Touched

August 1, 2023

In Mosley's (Every Man a King) dystopian sci-fi novella, Martin Just wakes up and realizes that he has an alternate good consciousness, Temple, that has awoken after a centuries-long sleep and is the Cure for Humanity. Martin's search for understanding of his predicament starts a snowball effect that will see him hauled before the racist criminal-justice system and thrown into a prison cell, all suffered in order to come face to face with Death: Tor Waxman. Death seeks to destroy Humanity, and Martin must convince his family and a group of racist thugs to stand and fight. In this ongoing battle between good and evil, what sacrifices will need to be made to obtain victory? This dizzyingly alternative reality, combining quotidian evil banalities with intergalactic ones, is sometimes difficult going--not only because readers, like Martin, must figure out what is going on, but also for the systemic racism that serves as a catalyst and a backdrop for the ongoing feud. VERDICT A hard-hitting, topical story that fans of Mosley will enjoy.--Laura Hiatt

Copyright 2023 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

August 1, 2023
An unsuspecting host finds himself at the center of a supernatural plot to eradicate life from the planet. Rattled awake from a disorienting slumber--and apparently unaware of his own nudity and physical arousal--mild-mannered Black family man Marty Just wanders onto his balcony, the elaborate details of an intergalactic plan to end life on Earth seared into his mind. "Mama, look!" a neighbor child cries, and from that moment, Marty's week only gets weirder: He's arrested for public indecency; kills his vile, racist cellmate in a fugue state of self-defense; posts bail and returns home, only to encounter Aryan gang members ready to avenge their murdered leader. Until this point, the question of whether Marty has suffered a psychotic break or schizophrenic episode is unresolved, but then something inside Marty--an entity called Temple--takes over, attacking the racist thugs with his teeth, biting and tearing the life out of them in a marvelously frenzied action sequence. As it turns out, not only can Temple summon inhuman strength, he can resurrect the dead (!), and he recruits the formerly lifeless racists to help him prevent the encroaching genocide, personified by Tor Waxman, the Angel of Death. Equal parts body horror and necromancy, the book has cinematic fast cuts and an explosive pace that make it read like a Black Mirror episode set against the Hollywood Hills. While a subplot about Marty's pending legal woes adds little to the excitement (it wouldn't be Mosley without sharp-tongued lawyers and pushy cops), the novel is complicated in compelling ways by the racial dynamics and overt gestures toward a pandemic, as Tor Waxman spreads feverish death via unseen contagion to nearly 5,000 souls. Fast-moving action and jaw-dropping twists move this slim volume along at a dizzying rate.

COPYRIGHT(2023) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

August 1, 2023
Martin Just awakens one Saturday morning from what feels like a years-long sleep with the knowledge that he is one of 107 people destined to stop humanity from destroying all life in existence. He goes out on his balcony, naked, to contemplate while his wife sleeps and is promptly arrested for indecent exposure. While in jail, he kills his white-supremacist cell mate, though he doesn't remember doing it. Returning home, where his is the only Black family in a white neighborhood in the Hollywood Hills, an alternate consciousness named Temple takes over, making love to his wife and defending his family against the dead cell mate's dangerous friends. But enemies become allies against an even more dangerous foe who wants to raise an army of the undead to destroy the world. Mosley's latest (after Every Man a King, 2023) is a weird, philosophical book that packs a lot into fewer than 200 pages, exploring racial inequality, an unjust justice system, family relationships, and expansive ideas about the nature of humanity. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: A new book from Edgar-winning Mosley is always big news, even when he ventures beyond crime fiction.

COPYRIGHT(2023) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.