Sat 6 Aug 2011
Reviewed by Barry Gardner: GAR ANTHONY HAYWOOD – You Can Die Trying.
Posted by Steve under Bibliographies, Lists & Checklists , Characters , Reviews[4] Comments
GAR ANTHONY HAYWOOD – You Can Die Trying. Aaron Gunner #3. St. Martin’s, hardcover, 1993. Penguin, paperback, 1994.
Haywood first wrote about black PI Aaron Gunner in the 1988 Fear of the Dark. For some reason, even before the President put his two cents in, Walter Mosley had gotten more attention as a black crime writer. Recently, Barbara Neely has been in the spotlight. I think Haywood writes about blacks better than either, and is a better writer overall.
Gunner, for that best of reasons, poverty, takes a case that can bring him nothing but grief: proving that a bigoted cop was innocent of killing a 14 year old black youth in an attempted robbery. The cop had been fired for his actions, and eight months later ate his gun.
A man comes to Gunner who said he witnessed the shooting, and that the kid fired at the cop first; and that he failed to come forward because he received anonymous threats on his family. No one wants to change history; not the black community, and not the police, who are re-building an image after the riots. Only Gunner. And he’s not really sure that he does. He knew the cop, too.
Gunner is to me a believable person, but that doesn’t really mean anything. Any WASP male who claims to understand blacks is a fool, and in that regard at least, I’m not.
Haywood is a thoroughly competent writer, and knows his way around the black middle-class as well street life. One of the book’s strongest points is that it clearly lays out why bigoted, brutal cops exist, and why, except in isolated instances, the black community can never like or trust people with badges.
It is not a hopeful book, except in that it portrays a few decent people on both sides of the equation. It is a thoughtful book, though, and I think a good one.
The Aaron Gunner series —
1. Fear of the Dark (1988)
2. Not Long for This World (1990)
3. You Can Die Trying (1993)
4. It’s Not a Pretty Sight (1996)
5. When Last Seen Alive (1997)
6. All The Lucky Ones Are Dead (2000)
August 6th, 2011 at 2:10 pm
If the books in this series came out in paperback, and I’m not sure that all of them did, then I have them all.
But if I had to explain to you why I’ve never read any of them, I couldn’t. It’s a mystery to me.
Barbara Neely’s books have faded in popularity since Barry wrote this review, but as a black author, Walter Mosley has, if anything, continued to rise. Some authors catch on, others don’t.
In the mid 1990s Haywood wrote two books in his Joe & Dottie Loudermilk series, then more recently a couple of standalones. He’s still around, in other words, which is the good news, but in terms of name recognition, nowhere near Mosley’s.
August 6th, 2011 at 5:13 pm
Haywood is an excellent writer, sadly under-recognized, especially in his Aaron Gunner books.
The Gunner novel partly set in the hip-hop world ALL THE LUCKY ONES ARE DEAD is my particular favorite.
As an LA native, I can emphasize how strong and accurate Haywood’s sense of place is. The plotting in ALL THE LUCKY ONES ARE DEAD is especially well motivated, I think.
August 7th, 2011 at 7:49 am
I liked the Loudermilk series, which was very different in tone from the Gunners. Joe is a retired cop, his wife a retired teacher. They drive the country in their Airstream trailer at least in part to get away from their five troublesome children.
Some of Haywood’s standalones were written as by Ray Shannon, by the way.
August 7th, 2011 at 3:39 pm
Gar Anthony Haywood is one of the bloggers over at http://www.Murderati.com and today 8/7/11, he has a post up.