FuschiaReads.

Walter Mosley

1998 Five-Star 296pp SC

“I didn’t use a tape recorder back then, but I remember every word.”

This is an odd book, I started to read it last night and almost did not pick it back up again this afternoon, but it was Mr Mosley or vacuuming…

This strange blue light hits America in the 1960’s changing people in strange and unpredictable ways. The narrator Chance is not hit directly put falls in with a group of people who are and later gains some of their powers through some blood drinking. I am not sure whether this book is sci-fi or fantasy or some kind of social commentary or some kind of horror or some kind of spiritualism as it is an uneasy mix of all of the above and never sits comfortably with any.

The horror bits are very vivid and gross and what with that and the unlike-ability of the characters and the meanderings of the plot I was hesitant to finish the book. The plot gets stranger towards the end and to my untutored mind is completely unresolved.

He has written several other books that seem to be more in the race/social commentary field and they might be worth a look but I am not racing out to buy myself a copy of this one.