Nine years after his release from prison, Socrates is still living in a two-room shack in Watts, now with a lover and a steady job. Having responsibilities and people he cares about makes acting morally even harder ? he has so much more to lose with the police watching his every move. Socrates Fortlow, first introduced in Always Outnumbered, Always Outgunned, is one of the essential fictional characters of our times. In Walkin' the Dog, the philosopher with 'rock-breaking hands' has come in from the cold and has to decide at which point an individual must make a stand against the brutality and corruption that surrounds him. At a time when much contemporary fiction confines itself to the personal, Walter Mosley creates characters that speak to the universal and reflect on dilemmas that are the moral questions of our time.

By Walter Mosley

Novel, Published by Serpent's Tail