Review: Moth

Moth by James Sallis

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



Lew Griffin, retired and living the quiet life of an author/adjunct at the local college, is pulled back into the life he thought he'd left when a former flame passes away, and Lew learns that her daughter--who he never knew existed--might be in trouble.

As with the other Lew Griffin stories I've read, the real story here isn't the mystery or case he's working on, it's the personal lives of the people he's interacting with and, most importantly, with Lew himself. The whole story is told from his perspective, looking back on the events, and it's really about an old man musing on his life. The cases are frame, and they give him a reason to evaluate his own life. It's at turns both sad and uplifting to see Griffin struggling with himself, deconstructing his past, and trying (to mixed success) to change for the better or make peace with who he is.

Sallis' writing is, as usual, fantastic. His New Orleans is vivid and alive, even if it does seem to be overflowing, at times, with the kinds of violent folks I'd prefer to avoid. I can't testify to the accuracy of his version of New Orleans, but it doesn't lack personality.





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