This is another audiobook that I downloaded for a limited time from the L.A. Public Library website. It is one of the first ones I downloaded and not one I was especially anxious to read because it is an abridged version. However I wanted a break from the self-righteous intensity of the last audiobook I read (i.e. listened to): What I Talk About When I Talk About Running (see earlier review). I believe I described how I got into Walter Mosley mysteries in my 2008 review of his book A Red Death. I was only mildly impressed with that one and hadn’t read another of his since then. I had listened to a bit of Gone Fishing after downloading it. It seemed very easygoing especially as read by actor Paul Winfield. It’s a short book, only two parts. I’m not sure how much was abridged.
Gone Fishing was the only audiobook in .mp3 format available for limited time download. It’s a prequel to the Easy Rollins mystery series that was first published in 1997 after several of the others were published. It takes place in rural Texas outside Houston, an area called Pariah (sp?). The main characters are Ezekiel “Easy” Rollins, the detective of the series and his friend, criminal Raymond Alexander, who he and most others call “Mouse.” It’s not really a mystery but rather a story from Easy’s past, though it does involve some crime. Rural Texas is where Mouse was raised. It consists of farmland, swamps, and small towns of just one main street.
Paul Winfield tells the story in a relaxed tone using slightly different voices for the characters. Before some sections slow blues music is played. Mosley does a great job capturing the setting and atmosphere, the suspiciousness of the residents to outsiders, their beliefs in the supernatural such as voodoo. I guess the area itself has its own mysteries most of which are not fully explained. Easy has adventures told in vignette form. The book’s title refers to one of these. There isn’t much suspense, though there is some action and intense moments. There also aren’t many twists or major surprises. But it was still pleasant and good enough to listen to while cleaning the bathroom.
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