Contributed by
"William E. Emba"
This is the sixth book in the highly praised Easy Rawlins mysteries
that began with DEVIL IN A BLUE DRESS. They are set in post-WWII
black Los Angeles, and unfold over the years. (The series is best
read in order. BBBB, in particular, contains a major spoiler for
the previous novel. Don't even read the book jacket.) Mosley is
often compared with Chandler, but his foreground treatment of racial
issues gives Mosley a charge that Chandler can't touch.
The mathematical content of BBBB is limited to chapter 39, where
Easy seeks information from one Jackson Blue. (It can be read
without spoiling anything.) Jackson is a 1964-era hacker, always
reading. Here he's reading about Isaac Newton and calculus, and
tries to sell Easy the idea that the life of Newton is like the
life of the black man, and that calculus is the secret that runs
the world. Easy is dubious, but wouldn't know any better.
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