Always Outnumbered, Always Outgunned - Hardcover

Easy Rawlins fans might initially find themselves disappointed by the absence of a mystery to unravel. But it's a gripping inner drama that unfolds over the pages of these stories, as Socrates comes to grips with the chaos, poverty and violence around him. He tries to get and keep a job delivering groceries; takes in a young street kid named Darryl, who has his own murder to hide; and helps drive out the neighbourhood crack dealer. Throughout, Mosley captures the rhythms of Watts life in prose both lyrical and hard-edged, resulting in a haunting look at a life bounded by lust, violence, fear and a ruthlessly unsentimental moral vision.

Tough but touching stories.

"Booklist"

Powerful...hard-hitting, unrelenting, poignant short fiction.

"Denver Post"

A wonderful book...[with] characters who seem as real as the reader.

"Elle"

Mournful, insightful, and mystical. It is also Mosley's best work of fiction.

Amazon.com

Gritty and lyrical, the interlinked stories are stamped with Mosley's unique brand of street-smart comedy.

"Sonoma County Independent"

An insistently probing, philosophical gem...set in a world where standard notions of right and wrong have been blown to hell.

"The Los Angeles Times Book Review"

"Always Outnumbered, Always Outgunned" is the work of a writer unafraid of pushing forward his own notions of responsibility and entitlement.

Sven Birkerts

The New York Times Book Review

Mosley's style suits his subject perfectly. The prose is sand-papery, the sentence rhythms often rough and jabbing. But then -- sudden surprise -- we come upon moments of undefended lyricism.

"San Francisco Chronicle"

Mosley has constructed a perfect Socrates for millennium's end -- a principled man who finds that the highest meaning of life can be attained through self-knowledge, and who convinces others of the power and value of looking within.

"Publishers Weekly"

Unveiling a new, bigger-than-life urban hero...Mosley...confer[s] on the mean streets of contemporary L.A. what filmmaker John Ford helped create for the American West: a gun-slinging mythology of street justice and a gritty, elegiac code of honor...A maverick protagonist.