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Killing Johnny Fry: A Sexistential Novel
When Cordell Carmel catches his longtime girlfriend with another man, the act that he witnesses seems to dissolve all the boundaries he knows. In that instant, the calm existence of this middle-aged New York City man becomes something unrecognizable: he wants revenge, but also something more.
Killing Johnny Fry is the story of Cordell's dark, funny, soulful, and outrageously explicit sexual odyssey in search of a new way of life. His guide is a mysterious woman named Sisypha, who leads him deep into the erotic heart of the city.
Killing Johnny Fry is the story of Cordell's dark, funny, soulful, and outrageously explicit sexual odyssey in search of a new way of life. His guide is a mysterious woman named Sisypha, who leads him deep into the erotic heart of the city.
280 pages, Hardcover
First published December 26, 2006
103 people are currently reading
940 people want to read
About the author
Walter Mosley
203 books3,902 followersWalter 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.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 218 reviews
September 11, 2019
I have not read much in erotica not because I don't like it, more because I've never been exposed to it. One book I think that qualifies and isn't widely known for it is a book by Walter Mosley. He's tried several genres and this is his attempt at erotica. The title is The Killing of Johnny Fry. I highly recommend this book. I loved it. It even made me squirm a couple of times.
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March 17, 2019
★★★1/2
*2019 Re-read and my thoughts from my original review still stand*
This book has some flaws but it's always stuck with me since I first read it. Like many of Mosley's books, it's got genuine soul to it, and a lasting emotional core. It's got graphic sex and lots of lube and anal play, so it's not for the prudish, but the adult material only serves as part of the main character's existensial emotional journey.
_________________________
Original review:
I've mentioned before that Walter Mosley is probably one of the most versatile authors and consistently puts out solid work in different genres. At the point when this book was released, Mosley was mostly known for his great crime writing and was carving out a cult niche with his thoughtful sci-fi novels. With this book, he did what many would never expect and delved into erotic fiction.
Mild-mannered New York City translator Cordell Carmel is living a good life with his long-term girlfriend Joelle. Until one day he walks into Joelle's apartment and catches her majorly getting her freak on with wanna-be jazz musician John Fry on her living room floor. Without being noticed by them, Cordell walks out, not knowing how to feel. Haunted by the look of something more than ecstasy on Joelle's face, and by the image of Johnny Fry's bright red condom, Cordell decides to keep it to himself, beginning an intense journey of sexual transformation and awakening.
Although this book is definitely not for the prudish, what sets it apart from other erotic stories I've seen is the urgency and emotion in the storytelling and the fact that Mosley creates an awesome character in Cordell, one of the best characters in his work. What struck me the most about Cordell (and what many men can relate to, even though they might not admit it), was his insecurities after witnessing his wife's infidelity, as well as his conflicting feelings about the situation. After catching them, he's not just angry, but he's also confused and horrified to discover that witnessing it has also given him a hard-on, and he's not sure why. He becomes obsessed with a bizarre porno movie about a submissive, cuckolded man that he begins identifies with. There's something so honest about his behavior that touched me deeply. This sexual honesty is something that I almost never see in men, especially those in the black community.
The book is sort of an existential journey for Cordell to heal his sexual insecurity. It is yet another book that I've read this year that reminds me of the criminally under-appreciated movie Eyes Wide Shut (my favorite of Kubrick's). There is lots of hot sex for those interested in that, but much of it is covered with an aura of sadness and melancholy. The book falls apart almost completely in the last third, and it was a bit unbelievable that after Cordell catches Joelle cheating, every woman in the book suddenly reveal themselves to be heavy freaks and try to have sex with him. This caused me to lower it's score a bit, but the Cordell character and the honest and frank look at sexual identity makes this a novel that stuck with me for a while.
*2019 Re-read and my thoughts from my original review still stand*
This book has some flaws but it's always stuck with me since I first read it. Like many of Mosley's books, it's got genuine soul to it, and a lasting emotional core. It's got graphic sex and lots of lube and anal play, so it's not for the prudish, but the adult material only serves as part of the main character's existensial emotional journey.
_________________________
Original review:
I've mentioned before that Walter Mosley is probably one of the most versatile authors and consistently puts out solid work in different genres. At the point when this book was released, Mosley was mostly known for his great crime writing and was carving out a cult niche with his thoughtful sci-fi novels. With this book, he did what many would never expect and delved into erotic fiction.
Mild-mannered New York City translator Cordell Carmel is living a good life with his long-term girlfriend Joelle. Until one day he walks into Joelle's apartment and catches her majorly getting her freak on with wanna-be jazz musician John Fry on her living room floor. Without being noticed by them, Cordell walks out, not knowing how to feel. Haunted by the look of something more than ecstasy on Joelle's face, and by the image of Johnny Fry's bright red condom, Cordell decides to keep it to himself, beginning an intense journey of sexual transformation and awakening.
Although this book is definitely not for the prudish, what sets it apart from other erotic stories I've seen is the urgency and emotion in the storytelling and the fact that Mosley creates an awesome character in Cordell, one of the best characters in his work. What struck me the most about Cordell (and what many men can relate to, even though they might not admit it), was his insecurities after witnessing his wife's infidelity, as well as his conflicting feelings about the situation. After catching them, he's not just angry, but he's also confused and horrified to discover that witnessing it has also given him a hard-on, and he's not sure why. He becomes obsessed with a bizarre porno movie about a submissive, cuckolded man that he begins identifies with. There's something so honest about his behavior that touched me deeply. This sexual honesty is something that I almost never see in men, especially those in the black community.
The book is sort of an existential journey for Cordell to heal his sexual insecurity. It is yet another book that I've read this year that reminds me of the criminally under-appreciated movie Eyes Wide Shut (my favorite of Kubrick's). There is lots of hot sex for those interested in that, but much of it is covered with an aura of sadness and melancholy. The book falls apart almost completely in the last third, and it was a bit unbelievable that after Cordell catches Joelle cheating, every woman in the book suddenly reveal themselves to be heavy freaks and try to have sex with him. This caused me to lower it's score a bit, but the Cordell character and the honest and frank look at sexual identity makes this a novel that stuck with me for a while.
May 20, 2011
[This review was originally published at Erotica Revealed - www.erotica-revealed.com]
Walter Mosley is well known as a writer of crime and mystery novels. Needless to say, his first foray into the genre of sex writing has occasioned a flurry of sceptical and childishly embarrassed media commentary. I first became aware of KILLING JOHNNY FRY when someone on the Erotica Readers and Writers Association Writers forum (www.erotica-writers.com) posted the URL of Jennifer Reese's scathing review from Entertainment Weekly.
Ms. Reese has given KJF a place her list of worst books of the year. According to her, the plot of this "pornographic novel" is "but a flimsy excuse for the raw sex scenes"; the writing is rife with hyperbole and cliche; the entire book ranges from ridiculous to depressing. According to her, KJF is not even "good porn", although she then admits that she's never really considered just what might deserve that label. Rather than dissuading me reading KJF, this sex-averse tirade made me intensely curious. Could a book by the popular and acclaimed author of the noir classic DEVIL IN A BLUE DRESS and the eerily spiritual science fiction novel BLUE LIGHT really be so awful?
My conclusion after reading KJF is that Ms. Reese's review says much more about her own lack of comfort with sex and lack of understanding of erotica/pornography than it does about Mr. Mosley's talent.
KILLING JOHNNY FRY is indeed full of raw, extreme and even violent sex. However, the sex is in no sense gratuitous. Although the story is narrated in plain, matter-of-fact language (despite Ms. Reese's complaints), it has a mythic quality. This is a story of passions and revelations, a pain-filled odyssey of personal discovery.
Cordell Carmel, the protagonist, unexpectedly drops by the apartment of Joelle, his lover of more than nine years, to find her being sodomized by Johnny Fry, a mutual acquaintance. Cordell slips away unseen, but the experience shatters his world and his sense of identity. Previously he was a mild-mannered, middle-aged schmoe, hard-working, abstemious and responsible, a considerate but unimaginative lover. After the viewing the graphic evidence of Joelle's betrayal, he undergoes a transformation. He finds himself constantly aroused, especially by the ambiguous dynamics of D/s situations. He is newly, inexplicably potent. Women are drawn to him, and he takes them when they offer themselves, bringing them to painful ecstasy even as his own orgasms reach apocalyptic proportions.
Meanwhile, emotionally, he is confused and lost. He understands the emptiness of his previous life, but cannot comprehend the changes that seem to be tearing him apart. Tortured by headaches and nightmares, he turns to the mysterious Cynthia, a disembodied voice on a phone help line, for comfort. Meanwhile his world becomes more and more bizarre as he oscillates between raging lust and pitiful self-doubt, incandescent anger and paralyzing fear. In a twist that stretches credibility but works in the context of the story, he meets Sisypha, the star of a pornographic video with which he has become obsessed. She becomes his guide to a sexual underworld, his White Rabbit in a terrible and thrilling Wonderland.
KJF explores the relationships between sex and anger, and between freedom and desire. This is far from a trivial fuckfest. Cordell is a sexual Dr. Jekyll; seeing Joelle's secret self, the lust-crazed, abuse-loving creature that she becomes when she is with Johnny Fry, releases his Mr. Hyde. He experiences many climaxes, but little satisfaction, as he tries to understand his motives and to reconstruct his life and self-image.
In KILLING JOHNNY FRY, Mosley also concerns himself with the complex interactions between race and sexual identity. Like most of Mosley's main characters, Cordell is black. So is Joelle. Johnny Fry is white. Mosley makes it clear that Cordell's previous well-ordered, compliant life is an attempt to make it as black man in a white world, to be accepted and financially successful and to prove to his abusive father that he is worthwhile. Johnny Fry steals not only Cordell's lover but also his manhood, his pride as a black man. The historical echoes of slavery are there; Mosley doesn't have to harp on them.
Is KJF erotic? My initial reaction would be negative; most of the sex scenes did not particularly arouse me while I was reading them. Yet after finishing the book, I found myself in the grip of intensely erotic dreams, so the work must have touched something in my unconscious.
Certainly, KJF is a serious book about sex and identity -- or at least it pretends to be. Reading some of Mosley's comments about his own work, I began to wonder if in fact it's all a sham, a publicity stunt. Perhaps the book was intended to be exploitative, banking on its controversial subject matter to attract media attention and stir up sales.
Even if this is true, the book stands on its own merits. I found it intense, though occasionally uncomfortable. The sex is messy and dark but somehow fascinating. You can't look away. The cleverness of the final plot twist left me with a smile, and relieved some of the tension that knotted my stomach so badly that I couldn't read more than a few chapters at a time.
Could Mosley have written a serious novel, despite himself? You, the readers, need to decide. Don't pick up this book if you're squeamish about rough sex. If you're curious, though, about just how hardcore a mainstream-published novel can be, I recommend it.
Walter Mosley is well known as a writer of crime and mystery novels. Needless to say, his first foray into the genre of sex writing has occasioned a flurry of sceptical and childishly embarrassed media commentary. I first became aware of KILLING JOHNNY FRY when someone on the Erotica Readers and Writers Association Writers forum (www.erotica-writers.com) posted the URL of Jennifer Reese's scathing review from Entertainment Weekly.
Ms. Reese has given KJF a place her list of worst books of the year. According to her, the plot of this "pornographic novel" is "but a flimsy excuse for the raw sex scenes"; the writing is rife with hyperbole and cliche; the entire book ranges from ridiculous to depressing. According to her, KJF is not even "good porn", although she then admits that she's never really considered just what might deserve that label. Rather than dissuading me reading KJF, this sex-averse tirade made me intensely curious. Could a book by the popular and acclaimed author of the noir classic DEVIL IN A BLUE DRESS and the eerily spiritual science fiction novel BLUE LIGHT really be so awful?
My conclusion after reading KJF is that Ms. Reese's review says much more about her own lack of comfort with sex and lack of understanding of erotica/pornography than it does about Mr. Mosley's talent.
KILLING JOHNNY FRY is indeed full of raw, extreme and even violent sex. However, the sex is in no sense gratuitous. Although the story is narrated in plain, matter-of-fact language (despite Ms. Reese's complaints), it has a mythic quality. This is a story of passions and revelations, a pain-filled odyssey of personal discovery.
Cordell Carmel, the protagonist, unexpectedly drops by the apartment of Joelle, his lover of more than nine years, to find her being sodomized by Johnny Fry, a mutual acquaintance. Cordell slips away unseen, but the experience shatters his world and his sense of identity. Previously he was a mild-mannered, middle-aged schmoe, hard-working, abstemious and responsible, a considerate but unimaginative lover. After the viewing the graphic evidence of Joelle's betrayal, he undergoes a transformation. He finds himself constantly aroused, especially by the ambiguous dynamics of D/s situations. He is newly, inexplicably potent. Women are drawn to him, and he takes them when they offer themselves, bringing them to painful ecstasy even as his own orgasms reach apocalyptic proportions.
Meanwhile, emotionally, he is confused and lost. He understands the emptiness of his previous life, but cannot comprehend the changes that seem to be tearing him apart. Tortured by headaches and nightmares, he turns to the mysterious Cynthia, a disembodied voice on a phone help line, for comfort. Meanwhile his world becomes more and more bizarre as he oscillates between raging lust and pitiful self-doubt, incandescent anger and paralyzing fear. In a twist that stretches credibility but works in the context of the story, he meets Sisypha, the star of a pornographic video with which he has become obsessed. She becomes his guide to a sexual underworld, his White Rabbit in a terrible and thrilling Wonderland.
KJF explores the relationships between sex and anger, and between freedom and desire. This is far from a trivial fuckfest. Cordell is a sexual Dr. Jekyll; seeing Joelle's secret self, the lust-crazed, abuse-loving creature that she becomes when she is with Johnny Fry, releases his Mr. Hyde. He experiences many climaxes, but little satisfaction, as he tries to understand his motives and to reconstruct his life and self-image.
In KILLING JOHNNY FRY, Mosley also concerns himself with the complex interactions between race and sexual identity. Like most of Mosley's main characters, Cordell is black. So is Joelle. Johnny Fry is white. Mosley makes it clear that Cordell's previous well-ordered, compliant life is an attempt to make it as black man in a white world, to be accepted and financially successful and to prove to his abusive father that he is worthwhile. Johnny Fry steals not only Cordell's lover but also his manhood, his pride as a black man. The historical echoes of slavery are there; Mosley doesn't have to harp on them.
Is KJF erotic? My initial reaction would be negative; most of the sex scenes did not particularly arouse me while I was reading them. Yet after finishing the book, I found myself in the grip of intensely erotic dreams, so the work must have touched something in my unconscious.
Certainly, KJF is a serious book about sex and identity -- or at least it pretends to be. Reading some of Mosley's comments about his own work, I began to wonder if in fact it's all a sham, a publicity stunt. Perhaps the book was intended to be exploitative, banking on its controversial subject matter to attract media attention and stir up sales.
Even if this is true, the book stands on its own merits. I found it intense, though occasionally uncomfortable. The sex is messy and dark but somehow fascinating. You can't look away. The cleverness of the final plot twist left me with a smile, and relieved some of the tension that knotted my stomach so badly that I couldn't read more than a few chapters at a time.
Could Mosley have written a serious novel, despite himself? You, the readers, need to decide. Don't pick up this book if you're squeamish about rough sex. If you're curious, though, about just how hardcore a mainstream-published novel can be, I recommend it.
August 8, 2008
The esteemed crime novelist Walter Mosely tries his hand at porn...and it's pretty cool! His main character is a bit more tortured than many of Henry Miller's notable swashbucklers--but hey, the context and times are way different...
I actually appreciated greatly his *brief* meditations on race, neurosis, power, abuse, sex, and inter-racial/intra-racial sexual dynamics, being a man of color myself. Of course, one has to wade through the veritable oceans of BDSM and rough anal sex to get to those meditations, but...I think that's a chore I can handle!
(Keep the jokes to yourselves, folks. I'm just using a figure of speech, there's no Freudian slip happening here.)
Look--this ain't freakin' "high art", so don't go looking for spiritual enlightenment or affirmation of one's own personal politics of liberation and justice here. This is a straight-up "dirty book", which just happens to have been done, in my opinion, quite thoughtfully and well. I liked it, so there!
I actually appreciated greatly his *brief* meditations on race, neurosis, power, abuse, sex, and inter-racial/intra-racial sexual dynamics, being a man of color myself. Of course, one has to wade through the veritable oceans of BDSM and rough anal sex to get to those meditations, but...I think that's a chore I can handle!
(Keep the jokes to yourselves, folks. I'm just using a figure of speech, there's no Freudian slip happening here.)
Look--this ain't freakin' "high art", so don't go looking for spiritual enlightenment or affirmation of one's own personal politics of liberation and justice here. This is a straight-up "dirty book", which just happens to have been done, in my opinion, quite thoughtfully and well. I liked it, so there!
January 31, 2008
At last an intelligent writer has integrated sexual fantasies and experiences explicitly into his epiphany of a man whose life is impacted when he walks in on his girlfriend having wild sex with a friend of his. Oh yes, it is definitely pornography but nothing like you have ever read before even if some of you nostalgically remember smudged pages we snuck around high school classes of Lady Chatterly's Lover or Peyton Place. The protagonist enters the underground sexual playgrounds of New York City witnessing and even participating in sexual pleasures among people who have an entirely different moral view of the pleasures of the flesh and whose psychological questions and rationals for their behavior in intriguing. Nice twist to the ending to boot.
April 2, 2009
I would put 2 1/2 stars if I could.
Funny story behind this book. I read it a few years ago. I had not read a book in quite awhile and a co-worker of mine was constantly going to library reading book after book. I told her one day while she was there to pick me up something good to read. I figured if anyone knew about good books, it would be her.
Well, after I started the book and asked her what she was thinking picking out this book for me she confessed that she just grabbed any old book off the shelf because she was running short on time. I handed her the book to read just a few randum pages and she just laughed and laughed. This woman was 22 years older than I and we both considered her my "office Mom." She had no idea what she was getting me into with this book.
I have to admitt that I did read this entire book. I am a bit stubborn when it comes to starting and having to finsh a book, no matter how boring or scary or, such as this book, explicit it may be. It was an interesting and odd novel. Not my usual style. However, though my picks are a bit less colorful, I haven't been without a book in my carry along bag since.
Funny story behind this book. I read it a few years ago. I had not read a book in quite awhile and a co-worker of mine was constantly going to library reading book after book. I told her one day while she was there to pick me up something good to read. I figured if anyone knew about good books, it would be her.
Well, after I started the book and asked her what she was thinking picking out this book for me she confessed that she just grabbed any old book off the shelf because she was running short on time. I handed her the book to read just a few randum pages and she just laughed and laughed. This woman was 22 years older than I and we both considered her my "office Mom." She had no idea what she was getting me into with this book.
I have to admitt that I did read this entire book. I am a bit stubborn when it comes to starting and having to finsh a book, no matter how boring or scary or, such as this book, explicit it may be. It was an interesting and odd novel. Not my usual style. However, though my picks are a bit less colorful, I haven't been without a book in my carry along bag since.
Read
February 16, 2017I'm DNF'ing this one, therefore no rating. The raw vulgarity of this story is unappealing to me. I read and enjoy erotic romance so I don't mind explicit descriptions, but this was not at all enjoyable for me. If you haven't read Walter Mosley before, please don't let this be your first foray into his work! It is not at all representative of what he normally presents.
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You can find me at:
•(♥).•*Monlatable Book Reviews*•.(♥)•
Twitter: @MonlatReader
Instagram: @readermonica
Facebook: Monica Reeds
October 15, 2012
Yay, literary porn! Or is it pornographic literature? Whatever the term, this is a book about a man going through a mid-life crisis and finding his way through kinda out-there sex. It's about a guy, Cordell, 45, who's your average guy working his cushy day-job. He's had a stable girlfriend for 8 years. Everything's pretty peachy until he accidentally discovers she's cheating on him. That throws him into finding himself by banging a bunch of people.
Mosley takes the same approach here as he does in his typical crime-noir stuff. But here, the graphic, gritty violence is replaced by graphic, gritty sex, which is sometimes somewhat violent as well. A good chunk of the book is sexual power-play type of stuff, reminding me of that flick, Closer, with Clive Owen, Julia Roberts, Natalie Portman, and Jude Law. But that juicy, tabloid stuff is mixed well with the overarching theme of "living life" and stretching beyond the mundane. I think the sexual manipulation sucks you in while the "living life" lesson helps you not feel that guilty about reading porn. You can take away something about intimacy and pain and truly "knowing" someone.
Mosley takes the same approach here as he does in his typical crime-noir stuff. But here, the graphic, gritty violence is replaced by graphic, gritty sex, which is sometimes somewhat violent as well. A good chunk of the book is sexual power-play type of stuff, reminding me of that flick, Closer, with Clive Owen, Julia Roberts, Natalie Portman, and Jude Law. But that juicy, tabloid stuff is mixed well with the overarching theme of "living life" and stretching beyond the mundane. I think the sexual manipulation sucks you in while the "living life" lesson helps you not feel that guilty about reading porn. You can take away something about intimacy and pain and truly "knowing" someone.
May 12, 2023
This book is extremely deep for a book under the genre of erotica. Walter Mosley is a master and what he did here shows his range. This book follows the spiral Cordell Carmel takes after finding his girlfriend with another man. How does one or how much of one survives this moment. This book deal with really living and feeling. It deals freedom... living beyond what others expect and doing something real. It deals with filling voids and what friendship and family is about. And love. So much!
May 5, 2021
I'm not exactly sure what I read......
September 3, 2017
Extra sexual behaviors aside, this is still a W. Mosley novel, a character full of personal dilemmas, self-made or not. And I enjoyed the read, like most his characters I want to see how their situations are solved or at least concluded as we journey along with them. And as always well written.
February 2, 2016
Killing Johnny Fry: A Sexistential Novel by Walter Mosley is shocking, raw, funny and deeply troubling on so many levels. It is a mid-life crisis set in motion by betrayal and lust and the inevitable pain of self realization. It is that moment, that glimpse in the mirror, when for a brief horrifying second you actually see your true self.
Cordell Carmel is a translator, a calm and unassuming middle age man who has lived his life like a placid untroubled body of water. His relationships are much the same. Especially the one he shares with his longtime girlfriend Jo. Until that day he enters her apartment, and hears noises coming from the living room. There is Jo with another man, doing things that Cordell would never have thought of. Jo, saying things that Cordell would never have believed she would say. Jo and this man, and Cordell's world goes into a tailspin. Cordell leaves the room, saying nothing, they didn't even realize he had been watching them. On his way home he stops at a adult shoppe and a liquor store. It is not just what he saw that is troubling him, but his reaction to it. His immediate and physical reaction to seeing the woman he has loved for he last eight years and the woman who has said she loves him, on all fours with another man ravishing her from behind. As he puts in the video from the adult store in his dvd player and pours himself a drink, he begins to realize what a lie his life has been. And as he drinks and watches, he begins to find a new and dangerous side of himself. A new Cordell with no boundaries.
Cordell begins a new sexual journey with women he knows and has kept at length before and now allows them in and in doing so, does anything and everything. Determined to do more then what he witnessed. His darker side comes forth and he feeds it. But more than the journey. The realization of who and what he can be, there is the hate. The anger toward the man who sent him on this quest. The man who he witnessed with Jo that afternoon. And Cordell knows above all else, Johnny Fry must die.
Walter Mosley writes terrific, dark crime fiction. So real you can taste the grit that comes up when your shoes are pounding the street. With Killing Johnny Fry, he has unleashed the demons that dwell in every man when he finds his woman has betrayed him. The darker more brutal side. When a good man who plays by the rules finds that those very rules are caging him and what happens when that same man casts those very rules aside.
The sex is raw and visceral told almost completely from a male point of view. Cordell is finding himself anew with these women and he finds that when the limitations are removed, he is capable of doing anything. Along the way, he finds a deeper ability to care as well and this vulnerability is at war with this more brutal version of himself. He may not be the world's idea of a good man, but at least, for once he is true.
Killing Johnny Fry has a lot in common with the multitude of erotic books in the marketplace celebrating a woman's sexual awakening. The difference of course is that Cordell is a man and that distinction is what makes this novel as powerful and unique as it is.
It is disturbing. It is raw. It is just that damn good.
Cordell Carmel is a translator, a calm and unassuming middle age man who has lived his life like a placid untroubled body of water. His relationships are much the same. Especially the one he shares with his longtime girlfriend Jo. Until that day he enters her apartment, and hears noises coming from the living room. There is Jo with another man, doing things that Cordell would never have thought of. Jo, saying things that Cordell would never have believed she would say. Jo and this man, and Cordell's world goes into a tailspin. Cordell leaves the room, saying nothing, they didn't even realize he had been watching them. On his way home he stops at a adult shoppe and a liquor store. It is not just what he saw that is troubling him, but his reaction to it. His immediate and physical reaction to seeing the woman he has loved for he last eight years and the woman who has said she loves him, on all fours with another man ravishing her from behind. As he puts in the video from the adult store in his dvd player and pours himself a drink, he begins to realize what a lie his life has been. And as he drinks and watches, he begins to find a new and dangerous side of himself. A new Cordell with no boundaries.
Cordell begins a new sexual journey with women he knows and has kept at length before and now allows them in and in doing so, does anything and everything. Determined to do more then what he witnessed. His darker side comes forth and he feeds it. But more than the journey. The realization of who and what he can be, there is the hate. The anger toward the man who sent him on this quest. The man who he witnessed with Jo that afternoon. And Cordell knows above all else, Johnny Fry must die.
Walter Mosley writes terrific, dark crime fiction. So real you can taste the grit that comes up when your shoes are pounding the street. With Killing Johnny Fry, he has unleashed the demons that dwell in every man when he finds his woman has betrayed him. The darker more brutal side. When a good man who plays by the rules finds that those very rules are caging him and what happens when that same man casts those very rules aside.
The sex is raw and visceral told almost completely from a male point of view. Cordell is finding himself anew with these women and he finds that when the limitations are removed, he is capable of doing anything. Along the way, he finds a deeper ability to care as well and this vulnerability is at war with this more brutal version of himself. He may not be the world's idea of a good man, but at least, for once he is true.
Killing Johnny Fry has a lot in common with the multitude of erotic books in the marketplace celebrating a woman's sexual awakening. The difference of course is that Cordell is a man and that distinction is what makes this novel as powerful and unique as it is.
It is disturbing. It is raw. It is just that damn good.
December 12, 2021
Rather than the sex scenes being erotic, for me, they were all important to the development of the story.
They were either for Johnny to experiment with his body and what he liked or they had to do with his complicated relationship with his girlfriend (and his feelings about it).
What I personally really liked, was how he became the 'brother' of the porn star, rather than becoming her partner or something else.
This book gave me back the feeling of desperately needing to know what would happen in the story, the need to keep reading, something I had been missing. I'm thankful for that.
They were either for Johnny to experiment with his body and what he liked or they had to do with his complicated relationship with his girlfriend (and his feelings about it).
What I personally really liked, was how he became the 'brother' of the porn star, rather than becoming her partner or something else.
This book gave me back the feeling of desperately needing to know what would happen in the story, the need to keep reading, something I had been missing. I'm thankful for that.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 13, 2017
This book started off great. I was totally hooked, but then the story just started getting too sexual. I should have expected as much from a Sexistential Novel- but he kept surprising women, and seducing them, and he always ate out their butts.
Maybe I missed the symbology of all the butts he was eating out, but I got sick of it. I probably would have given 2 stars, but I'm a sucker for a good ending, and it did indeed have that.
Maybe I missed the symbology of all the butts he was eating out, but I got sick of it. I probably would have given 2 stars, but I'm a sucker for a good ending, and it did indeed have that.
May 2, 2025
Killing Johnny Fry is a bold, raw, and introspective work by Walter Mosley that walks a fine line between eroticism, existential crisis, and self-exploration. Mosley immerses the reader in the mind of Cordell, a man who, after discovering his partner’s infidelity, embarks on a dark and liberating journey—not to take revenge, but to rediscover himself.
What makes this book so compelling is how Mosley pushes the boundaries of sexual identity, power dynamics, and personal freedom. It’s not an easy read—it challenges, provokes, and demands reflection. The writing is intense and captivating; every scene pulses with psychological tension and charged energy.
Still, the ending leaves something to be desired. While the reader might expect Cordell to take control and make a decisive choice, he seems instead to drift along with the chaos he has unleashed. That passive turn makes the conclusion feel less impactful than it could have been.
Nevertheless, Killing Johnny Fry is a literary journey that pulls no punches, showcasing Mosley’s fearless exploration of the human psyche. Highly recommended for those who appreciate boundary-pushing fiction with psychological depth.
What makes this book so compelling is how Mosley pushes the boundaries of sexual identity, power dynamics, and personal freedom. It’s not an easy read—it challenges, provokes, and demands reflection. The writing is intense and captivating; every scene pulses with psychological tension and charged energy.
Still, the ending leaves something to be desired. While the reader might expect Cordell to take control and make a decisive choice, he seems instead to drift along with the chaos he has unleashed. That passive turn makes the conclusion feel less impactful than it could have been.
Nevertheless, Killing Johnny Fry is a literary journey that pulls no punches, showcasing Mosley’s fearless exploration of the human psyche. Highly recommended for those who appreciate boundary-pushing fiction with psychological depth.
December 10, 2012
Combine Henry Miller with Camus and Sartre and you have Walter Mosley's sexistentialist novel Killing Johnny Fry.
When Cordell Carmel discovers his longtime lover Joelle is having an affair with a casual acquaintance Johnny Fry, Cordell descends into a long day's journey into night. Cordell immediately quits his job and proceeds to have affairs with multiple women and plots Fry's murder.
Cordell's psyche is sent deeper into an existential abyss through his obsession with a high-end porn movie, the Myth of Sisypha.
What follows is a sexual odyssey--and sexually explicit that leads Cordell, bent on revenge, into a hallucinatory adventure with Sisypha herself at an underground combination orgy/Fight Club in which Cordell's very being is at stake.
In many way's reminiscent of Camus' The Stranger and perhaps even Johnny Cash's Folsom Prison Blues, the novel's climax---spoiler alert---ends with Johnny Fry shot down, although it becomes murder by proxy, as Cordell himself cannot go through with the act.
It's dark exploration of Eros, worth the read. But, don't expect a story of redemption. Cordell is an existentialist anti-hero at the same level as Camus' Meursalt.
When Cordell Carmel discovers his longtime lover Joelle is having an affair with a casual acquaintance Johnny Fry, Cordell descends into a long day's journey into night. Cordell immediately quits his job and proceeds to have affairs with multiple women and plots Fry's murder.
Cordell's psyche is sent deeper into an existential abyss through his obsession with a high-end porn movie, the Myth of Sisypha.
What follows is a sexual odyssey--and sexually explicit that leads Cordell, bent on revenge, into a hallucinatory adventure with Sisypha herself at an underground combination orgy/Fight Club in which Cordell's very being is at stake.
In many way's reminiscent of Camus' The Stranger and perhaps even Johnny Cash's Folsom Prison Blues, the novel's climax---spoiler alert---ends with Johnny Fry shot down, although it becomes murder by proxy, as Cordell himself cannot go through with the act.
It's dark exploration of Eros, worth the read. But, don't expect a story of redemption. Cordell is an existentialist anti-hero at the same level as Camus' Meursalt.
March 21, 2012
Well. This one came as a complete surprise. I got it last October, put it in a box in storage, and just found it and read it last week. Rescued from the 'Bargain' table at some bookstore and scooped it up (disgusted with the high prices for 'New' Mosley books I'd not read at this mid-sized retailer.) These bargain tables can often hold hidden gems, and while certainly NOT what I was accustomed to story-wise from this author, having read only about half of his Easy Rawlins books, I found it very much a great Mosley read, a story that is partly about enlightenment and depravity, and many points in-between. But my poor description does not do this book justice. Dark, sexy, weird and also just as much reality as is needed in a story like this, which retains much of the good-natured flavor/feel of this author while taking risks with story, character and even plot to make for a fine read. Bargain table, hell yes!
August 30, 2010
I guess I find it interesting that when a romance novel discusses a woman's sexual awakening or re-awakening it is almost an accepted trope, yet when a male author writes about a male character going through some of the same issues, it is is considered pornographic. Mosley's novel is explicit, yet I didn't feel that it was excessive, considering the title, and focus of the story. I can point out some sections of John Updike's work that are just as explicit.
Possibly Mosley's only error, is that he has a well established and now character specific readership. Those fans are obviously going to be dissapointed with Killing Johnny Fry. He possibly should have used a pseudonym.
I found the book to be an interesting read, and the basis for many conversations.
Possibly Mosley's only error, is that he has a well established and now character specific readership. Those fans are obviously going to be dissapointed with Killing Johnny Fry. He possibly should have used a pseudonym.
I found the book to be an interesting read, and the basis for many conversations.
March 20, 2013
Loved this book. I picked it up for $5.00 off a clearance box in barnes and noble simply for the cover. This was my introduction to Mosely and I've been a fan ever since.
KJF reads much like his private eye noir novels giving you that gritty, dark, whiskey on the breath, suspenseful, I need a shower kind of feeling. Extremely pornographic but so cleverly written with a very smart plot. No dumbed down language or boring run of the mill sexual fantasies. Not at all for the average housewife looking for escape.
I was told about 50 Shades last summer and since my standards for erotica had been set pretty high I had hopes for a book that would finally match this one. KJF makes 50 shades look and read like sex ed class for sixth graders.
KJF reads much like his private eye noir novels giving you that gritty, dark, whiskey on the breath, suspenseful, I need a shower kind of feeling. Extremely pornographic but so cleverly written with a very smart plot. No dumbed down language or boring run of the mill sexual fantasies. Not at all for the average housewife looking for escape.
I was told about 50 Shades last summer and since my standards for erotica had been set pretty high I had hopes for a book that would finally match this one. KJF makes 50 shades look and read like sex ed class for sixth graders.
April 1, 2014
I wanted to like this book. It's Walter Mosley, right?
(*sigh*)
One hundred pages or so into this I gave up reading this book. Sure, it has a LOT of sex in it (it does call itself a 'sexistential' novel, after all) but this book was going nowhere for me. Even after the bit I did read, I am still unsure of what exactly the point of it was. To explore unconventional sex lives? To question some dude's lonely existence? Obviously I missed something, or maybe I'm far too impatient to figure it out right now. On to the next one...
(*sigh*)
One hundred pages or so into this I gave up reading this book. Sure, it has a LOT of sex in it (it does call itself a 'sexistential' novel, after all) but this book was going nowhere for me. Even after the bit I did read, I am still unsure of what exactly the point of it was. To explore unconventional sex lives? To question some dude's lonely existence? Obviously I missed something, or maybe I'm far too impatient to figure it out right now. On to the next one...
November 9, 2014
Literary! Porn! Well, don't mind if I do.
You're in a loving relationship and you catch your gf cheating on you with someone who is larger than you and makes your girl cry out like she's getting hurt. What shall you do? Like any man you would destroy the other man. Well that's not what happens at all.
This is filled with the strangest and kinkiest sex imaginable. If you're a prude, you will be rudely offended. Since I have a fucked up mind, I ate this up.
You're in a loving relationship and you catch your gf cheating on you with someone who is larger than you and makes your girl cry out like she's getting hurt. What shall you do? Like any man you would destroy the other man. Well that's not what happens at all.
This is filled with the strangest and kinkiest sex imaginable. If you're a prude, you will be rudely offended. Since I have a fucked up mind, I ate this up.
August 18, 2019
There were parts of this book that I enjoyed, and there were parts that I was not a fan of; however, that being said, while this book features a ton of sexual descriptions, it's not lewd or crude. The book touches on the topics of race and philosophy, which I enjoyed, along with the difficulties associated with finding oneself. It's a book to make you think, but I think the book itself would have been more satisfying with a slightly different ending.
January 1, 2024
3.5⭐️ I reaaaalllllyyy wanted to like this one. And in a way, I do. The trials and tribulations the characters experience are some of the absolute worst ways to reach their conclusions. That is both the downfall, and part of the beauty of this novel. But it was left open ended for me. Were the motivations and conclusions understood? Or just questioned?
December 3, 2009
This book was AMAZING. To me it was better then all of Zane's books put together. The book offers great sex scenes but it also challenges the mind mentally. The author does a great job keeping the reader guessing. Nothing is predictable and this book. It is truly my favorite! :-)
December 7, 2013
best book other than Ghetto Heaven I've read
February 18, 2025
Killing Johnny Fry by Walter Mosley.
I found this book when i was in Antwerp, started reading directly in the train on the way back. I know Walter Mosley is a sort of noir writer and i was expecting something like that. Boy was i wrong. From the very beginning i was like wow this has alot of sex stuff.. This is basically erotica. Nothing wrong with that, but just not what i expected. The story is actually excellent, and this was a great book. But yes LOTS of sex. When Cordell the main character, catching his long time girlfriend cheating he goes on a Journey to find himself. He is doing all kinds of things he has not done before, he buys a porno flick and its awakens something in him. This sounds very simple but it is handled with alot of care, and really well done. Mosley spices things up with lots and lots of sex but this never becomes a slease fest. This is just a very well writen book, and cements my feeling that Walter Mosley can just write anything that he wants.
I found this book when i was in Antwerp, started reading directly in the train on the way back. I know Walter Mosley is a sort of noir writer and i was expecting something like that. Boy was i wrong. From the very beginning i was like wow this has alot of sex stuff.. This is basically erotica. Nothing wrong with that, but just not what i expected. The story is actually excellent, and this was a great book. But yes LOTS of sex. When Cordell the main character, catching his long time girlfriend cheating he goes on a Journey to find himself. He is doing all kinds of things he has not done before, he buys a porno flick and its awakens something in him. This sounds very simple but it is handled with alot of care, and really well done. Mosley spices things up with lots and lots of sex but this never becomes a slease fest. This is just a very well writen book, and cements my feeling that Walter Mosley can just write anything that he wants.
March 2, 2024
I didn’t enjoy it as much as I thought I would.
January 22, 2015
Killing Johnny Fry - A Sexistential Novel
Walter Mosley
280 pages
PUBLISHER: Bloomsbury, London
ISBN: 9780747593140
COPYRIGHT: 2007 by Walter Mosley
BAWDY; PORNOGRAPHIC; SILLY!
A friend sent this to me several years ago; he said he liked it. I only briefly read it...skimming the pages looking for the story and not really putting any effort into it. So, I decided to reread...with effort.
If you can remember a (bawdy little-played calypso) song "Wah She Go Do" by Bonnie Raitt, or if you like the New York stories of Woody Allen and his characters, then you'll understand why Joelle had an outside man. Cordell Carmel is a libertine, but when he walks into Joelle's apartment unannounced and finds Johnny Fry giving it to his long-time (and mostly ignored) girlfriend and her loving it, he "can't think" and walks away—leaving the front door open. Before he'd even stumbled upon them, Cordell lied about having lunch with a young girl, one half his age.
Cordell, who sleeps around, can't seem to "even out what Joelle had done with Johnny," and he can never forgive her. He enjoys interrogating her; he pulls back when he sees she's afraid to tell him the truth—that becomes an empathic move...and a conniving one. And Johnny? He's the outside who has inside knowledge that is more threatening to the status quo than his and Joelle's kinkiest sex —because it's so ordinary and domestic. Like the way she folds towels and how she never lets anyone in a store cheat her. The reader learns that Johnny knows her as an efficient housewife, an unfaithful girlfriend, a needy masochist. And Cordell? Well, he realizes he loves Joelle but suddenly sees that he doesn't really know her.
That's the setup and the reason for Cordell wanting to kill Johnny Fry.
What I Liked: First, that a mature, well-rounded novelist tackled porn for this story. Why do I say that? because there's more than sex and sex acts. There a racial dimension. Cordell and Joelle are black; Johnny is white. The author described many of the skin tones, the shapes, the sounds that go along with being part of a non-White New York. There's the small-breasted teenager who stares at Cordell's crotch in some museum who's "white but not Caucasian". And the doorman of Joelle's apartment building, the man who should have stopped Cordell from going up to her apartment and walking in on her and Johnny; he's lighter than Cordell with this "mild Asian cast" to his eyes, an accent that's "not of the United States", and has a (in Cordell's opinion a very un-American) preference for soccer. Mosley's intellect and storytelling prowess are evident in the way events flow. He never rushed the pace even though (IMHO there was too much) a lot happened in a relatively short space. See how these are (among) the telling details of an experienced and good author?
What I Didn't Like: There's some silly, strictly porn scene/side story setups. For example, the horny neighbor and the girl picked up on the street. That made the overall story a little silly. Also, those sex scenes just seem to keep popping up and we have to marvel that a man his age has to stamina of a seventeen-year-old boy to perform as he does. And, despite this book's subtitle, which is from Camus' essay The Myth of Sisyphus, there is nothing of deep philosophical insight, so don't read this if that's what you expect.
Where the first half of the novel we think Mosley does a pretty decent job of evoking the pain and excitement involved in a lover's infidelity, the second half drifts into something like unconvincing pornographic fantasy (like when Cordell meets the mysterious black porn star called Sisypha (the reference again to Camus' essay), he has Cordell drugged and then takes the reader on a ride through Manhattan's underworld of bizarre sex fetish clubs.
Final Thoughts: Still, this is a story where the silly, the funny, the sad, the sadistic, and the hopeful melded together to transport the reader through space so we watch the main character's story first hand. And once I started reading, I found I wanted to continue just to find out if and how Johnny Fry dies. There's a great deal of sexual language, however, it seemed inextricable from his character and it served to punctuate his evolving sexuality. I'm glad I went back and reread this one.
Walter Mosley
280 pages
PUBLISHER: Bloomsbury, London
ISBN: 9780747593140
COPYRIGHT: 2007 by Walter Mosley
BAWDY; PORNOGRAPHIC; SILLY!
A friend sent this to me several years ago; he said he liked it. I only briefly read it...skimming the pages looking for the story and not really putting any effort into it. So, I decided to reread...with effort.
If you can remember a (bawdy little-played calypso) song "Wah She Go Do" by Bonnie Raitt, or if you like the New York stories of Woody Allen and his characters, then you'll understand why Joelle had an outside man. Cordell Carmel is a libertine, but when he walks into Joelle's apartment unannounced and finds Johnny Fry giving it to his long-time (and mostly ignored) girlfriend and her loving it, he "can't think" and walks away—leaving the front door open. Before he'd even stumbled upon them, Cordell lied about having lunch with a young girl, one half his age.
Cordell, who sleeps around, can't seem to "even out what Joelle had done with Johnny," and he can never forgive her. He enjoys interrogating her; he pulls back when he sees she's afraid to tell him the truth—that becomes an empathic move...and a conniving one. And Johnny? He's the outside who has inside knowledge that is more threatening to the status quo than his and Joelle's kinkiest sex —because it's so ordinary and domestic. Like the way she folds towels and how she never lets anyone in a store cheat her. The reader learns that Johnny knows her as an efficient housewife, an unfaithful girlfriend, a needy masochist. And Cordell? Well, he realizes he loves Joelle but suddenly sees that he doesn't really know her.
That's the setup and the reason for Cordell wanting to kill Johnny Fry.
What I Liked: First, that a mature, well-rounded novelist tackled porn for this story. Why do I say that? because there's more than sex and sex acts. There a racial dimension. Cordell and Joelle are black; Johnny is white. The author described many of the skin tones, the shapes, the sounds that go along with being part of a non-White New York. There's the small-breasted teenager who stares at Cordell's crotch in some museum who's "white but not Caucasian". And the doorman of Joelle's apartment building, the man who should have stopped Cordell from going up to her apartment and walking in on her and Johnny; he's lighter than Cordell with this "mild Asian cast" to his eyes, an accent that's "not of the United States", and has a (in Cordell's opinion a very un-American) preference for soccer. Mosley's intellect and storytelling prowess are evident in the way events flow. He never rushed the pace even though (IMHO there was too much) a lot happened in a relatively short space. See how these are (among) the telling details of an experienced and good author?
What I Didn't Like: There's some silly, strictly porn scene/side story setups. For example, the horny neighbor and the girl picked up on the street. That made the overall story a little silly. Also, those sex scenes just seem to keep popping up and we have to marvel that a man his age has to stamina of a seventeen-year-old boy to perform as he does. And, despite this book's subtitle, which is from Camus' essay The Myth of Sisyphus, there is nothing of deep philosophical insight, so don't read this if that's what you expect.
Where the first half of the novel we think Mosley does a pretty decent job of evoking the pain and excitement involved in a lover's infidelity, the second half drifts into something like unconvincing pornographic fantasy (like when Cordell meets the mysterious black porn star called Sisypha (the reference again to Camus' essay), he has Cordell drugged and then takes the reader on a ride through Manhattan's underworld of bizarre sex fetish clubs.
Final Thoughts: Still, this is a story where the silly, the funny, the sad, the sadistic, and the hopeful melded together to transport the reader through space so we watch the main character's story first hand. And once I started reading, I found I wanted to continue just to find out if and how Johnny Fry dies. There's a great deal of sexual language, however, it seemed inextricable from his character and it served to punctuate his evolving sexuality. I'm glad I went back and reread this one.
October 13, 2010
The prolific Walter Mosley, author of the wildly popular Easy Rawlins series, returns to his crime noir roots in spectacular fashion with his latest novel, “Killing Johnny Fry,” published Dec. 2007, Bloomsbury USA. Mosley dubs this work a “sexistential novel,” and that it certainly is. Though deeply erotic and graphically disturbing in its frank depictions of sex and hedonistic delight, there is a profundity in the harrowing journey of self-discovery and redemption undertaken. Through the grit and grime of debauchery and human evil, the plight of the everyman as civilized beast is thoroughly explored and, for better or worse, laid bare for the reader to identify with.
The tale begins in Mosley’s familiar noir styling—“I decided to kill Johnny Fry on a Wednesday, but it was a week before that I was given the reason.” This is the voice of our protagonist, Cordell Carmel, a meek, middle-aged, mild-mannered black man working a thankless job for a thankless girlfriend. The aforementioned reason given for Cordell’s drastic change in character comes to him (and to readers) with all the subtlety of a freight train: he walks in unnoticed on his sweetheart of 8 years being gleefully sodomized by their mutual acquaintance, the hugely-endowed white man Johnny Fry.
Upon witnessing this, Cordell withdraws into himself and begins his descent into the abyss, undergoing a slow, complex transformation into a sexual creature of the basest order. He develops an obsession with a violent porn film and its charismatic, sadistic female star Sisypha. The scenes from this film become the vile tapestry into which Cordell’s life is slowly woven, having identified so closely with its events that he soon finds his identity inseparable from its cuckolded male star. He envisions the sneering, brash Sisypha in the many lovers he takes in the course of his wanderings—most especially in his renewed cat-and-mouse rompings with his unfaithful girlfriend, still unawares, tinged with violence and humiliation.
As Cordell’s path winds inexorably toward his fateful confrontation with the white man that battered his manhood, Mosley delves deeply into his psyche, laying bare the patchwork melding of howling emotions and calm lucidity, dominant machismo and pale-faced humility, with such subtlety and grace that these things go almost unnoticed in the maelstrom of sex and betrayal. This deft characterization is evident across the board, giving flesh and spirit to even the minor bit-players in Cordell’s journey.
Yet as this unflinching honesty rings true for Mosley’s characters, so it does for his sex scenes, and therein lies the main quibble readers may have with “Killing Johnny Fry.” The couplings here are utterly devoid of loving, vanilla consensuality. Cordell takes his lovers as a challenge unto himself, as pieces of a jigsaw, and this ensures that every sexual act in the book is tinged with some flavor of perverse manipulation, be it masochism, voyeurism, sadism, or humiliation. As such, characters can read as very unlikeable, despite the loving attention to their growth and development.
In spite of this inherent ugliness and discomfort, though, Mosley’s latest noir is a poignant, revelatory work that is as likely to transform the everyman as offend him, evident in Mosley’s solemn, intimate dedication: “for you.”
The tale begins in Mosley’s familiar noir styling—“I decided to kill Johnny Fry on a Wednesday, but it was a week before that I was given the reason.” This is the voice of our protagonist, Cordell Carmel, a meek, middle-aged, mild-mannered black man working a thankless job for a thankless girlfriend. The aforementioned reason given for Cordell’s drastic change in character comes to him (and to readers) with all the subtlety of a freight train: he walks in unnoticed on his sweetheart of 8 years being gleefully sodomized by their mutual acquaintance, the hugely-endowed white man Johnny Fry.
Upon witnessing this, Cordell withdraws into himself and begins his descent into the abyss, undergoing a slow, complex transformation into a sexual creature of the basest order. He develops an obsession with a violent porn film and its charismatic, sadistic female star Sisypha. The scenes from this film become the vile tapestry into which Cordell’s life is slowly woven, having identified so closely with its events that he soon finds his identity inseparable from its cuckolded male star. He envisions the sneering, brash Sisypha in the many lovers he takes in the course of his wanderings—most especially in his renewed cat-and-mouse rompings with his unfaithful girlfriend, still unawares, tinged with violence and humiliation.
As Cordell’s path winds inexorably toward his fateful confrontation with the white man that battered his manhood, Mosley delves deeply into his psyche, laying bare the patchwork melding of howling emotions and calm lucidity, dominant machismo and pale-faced humility, with such subtlety and grace that these things go almost unnoticed in the maelstrom of sex and betrayal. This deft characterization is evident across the board, giving flesh and spirit to even the minor bit-players in Cordell’s journey.
Yet as this unflinching honesty rings true for Mosley’s characters, so it does for his sex scenes, and therein lies the main quibble readers may have with “Killing Johnny Fry.” The couplings here are utterly devoid of loving, vanilla consensuality. Cordell takes his lovers as a challenge unto himself, as pieces of a jigsaw, and this ensures that every sexual act in the book is tinged with some flavor of perverse manipulation, be it masochism, voyeurism, sadism, or humiliation. As such, characters can read as very unlikeable, despite the loving attention to their growth and development.
In spite of this inherent ugliness and discomfort, though, Mosley’s latest noir is a poignant, revelatory work that is as likely to transform the everyman as offend him, evident in Mosley’s solemn, intimate dedication: “for you.”
June 28, 2010
WTF? Someone recommended this book during an Sunday afternoon tea because they weren't quite sure what to think about it and wanted someone to read it so as to get their opinion. First, I can definitely see why this person did not know what to think of this book. I certainly don't even know where to begin. I had no idea what I was getting into and this type of genre isn't what I'd ever chose to read. Don't get me wrong I love a good mystery as much as anyone else but this was porn disguised as a mystery novel written by the famed Walted Mosley. All I can say was what was he thinking? I took me a while to read passages because I'm not afraid to say I'm a bit of a square and this was a little too sexually graphic for me. I almost stopped reading this book about 6 times, but I kept hoping it would get to the mystery part but it never happened. I tell you one thing I'd never read this book in public and was even concerned about carrying it around in my bag like I do with all books I'm reading and even checking it back in with the nice librarian at my local library made me cringe.
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