Revision of Justice

A terrific follow-up to Wilson's first novel. Benjamin Justice is beginning to get back on his feet as he helps Alex Templeton research a story on Hollywood. Lots of interesting background, and a great insight into Justice's tortured personality. Wilson also writes strongly and passionately about gay sex. I loved this book! Neil Plakcy, author of Mahu Surfer: A Hawaiian Mystery (An Alyson Mystery)

In this the second of John Morgan Wilson mysteries, Benjamin Justice, the sometimes down-and-out writer who fell from grace after he wrote a Pulitzer winning series about a young man's dying of AIDS that was based more on fiction than fact, is back. And some of his friends we met in SIMPLE JUSTICE make return appearances: Maurice and Fred, Justice's gay landlords; Alexandra Templeton, the statuesque African American reporter and Harry Brofsky, Justice's former mentor before he lost his job at a good newspaper.The victim here is Raymond Farr, an Iranian would-be writer for the movies-- he is HIV positive, and practically everyone who knows him had reason to kill him. The plot is well developed and goes smoothly. What Mr. Wilson does so well in his other novels, he does here: he makes a real flesh and blood person out of Justice. At the beginning of the novel, he is wracked with guilt over the way he treated his lover who has recently died of AIDS-- he wasn't there for him when his lover was dying. Justice, as the title indicates, is able to change. You will like him much more at the end of the novel than you did at the beginning.Since this tale is about writers trying to get their scripts made into movies, there are many references to old movies and a catalogue of both African American and gay-themed films; additionally Justice keeps running into or just missing stars-- James Caan, Whoopi Goldberg, Robin Williams, Jack Nicholson, to name a few. My favorite is Wilson's description of George Hamilton as the actor best known for his suntan. Wasn't he also known for escorting one of the Johnson daughters during Lyndon Johnson's presidency? Of course, as he does in each of his stories, the author pays tribute to Walter Mosley-- someone is reading A LITTLE YELLOW DOG.Many of the references to AIDS are almost too painful to read; many of us have had too many of those experiences in the 80's and early 90's. The writer opened up wounds for me that I thought had healed. That is not to say, however, that this is not a great story worth reading.

Wilson continues his Benjamin Justice series of detective novels with this dynamic second entry, set, of course, in Hollywood, among the world of rapacious, do-anything-for-a-break screenwriters, a world Wilson himself apparently knows well from experience. A young, aspiring screenwriter with too many connections to too may important people with too many secrets is found murdered at a party in the posh home of a prominent screenwriting teacher. Justice, a once promising print reporter felled by scandal, is enlisted to help find the killer by his friend, a hotshot reporter named Alexandra Templeton. Justice agrees for financial reasons, but his heart is dragged into the search as well, as he is determined to clear his new friend Danny Romero of any suspicion of the crime. Danny is HIV positive, just like Ben's late lover Jacques, and Ben experiences a VERTIGO-like moment of déjà vu. (The love scene with Ben and Danny in the AIDS clinic, with Danny nearing death, is electrifying, touching, and erotic.) If John M. Wilson/Benjamin Justice's Hollywood is any indication, there are practically no nice people in the American movie industry. There certainly aren't in this cast of characters. If someone's not busy clawing his way to the top (or even to the middle rung), then he is busy hiding some secret of a very shady past. The novel has the grime of raw ambition all over it, and chances are you won't find anybody here to whom you will relate. But that is all right. This is probably a more accurate representation of the Hollywood milieu than a lot of people would like to admit. Wilson does it very well. And his sense of character is sharp too. More and more I find myself thinking that Benjamin Justice may well be a more compelling character than Michael Nava's celebrated Henry Rios (and I wouldn't have thought that a few years ago). Justice is no Huggy Bear himself, but he's smart, sardonic, and funny, and he accepts his "loser" status with the stoicism of a wise man.If one can cite faults here, it is the easiness with which one can guess the killer and Wilson's rather irritating habit of bashing white males and playing up the multicultural aspects of his own cast of characters; there's something in it that smacks of insincerity.An excellent novel. Just don't go into it looking to be cheered up.

I loved Revision of Justice. Benjamin Justice is beginning the long road back to the world of the living, drawn by his reporter's zeal and his love for Danny Romero, who resembles Ben's dead lover Jacques. Wilson keeps ratcheting up what's at stake in a way that is believable and completely moving.

This just goes to show how subjective Reader Reviews are. I preferred REVISION OF JUSTICE to SIMPLE JUSTICE. While I could admire SIMPLE JUSTICE with a clinical detachment, REVISION OF JUSTICE touched my emotions.Possibly this one is a little too in-your-face for mainstream readers? But as far as the Justice character being a pathetic loser--well, that's kind of the point. Justice is a lost soul in search of salvation. He gets his chance at it in this sequel, when he takes on the task of clearing AIDS-stricken Danny Romero of the murder of his Hollywood-wannabe roommate. And regardless of Justice's character flaws, Danny is certainly sympathetic. It's a little bit his story too.Wilson has a bad habit of telegraphing his punches, but the strength of these books doesn't lie in the plot. Wilson's strength is in capturing the moment: the vivid scene that remains imprinted on the mental retina, the memorable phrase that echos in the mind after the last page is turned.