Rating: 2.5* of fiveThe Book Description: Following the death of his lover and a scandal involving his Pulitzer Prize-winning article, crime reporter Benjamin Justice has fallen into a hazy, alcoholic life, hiding out in the West Hollywood neighborhood known as the Norma Triangle. He is called back to the world of the living by an unexpected, and unwelcome, visit from Harry Brofsky, his former boss. Brofsky wants Ben to do some background work (strictly off the record) with another reporter on the investigation of a seemingly motiveless killing outside a local gay bar. The investigation throws Justice back into the life of gay bars, spurned lovers, dysfunctional families, and tawdry secrets--all the things he had been trying to escape. And it leads, ultimately, to the reexamination of his own dark past, and his own crimes of passion. Simple Justice is a subtly plotted mystery that takes a piercing look at not only violent crime but also violations of the heart and soul in the sometimes glamorous, more often dark and gritty gay world of West Hollywood. My Review: Simple? Simplistic. Subtle? Clichéd. Voices are muffled as if through handkerchiefs. (Seriously...try that sometime...all you are is inaudible.) Gunshots? Are you sure it wasn't a car backfiring? (In the past 20 years, the ubiquity of fuel injection has made this once-frequent occurrence unusual enough to be more noteworthy than a mere gunshot.) The large, muscular African-American bouncer at a gay bar says the victim was “all by hisself.”Nauseous.The murderer, when revealed, is so boringly predictable that, on the character's first appearance, I noted “killer” on the page. (Since erased. Hey, quit frowning, some people dog-ear.) The red herrings were days old, and smelt up the place. (Punishment will continue until praise is heaped upon me.)So why did I finish it? It's the sixteen-year-old first book in a series that has eight books. First books are seldom all that wonderful, and a series that's lasted eight has something. Maybe I won't like that something, but I'll try one more to see. It only took about three hours to read this one, so it's not like I'm making a major time commitment. Plus the Pearl Rule looms behind each page-flip, dangling its gorgeously made invitation to say “sayonara” and sail away for better-written shores.
Simply stated, I loved it. It had the kind of melancholy tone that I really appreciate, along with descriptive prose and characters (including secondaries) that you can really feel for. And I loved the themes, twisting as they did around many ideas of self -- being true to oneself or failing to do so, presenting false images of self for the love of others, warping oneself to fit in with society, having oneself warped by the loved ones who should honor you most, and so on.A sample of Wilson's evocative writing, from the first scene in the book: The city was golden, blinding, blasted by heavenly light. It was one of those days that made nipples rise and minds wander and bodies shiver with sensuality and inexplicable dread. The kind of day when the heat wrapped snugly around you but sent an ominous chill up your back at the same time, like the first sexual touch in a dark room from a beautiful stranger whose name you’d never know. I loved just about everything about this story. And don't listen to reviewers who complain about things like cars backfiring or Southerners speaking in dialect -- for one thing, this was written nearly twenty years ago when plenty of cars still backfired, and for another, yes, Southerners really do speak that way (since I am one, I can say that with authority).Anyway -- this one struck me just about right, from the first word to the last. I'm giving this about 4.4 stars, rounding down to 4.
Do You like book Simple Justice (1997)?
Just coming off 4-day ThrillerFest where a lot of discussion concerned series thrillers. This is first book in one of my favorites that began back in 1997. Benjamin Justice thought he'd taken the biggest hit in his life when he is stripped of his Pulitzer Prize before the first novel begins. But the hits keep on coming, the stories get darker, as the edgy 8-book series progresses. Justice's judgement gets worse as well. Uncomfortable. But no doubt that Wilson is a cut above the rest in the gay thriller niche. Thought it was time to add it to my shelf here.
—David Swatling
This is a completely other universe than Stevenson's. Where Stevenson is witty, fun and smart aleck, Wilson is angsty, dark and cynic. Benjamin Simple is a reporter with a tainted past, who's lost his lover and his reputation. Prone to alcohol, dark mood, melancholy, Simple is brought back into the news world by his ex-boss to help a rookie reporter out. This is the opening book of the Benjamin Simple series set in Los Angeles, West Hollywood. It's dark, it's raw, it's angsty. It's an interesting reading experience and I found myself turning the pages and going one more chapter. It was a nice surprise.
—Writerlibrarian
A violent shooting outside a WeHo gay bar, a very young hispanic perpetrator with hate-crime/gang initiation motivation. The police think it's a cut and dry case. The editorial head of a smaller newspaper drags disgraced and discredited investigative journalist Benjamin Justice back from a booze-tainted existence to help a less experienced female journalist (Alex Templeton) uncover the real facts behind the case.This book does a very credible introduction to a whodunnit series for me. I know it was written quite some time ago but this didn't hinder my reading pleasure. I liked the slow uncovering of Ben Justice's inner demons and repressed emotions ... the author nicely balances these with the crime solving parts of the story. The author doesn't resort to distracting readers by having a plethora of suspects or red-herrings - the storyline moves at a decent pace. As the MC, Ben Justice is imbued with just the right amount of emotional depth and conflict (whenever the ghost of his deceased lover crops up); I warmed up to him quite early on. The working dynamics between Ben and Alex (and even with Brofsky the editorial head) is nicely developed - some secondary characters are given enough depth of their own rather than merely being action-figures. I'm pleased to find another mystery series to get my teeth into and am looking forward to getting to know Ben Justice better.
—PaperMoon
