New Hope for the Dead (Hoke Mosely #2) 4 of 5 stars ⭐ An interesting & entertaining ride…

An interesting & entertaining ride…

New Hope for the Dead (Hoke Mosely #2) 4 of 5 stars ⭐ 

By Charles Willeford 

I'm reading all the Hoke Mosley books, and I'm finding they differ wildly. Sometimes, this is good, sometimes bad. This book happens to be one of the good ones.

Unlike Miami Blues, this book is not as fast paced. This is largely attributed to the fact that it's just Mosley this go round, no Junior. Miami Blues was cut squarely in half between the two, and with one removed, I didn't know if it would play. I knew this going in, and was apprehensive about it. However, my worries were unfounded, and even though this book is much more slowly paced, I enjoyed it.

I was never bored, but I did wonder when the antagonist was going to show up. There was no clear adversary for most of the book, and that's unusual for noir. There are several homicide cases Holke is working on, with no real antagonist. Sometimes, the person he struggles against most, is himself. This book is much more of a character study, than a crime novel.

The majority of the book is Hoke learning to be a father. His ex wife has dropped his two teenage daughters on his doorstop, without a word. He hasn't seen them in ten years, since  they were four and six. Now they're teenagers, and strangers. But Hoke loves them, so he's willing to try to make it work. He's also assisting his partner, Ellita Sanchez, who's found herself homeless and pregnant. The baby is not Hoke's, but he's amenable to helping her anyway. Having never lived on her own before, Ellita is clueless about many things, even though she's a homicide detective.

I think some women might be offended by Hoke's sexist attitudes, but I laughed. He's misogynistic, but doesn't realize it. His ideas are laughable, even by 1980's standards. But there's no malice in him. He's more baffled by women, and their reactions to him than anything else. You do worry for his daughters though. What crazy advice is he going to give them next? The characters are so well drawn, you worry for them. They feel like real people to you, and isn't that the standard of a well written novel?

Hoke is a consummate slacker, with little to no ambition. He thinks nothing of wearing the same sweat stained shirt three days in a row. He can't be bothered to take the lieutenant's exam, so he can get promoted. And he's only moving out of his dumpy hotel, because his Captain says it's not allowed. All that being said, he's a dedicated homicide detective. He thinks of his duty as a sacred trust, and it's the one thing in his life he does well. It's a fun ride watching him solve cases, and if this series did nothing but that, I'd be happy.

For fans of neo noir, I highly recommend, New Hope for the Dead, and Miami Blues. They're both interesting rides, albeit in very different vehicles. I DO NOT recommend the third book in the series, Side-Swipe. It's terrible!

Personal note:

The introduction is worth by James Lee Burke, another of my favorite authors.