "Mouse" Alexander rescues him after their voodoo friend tells him Easy is alive. Mouse asks Easy to find Evander "Little Green" Noon, who has accidentally fallen in with hippies after a bad acid trip and then becomes an unwilling patsy for a mob rip-off. Mosley's period piece is especially well done this time, and as always, feels authentic. Easy has to call in favors from everyone to save himself and Evander. ( )

After convalescing for two months from injuries sustained in a near fatal auto crash, Easy is asked by Mouse to find young Evander Noon who was last heard of in the company of hippies on the Sunset Strip. Evander (Little Green) has been inadvertently involved in a drug heist gone bad.
Easy Rawlins, with the help of Mouse and Mama Jo's Gator Blood restorative finds and helps Little Green. Bonnie comes back into his life and Easy has recovered his moral and physical strength.

I’d heard that Walter Mosley is an amazing author. But I couldn’t be bothered finishing this. It was okay, I suppose, just wasn’t enough for me. It’s very rare that I enjoy a detective novel though. ( )