Part of Easy Rawlins, book 12
First published 2013
Easy Rawlins barely survived his car plunging off a cliff. Now the World War II veteran finds himself back on Los Angeles streets in 1967, where psychedelic colors paint the Sunset Strip and hippies search for peace and love. His dangerous partner Mouse pulls him into a new case. A young black man named Evander "Little Green" Noon vanished during an acid trip, and someone wants Easy to find him. Easy drinks an elixir called Gator's Blood, brewed by conjure woman Mama Jo. The mysterious potion restores his body and spirit, giving him strength to navigate this strange new world of drugs and counterculture. But the flower power movement has a dark underbelly. What began as a simple missing person case soon turns deadly. Murder disrupts the peace and love ideology of the Strip. Easy must confront questions of guilt and redemption while tracking down the truth about Little Green's disappearance in a city where angels have fallen.
Genres: american-fiction, 20th-century, african-american, mystery, crime, thriller, detective
Vibes: emotional, fast-paced, suspenseful
Tropes: fish-out-of-water, found-family
Setting: Los Angeles, Sunset Strip
Period: 1967
291 pages · Hardcover · Random House Audio
Content warnings: drug-use