Not Long for This World

Aaron Gunner #2

by Gar Anthony. HAYWOOD

A lawyer hires Gunner to help her prove that her gangland client is not a killer
Darrel Lovejoy doesn’t owe South Central anything. By all accounts, he is lucky to escape this desperate corner of Los Angeles, to go to college and graduate into a well-paid advertising job. But something compels him to return. He dives into social work, attempting to mediate between the gangs which have brought hell to the streets he grew up on, and he makes slow but steady progress up until the day a shotgun blast cuts him down.

After an unusually forthcoming witness swears she saw a car of Imperial Blues kill Lovejoy, the police arrest Blue soldier Toby Mills. Suspecting a frame-up, Toby’s lawyer hires private detective Aaron Gunner to vet the woman’s story. To find out why South Central’s favorite son had to die, Gunner will turn gangland upside down.

Genres: Fiction

260 pages, Hardcover

First published June 1, 1990

Reviews

[Jake · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gar Anthony Haywood’s Aaron Gunner series is very good and also a great example of the racism inherent in the publishing industry.

I read a lot of books, as my archive on this site can attest to. I’ve read hundreds, maybe thousands of mystery/thriller type books. Admittedly, the vast majority of writers I’ve read are white. I’m not exculpating myself in the problem here. But what does frustrate me, and what I think is worth nothing, is that Haywood’s books are so much better than most of the drunken cop/PI or pill-addled house frau shlock that often makes bestseller lists because its written by and for white people.

Haywood has won both an Edgar and Shamus award respectively, two of the most prestigious prizes in his field. And yet, I would’ve never known these books existed if not for a listicle on black mystery writers. Which is partially on me. And is a problem I’m seeking to rectify.

Anyway, this is another good book in the series. Aaron Gunner has to put aside his disdain for gangbanging culture in 80s LA in order to exonerate someone he doesn’t have a strong desire to help in the first place. Throughout the book, we see his internal struggle with this, as well as what the country itself does to black people. Throw in a twisty mystery and you’ve got yourself a special tale. It also helped that Haywood toned down the misogyny from the first one.

I definitely want to finish this series and more, I want to do my part to make sure writers like Haywood don’t slip through the cracks of mainstream bookselling because of racism.

[Joe Orozco · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book. I just read it for the third time after several years, and now I can better appreciate the author's masterful orchestra of characters.

It's South Central Los Angeles. It's gang land, and true to form, it's violent intrigue at its highest. Best of all, it's genuine. I've read a few urban gangster books where the language is stilted, as though the author has zero connection to the culture, but here it's all genuine.

Who really killed the guy trying to bring all the street gangs together? Who will die next, and is the boy everyone fears the one you should really be looking out for?

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Aaron Gunner loathes gangbangers. Yet he’s been hired by a public defender to investigate the innocence of her client, a juvenile who is accused of killing a famous mediator and peacekeeper of gang violence in South Central Los Angeles. He still doesn’t know why he’s doing what he’s doing. He’s reviled by the police for being an amateur and an obstructionist, yet he’s the guy getting all the leads. Tons of intrigue, action, and violence with lots of twists and turns. Great dialogue. This should be a movie!

[James · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is my second Aaron Gunner I've read and it gives as good as the first. What a read: it bangs action until the the end. The author is not preachy and still delivers a message that pricks the conscious. Their gangbangers and youth, but does the criminal behavior cancel out their humanity at such a young age. Gunner at the end of the novel has to make a life or death decision, and it hunts him.

[Otto Penzler · Rating 5 out of 5]

An innocent man goes down, and a man of questionable morals is brought to trial. It’s South Central L.A., and no one writes the rules but the gangs who rule the streets. When social worker Darrel Lovejoy is shot and killed by shotgun, cops hit the streets to find out who did it. When Imperial Blues soldier Toby Mills is arrested, her lawyer hires private detective Aaron Gunner to prove her client is being framed. Set in a land where the lawful can lie and the lawless are free, this is a title that cannot be missed by any crime/thriller fan. Not Long for This World is a part of Gar Haywood’s iconic Aaron Gunner Mystery series; a set of titles that helped define modern urban crime fiction upon its first release in the 1990s.

Novelist, screenplay writer and contributor for the LA Times and New York Times, Haywood has been awarded the Shamus and Anthony Award ten times. Six awards were presented for his Aaron Gunner titles alone. He is an LA Times bestseller, and has been on the Ten Best Mysteries list by Booklist.

[Byron Washington · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed Gar Anthony Haywood's second book. The issues I had with the first book of the Aaron Gunner series have been rectified in his second effort. I put this novel on par with the best of Walter Mosley...seriously. The Aaron Gunner series has great potential, and it'll be interesting to see if the author continues to develop his talent for storytelling. I'll be rooting for him, because we need more black authors.

[Francis · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the second book I have read in this series. The first book was good, with this second book however I thought Mr. Haywood made the long journey from good to impressive and in a rather short time.

Characters, place and time, plot - strong on all accounts.