This book is one of those "unknown but powerful" books. I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It is well written and the characters are well thought out. It is the story of two African American men in 1950's LA and how life can be turned around in just 24 hours and how friends help friends no matter what. Mosley does an excellent job of showing the reader how life was for African Americans in the 1950's and uses it to push the story along. As they say for the movies - "Two Thumbs Up !"