The Right Mistake: The Further Philosophical Investigations of Socrates Fortlow

Socrates Fortlow #3

by Walter Mosley

Living in South Central L.A., Socrates Fortlow is a sixty-year-old ex-convict, still strong enough to kill men with his bare hands. Now freed after serving twenty-seven years in prison, he is filled with profound guilt about his own crimes and disheartened by the chaos of the streets. Along with his gambler friend Billy Psalms, Socrates calls together local people of all races from their different social stations—lawyers, gangsters, preachers, Buddhists, businessmen—to conduct meetings of a Thinkers' Club, where all can discuss the unanswerable questions in life. The street philosopher enjoins his friends to explore—even in the knowledge that there's nothing that they personally can do to change the ways of the world—what might be done anyway, what it would take to change themselves. Infiltrated by undercover cops, and threatened by strain from within, tensions rise as hot-blooded gangsters and respectable deacons fight over issues of personal and social responsibility. But simply by asking questions about racial authenticity, street justice, infidelity, poverty, and the possibility of mutual understanding, Socrates and his unlikely crew actually begin to make a difference. In turns outraged and affectionate, The Right Mistake offers a profoundly literary and ultimately redemptive exploration of the possibility of moral action in a violent and fallen world.

Genres: Fiction, Mystery, African American, Crime, Novels, Audiobook, Race

269 pages, Hardcover

First published October 6, 2008

About the author

Walter Mosley (b. 1952) is the author of the bestselling mystery series featuring Easy Rawlins, as well as numerous other works, from literary fiction and science fiction to a young adult novel and political monographs. His short fiction has been widely published, and his nonfiction has appeared in the New York Times Magazine and the Nation, among other publications. Mosley is the winner of numerous awards, including an O. Henry Award, the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award, a Grammy, and PEN America’s Lifetime Achievement Award. He lives in New York City.

Reviews

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Buddy read with Simon. I gave him several options and this is the one he chose.

Walter Mosley's characterizations are amazing! Here is one example that stopped me in my tracks:

"She [Cassie Wheaton] would have been beautiful if she wasn't so striking. Many men, who had seen that face and figure in profile, had come up to her looking for a little play. But most of them, once they looked into her feral eyes, walked away softly, their pickup lines dying on their tongues."

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow. This feels like it might be the end of the Socrates Fortlow saga, and what a beautiful, amazing ending it is if this is the case.

More than any series of books I can think of, these three books by Walter Mosley show the growth of a man. The change that comes to Socrates as he grows and learns over the course of "Always Outnumbered, Always Outgunned", "Walkin' the Dog", and "The Right Mistake" is powerful. It also always feels natural, because he never forgets who he was in the process of becoming who he will be.

I think Mosley is one of the best writers working today, and he might just be at his best in the Fortlow books. They are intellectually challenging, as in the conversations at the Big Nickel, and emotionally moving, as in Socrates' interactions with "the son of his heart" Darryl and the woman he struggles to give his heart to, Luna.

Is Socrates Fortlow a good man? That is a hard question to answer. He is a hard man, an admitted murderer and rapist who has spent more than half of his adult life behind bars. And while he realizes that the hardness may never fully leave him, he is repentant, and there is a sensitivity to him that reveals more and more of his soul over the course of the books. Though he will not allow the world to break him (see the encounters he has with thugs and police officers--often one and the same), he is working through speech and deed to make his community a better place. Socrates affects and alters the people he comes into contact with, and I think he can affect a reader who comes to his stories with an open heart. In my opinion, he is a good man, and a man that one would be honored to know in real life.

This is a truly outstanding book, and I hope Mosley receives a great deal of well-deserved praise for it.

[Malum · Rating 4 out of 5]

Volume 3 of Socrates Fortlow's story is just as powerful and moving as the previous entries in the series.

No longer set in the race-riot era of the mid-90s, Mosley takes us five years into the future-and into the 21st century-from where we last left Socrates and company. Socrates has a few new problems to figure out, like cell phones, love, running a business, and his increasing fame as an inner city philosopher living up to his name. He also has more of the same problems, like keeping Darryl (now 17) out of trouble in the mean streets and keeping the relentless machinations of The Man off of his own back.

While I love the Socrates Fortlow novels-including this one-I kind of hope Mosley calls it quits on this series here. I mean, Socrates is now famous all across America, he has defeated the corrupt forces of the law over and over, and he runs a hugely successful non-profit. What's next, he becomes president?

[Jonathan K (Max Outlier) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Having read numerous books Walt has written, somehow I had passed over the Socrates Fortlow series and regret having done so. While Easy Rawlins is a terrific character, Socrates is at an entirely different level.

A large black man of 60 years old living in South Central Los Angeles, Socrates Fortlow spent nearly half is life in prison for committing murder and rape. Of all his friends, Billy Psalms is his closest and good fortune shines on Socrates soon after. Billy assists him with the lease of a large tin plated house known as the Big Nickel. With eagerness to change his life, Socrates creates the Thinker's Club which meets Thursday evenings. Among the group are lawyers, gangsters, preachers, Buddhists and businessmen where discussions of the unanswerable questions of life take place. It soon becomes obvious how Fortlow's dysfunctional mother named him after one of the most profound philosopher's in history.

The meetings are small but soon expand due to the unexpected wisdom Socrates offers. Ridden with guilt but desirous of change, his profound insights spread like wildfire and causing the attendance to blossom. Its rare for an uneducated ex-felon to inspire through clarity, truth and 'lessons learned'. He's the type of character that defies logic and yet is completely relatable. And its this quality that immerses the reader and deepens as the plot plays out.

I feel it important to leave out plot points, characters and story from the review so not to spoil this remarkable experience. Mosley is a master storyteller and this is by far one of his best. Regardless of your genre preferences, you owe it to yourself as readers to add this brilliant book to your list

[Oldman_JE · Rating 5 out of 5]

I got 5 on it.

[Ksab · Rating 5 out of 5]

Walter Mosely is awesome-I've read most of his books and was truly saddened when EZ Rawlins dies..Anyway--not to worry-I found a new book in Mosely's Socrates Fortlow series. In the Right Mistake-great big,powerful,ex-con Fortlow-starts a community meeting house- in the 'hood of present day LA-By invitation-Socco amasses an extremely diverse Thursday night discussion group to talk about present day life as a minority in these US. The group includes a retired Social worker,an emerging female singer-her mysterious female friend-who Socco has a baby with,a gambler,a Jewish businessman,a ghetto thug-currently on trial for murder and..a Mexican laborer-Despite police spies and harassment and Socco's almost murder conviction-the group perserveres as a mutual support system which gradually branches out to include many community services-An uplifting,frank look at life as a a non-white in the US today and how we can help ourselves and our communities...

[Kathleen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Always Out-numbered, Always Out-gunned/Walkin' the Dog/ The Right Mistake are all Socrates Fortlow stories. Can't go wrong on any of them. This guy turned his life around 180 degrees.

[Oliver Clarke · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m really in awe of Walter Mosley’s Socrates Fortlow books. This, the third and I suspect the last, is just as good as the first two. It’s insightful, powerful, philosophical, and utterly compelling.
Like its predecessors, ‘Aways Outnumbered, Always Outgunned’ and ‘Walkin the Dog’, ‘The Right Mistake’ is an LA set collection of related short stories about the life of ex-con Socrates Fortlow. In this book, Fortlow is running a centre helping local people in the neighbourhood he lives in. He has become a leader, something that would have surprised me at the start of his journey, but which now feels like a natural progression. The stories focus on his relationship with a young woman and on the people who help him at the centre. They also cover extensively his interactions with the police, who hound him throughout the book.
Fortlow is a remarkable character, completely believable despite being somewhat iconic. He’s wise and determined, his words and actions measured and filled with a stoicism and intelligence that leaps off the page and lingers. The political side of the books has always been there, but it comes to the fore in this book in an incredible speech from Fortlow about race, racial identity and prejudice. It’s masterfully written and very powerful, all the more so because it has more questions than it does answers.
Taken together the books are an amazing achievement. They have the readability of the best popular fiction combined with the striking intelligence and political message of something like Ibram X Kendi’s ‘How to be an Anti-racist’. Beyond that, Fortlow’s gradual growth and redemption is truly inspirational. He’s a memorable, convincing character who is honest about his own shortcomings without descending into introspective self-pity. This is crime fiction that gets to the heart of the genre. It’s about the impact our actions, good and bad, have on those around us. About the importance of forgiveness. About how the structures of our society and legal systems shape lives. It’s brilliant.

[kelly · Rating 2 out of 5]

After reading "Always Outnumbered" (excellent book) and "Walkin the Dog" (another triumph) I am a bit dismayed when I say that I didn't really care for this book. The action was slow, the plot was flat and simplistic, and the characters were dull and uninteresting. After the first 50 pages I wasn't really interested in Socrates' Thinkers Club anymore, I was wondering why, after two books, Walter Mosley still hangs on to the Socrates fable he's played on since the beginning of the trilogy. Couldn't he have taken Socrates in another direction? Another life adventure, perhaps? Why does every plot line always have to fall into this predictable, Socratic fable box? Perhaps, after two previous books, Mosley's exhaustion of the subject matter was beginning to show. I won't give this book one star, because of my respect for the literary genius that is Walter Mosley...but two stars was generous enough for me with this one.

[Houston · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sometimes you run across a character you just click with, a character who becomes so real, so present, that he ceases to be a character and becomes, intead, your friend. Socrates Fortlow is such a character. The people who surround him are vivid and interesting. The situations and the resolutions are thought provoking. Socrates has a self-awareness and down-to-earth attituded you seldom find in anyone--real or written.

After finishing "Walkin the Dog" I missed him. Terribly. I am so excited to visit with Socrates again and am planning to read this book very slowly.

[Jon · Rating 5 out of 5]

The third, and I think last of the collections of stories about killer, rapist, ex-con, and philosopher Socrates Fortlow, trying to live a decent human life in the Watts of twenty years ago. The right mistake of the title is, we learn in the first story, a mistake you realize you've made and that you can resolve never to repeat. The stories show how difficult and complicated that can be. Socco establishes what amounts to a weekly Symposium, just as described by Plato, and he is even made aware of the similarity by a young guy who has had some college. His collection of friends (not all of them Black) generally discuss, under his questioning, what the words they use really mean. The central one, involving racism, is the deepest, and while the participants are finally far from agreement, at least the differences get aired. There are deaths, violence, and harassment by the police, and it takes every ounce of his self control for Socrates to remain, just barely, true to his best ideals.

[John Wiley · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am glad Walter Mosley revisited this character Socrates Fortlow. I've read plenty of Mosley's books; I can't recall any I liked as much as Always Outnumbered, Always Outgunned. He just hit the nail on the head with that book. He created a complicated hero in troubled circumstances, who can help us examine the perilous gauntlet we all face in this fucked up world. In this third Socrates book, Mosley expands on themes present but somewhat peripheral in the earlier two. Just terrific. Read these books in order. Otherwise you might not really get Socrates. He is so radically unexpected and provocative a character, he ends up bringing us truths normally unavailable to readers of literary fiction, but he also, like any of us, needs mercy as much as respect, and doesn't entirely deserve it. After finishing this book I know that Socrates, like very few literary characters I have known, will be with me in my thoughts and reflections day-to-day, as are other family and friends of mine.

[Madlyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was strong, realistic and I had great reverence for the main character. Socrates was so intriguing and commanding for trying to help his community overcome the trials and tribulations of hard times to staying focus on reassessing better ways of making an honest living.

[Leslie Balkany · Rating 4 out of 5]

I haven’t read any of Walter Mosley‘s other novels, but this one was thoroughly enjoyable: the characters, the plot, the philosophical discussions. It was timely and thought-provoking.

[Dan'l Danehy-Oakes · Rating 5 out of 5]

Subtitle: The Continued Philosophical Investigations of Socratese Fortlow.

This is, apparently, the third book in a series, but it stands beautifully alone. Socrates Fortlow is a bad man trying to be good. As a young man in Indiana, he killed a man, raped that man's girlfriend, and then killed her for good measure. For this he spent twenty-seven years in prison, mostly learning stuff - not all of it good, some of it violent, but all part of who he would be when (to his own surprise) he was let out of jail before his life sentence was up.

The start of this book finds him sixty years old, and in South Central Los Angeles. Here, he starts a safe house named the Big Nickel, where gang leaders can meet for peace talks, druggies and prostitutes can come for help out of that life, the poorest can come for a sandwich, and, on Thursday nights, the Thinkers' Club meets. In a manner not entirely unlike his namesake, he questions much and everything, largely in a quest to understand what it really means to be Black, how to live a good and righteous life, and pretty much anything else that comes up. (The Thinkers' Club is not limited to Blacks; the initial membership includes a Hispanic, a Jew, and an Asian - none of whom, in some important sense, is "white"; and the members come from all up and down the socioeconomic spectrum).

Of course the police are all over the Big Nickel. A place where gangstas meet, a place where druggies and prostitutes hang out, all run by a Black ex-murderer? Like white on rice. At the same time, Socrates Fortlow and the Big Nickel are becoming famous in LA and beyond, not only to Black folks and the police, but to the larger world.

At the same time, one of the initial members of the club, a young woman named Luna, begins pursuing him romantically. For a number of reasons, he resists, but eventually gives in.

To tell too much more about what happens in the book risks major spoliation. I'll just say that it is one of the most honest things I have ever read, and then I'll shut up.

[Scott Woods · Rating 2 out of 5]

Mosley churns out 2-3 books a year and unfortunately the wear and tear on his imagination is beginning to show. The one concept of his that hadn't seemed to jump the shark was his Socrates Fortlow series, featuring a wise ex-con living in the street of L.A.

I love this character, his world and the stories Mosley has traditionally applied to them. A little of the magic has worn off in this third installment, but not enough to stay away. The book looks like it maintains the short-story-collection charmof the previous books, but really it's just a more chopped-up longer, more traditional narrative, making it a book with significant chapters instead of separate stories that build to a theme or climax. It also contains a more spartan, less colorful style and a cast of characters that, when coupled with little description beyond one-liners, is unwieldly and tedious.

It's a fast read, and I say that as a slow reader. I love the series, but instead of getting better, it dipped. Mosley offers a book that artists sometimes create that feature well-known characters that they don't really want to interact with anymore. A little deus ex machina, a little over-the-top confrontation, and then the loose-thread offer of life-change that ensures that the character will never again be the character you know and love. If you're a fan, read it, but expect it to level off or dip, not exceed.

[Diane · Rating 5 out of 5]

While I've read all of Walter Mosley's Easy Rawlin's books, I had avoided the Socrates Forlow series. This is the third book in that series and reading it was a pure exercise in understanding the complexities of men and women who live outside of the mainstream of society. Socrates is nothing but a walking contradiction, a man who spent years in prison for rape and murder and who lived on the streets most of the time he wasn't in prison. Now he has a house and has pulled together people from disparate backgrounds to form the Thinkers, a group comprising everyone from a murdering gang member to a well-respected attorney, a Jewish Holocaust survivor, and a couple of undercover cops.

As the story unfolds, Socrates has to learn to live with himself and his past before he can accept Luna, the woman who loves him, into his life. Throughout, Socrates is painfully honest with himself and those around him, asking the questions that open wounds and leave scars.

Unlike the Easy Rawlins series, this book is set in contemporary times. This setting gives the book a resonance as the characters learn to live in a world that still won't accept them.

Anyone who reads this book has to be prepared for the slow moving plot. After a chapter or two, readers will likely be hooked.

[Rosemary · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Right Mistake, the third book in this trilogy, is subtitled The Further Philosophical Investigations of Socrates Fortlow. Socrates finds a place to hold regular meetings of the Thursday Thinkers’ Club, which has more members but the same intense discussions about the state of life in South Central LA and how to deal with racial disparities and getting along together. Other groups are meeting in the same venue, the cops are suspicious about what’s going on, Darryl gets shot, Socrates gains a lover, an incident with a police spy puts Socrates at risk again, people expand their understanding of each other and their care for each other deepens, and while there’s not exactly a happy ending, people take courage and go on.

I enjoyed many of the characters in this book. Chaim Zetel, member of the Thursday Thinkers’s club, and his wife Fanny are dear to my heart, so wise and so kind. Billy Psalms, sometimes out of control gambler and fabulous cook. A defense attorney named Mason Tinheart. Belandra, aunt and daughter. And of course Socrates, big guy trying to figure it all out.

[Beth · Rating 3 out of 5]

Socrates Fortlow is an ex-con, whose brutal violence earned him decades in prison. Now free, he has somehow become redeemed and he established a Thinkers Club in which people from all walks of Los Angeles life get together to discuss poverty, fidelity, honor, race. . .

And as people begin to talk honestly, they begin to trust each other. While they may not solve the world's problems, they begin to improve their own lives.
What if that were all it took? Engaging, listening, moving away from labels.
It'd be nice to think so -- and certainly worth a try.

Only 3 stars because I didn't quite believe the characters. Socrates is so brutally strong! And insightful! And women are falling all over themselves to have sex with him! And the police are out to get him - But he rises above all that!

Maybe reading the first story in the series would give me insight into why he is the way he is.

[James · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mosley's third novel featuring Socrates Fortlow could easily be dismissed as a utopian fantasy, a salute to wishful thinking. The idea of a murderer and rapist going through the level of continual soul-searching and seeking for redemption in the face of danger and constant harassment and the idea of his successful establishment of a south central LA Chautauqua or Algonquin Round Table in which people of diverse races, ages, etc. meet to explore the issues of racism and social justice can easily invoke skepticism and cynicism. But like John Lennon's "Imagine", this book series can make a reader think, "Yes, but what if?"

The penultimate chapter alone summarizes the inner struggle of Socrates and his friends/associates - what it means to be black, what it means to be poor, what it means to struggle within American society. The philosophical issues covered in depth in this very though-provoking book earn it a 5-star rating.

[Kate · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved reading more about Socrates Fortlow, an ex-con now 27 years out of prison and his diverse and ecelectic group of friends. Socrates is troubled by the conditions on the streets and brings together this varied group of folks (a young felon, a gambler, a rabbi, a martial arts expert and others) for regular, no-holds-barred, philsophical discussions aimed at understanding each other and how to make the world a better place.

I thoroughly enjoyed this latest foray into the fiction of Walter Mosley. I am on a Walter Mosley tear after discovering his book about Ptolemy Grey in an airport bookstore.

[Paul R. Frank Jr. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Insightful

This book takes the reader through the journey of life of Socrates Fortlow. He is a survivor of the American penal system, hard unforgiving street life and a prejudicial legal system that has him stamped for a return to captivity. Despite it all, his outlook on life is reflective of the culture of black survivors of prior generations. His stoicism is rooted in belief in mankind and it’s gift of redemption through clearer thinking and forgiveness of human faults. His mission is to salvage lost souls and give them the power of reflection and open dialog without the fear of speaking to truth. Good Read, take the time to enjoy it.

[Ivan · Rating 5 out of 5]

FIRST LINE REVIEW: "'Yeah, brothah,' Billy Psalms said before he downed half a paper cup of Blue Angel red wine, 'Freddy Bumpus made a big mistake when he married Vanessa Tremont.'" Wasn't a mistake to read another brilliant Walter Mosley novel, though! This is an important book! Filled with significant ideas about what it means to be a human in a country/world that keeps trying to make us believe we're not one species. This book should be read and discussed in every college classroom. Might just try to make that happen. Tough, though. No doubt.

[Mike · Rating 5 out of 5]

While this book is categorized as "Mystery" by my library, it is not the typical whodoneit. As the subtitle, The Further Philosophical Investigations by Socrates Fortlow, suggests it is something different. While there is violence and the potential for violence in the story's locale, South Central LA, this is a story of a man who spent 27 years in prison for committing rape and murder and now is trying to make something worthwhile of his life.

[Colin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Oh, man. I really, really liked this. Mosley explores complicated questions of race, class, violence, police brutality, social justice, love and community through the life and musings of Socrates Fortlow. It'd be a hands down five-star if it weren't for the persistent sexism that I've found permeates most of Mosley's work. But still, I pretty much loved this. Recommended!!

[K2 · Rating 5 out of 5]

You can't throw sugar on shit and call it chocolate cake.. Socrates Fortlow/Master Mosley

[James Murtha · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mosley picks up where he left off with his two previous books featuring Socrates (Socco) Fortlow, Watts resident during the turbulent nineties, and his eclectic group of friends. In my reviews of “Always Outnumbered, Always Outgunned” (1998) and “Walking the Dog” (1999), I called the books short story collections. Mosley did not designate them otherwise. I also argued that one could view each book as a novel.
Of the characters introduced in his first two books, only Darryl, Socco’s pseudo-adopted teen son and lawyer Cassie Wheaton play any significant role here. New characters, Luna, who has designs on Socco, Billy Psalms, and Chaim Zetel are well developed. The two-legged dog, Killer, is gone. Socrates no longer works at Bounty Market. He has moved into a modest house. Busses still carry him everywhere until late in the story when he buys a car.
Much of the action revolves around The Big Nickel, a community center established by Socco in a building he acquired helping a friend resolve a property dispute. We are privy only to the Thursday night meetings of the Thinkers, friends of Socrates – the list grows and grows. But prostitutes, drug dealers, and others on the edge of society meet there to help pull themselves up with their bootstraps. The cops maintain a 24/7 watch from a house across the street and periodically raid The Big Nickel, unsuccessfully looking for weapons or drugs.
The weekly meetings provide opportunities for frank discussions on any topic, such as disrespect, vengeance, theft, infidelity, and self-defense. They had few rules and no restrictions on what they discussed. I was reminded of the description given the Transcendentalists by Elliot Cabot, one of Emerson’s biographers: "…a changing body of liberal thinkers, agreeing in nothing but their liberality.” Substitute life in Watts for liberality and you have The Big Nickel.
Among the book’s shortcomings, I could have done with fewer named characters. I counted thirty, recording them to help recall who they were. I wanted to know something of why the hookers and drug addicts met. The pacing accelerated toward the end. People aged, changed jobs, got married, some of them in The Big Nickel. I wonder what happened to Socco’s boss at Bounty, who was pivotal in getting Socco his first job. Though Socco spends quality time with Darryl, I wanted to know more about him and his foster home. I missed Socco’s old girlfriend, Iula.
But these cavils pale by comparison to the emotional ride Mosley gives the reader as he brings out the best and worst in people and keeps Socco always true to his killer, ex-con roots. Our protagonist is a new father at the end, married to twenty-three year-old Luna. Darryl settles down in school after a brush with death
Solid prose, a consistent, authentic voice, a complex unpredictable human, half dozen strong minor characters, a feeling for life in one of America’s most notorious ghettos, great tension throughout. Mosley has reason so spin a fourth book on Socrates Fortlow and his Watts friends.

[Martin · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Big Nickel…" it’s a breeding ground and a last chance”. Mosley's third in the Socrates Fortlow series was, like all his books a pleasure to read. It is a credit to his writing skills that has a murderer-rapist protagonist that you 'root for'...his past is his past but his vision for the future and his paternal love for his 'son' Darryl is endearing. There are so many evocative passages in this book and Mosley's uncanny ability to shed light on the plight of the black American gives an insight to us white folk ! This book even has a funny jewish joke ( not to be revealed ...). "Our enemy is the lie first and the liar second…” I will be seeking out more by WM that I have not read as his reading his books affirms what pleasure I derive from reading.

[Francis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Socrates u are one of the coolest frictionless characters to ever walk on theoretical world. How can an ex con do deeds which are better than most people who have never gone to jail. His a man that speaks from his heart and who I enjoy to listen to more than a lot of African American leaders now. He is so real and will use his fists when he has too. This man is not even scared to go to jail or get shot. He took justice into his hands and beat down the man who shot Darryl, because the police were not going to do anything. After his atonement Socrates has become a moral leader, reliable husband, and a father figure for an African American male and they are not even blood related. I love the Nickel club. It is one of the best organizations I’ve ever seen created in a novel. The communist group in Ralph Ellison’s invisible man was good, and I saw some variants, but this one was going to make a big difference. I could kinda tell that society will bring it down In the future because of the gang members and the police spying on them. Socrates for president lol.

[WHL (Bill) · Rating 4 out of 5]

📚 🅑🅞🅞🅚 - 🅡🅔🅥🅘🅔🅦 📚 

39th read of 2024
Title: The Right Mistake 
Author: Walter Mosley 
Format: Audiobook
Genre: Mystery/Urban
4/5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 


Walter Mosley is Brilliant! 

Living in South Central L.A., Socrates Fortlow is a sixty-year-old ex-convict, still strong enough to kill men with his bare hands. Now freed after serving twenty-seven years in prison, he is filled with profound guilt about his own crimes and disheartened by the chaos of the streets. Along with his gambler friend Billy Psalms, Socrates calls together local people of all races from their different social stations—lawyers, gangsters, preachers, Buddhists, businessmen—to conduct meetings of a Thinkers' Club, where all can discuss the unanswerable questions in life.

The Right Mistake is the 3rd of the Socrates Fortlow trilogy so I'm working backwards. I'll absolutely be reading the other two books. 

The Right Mistake was super engaging and totally kept me hooked! It was thought-provoking, fun, and relevant. The narration was outstanding and made the story come alive. Mosely's characters are just awesome. Great read!