Whitehead pens entertaining sequel
In his bestselling 2021 crime novel “Harlem Shuffle,” Colson Whitehead introduced the complicated character of Ray Carney, a Black furniture store owner and smalltime fence clawing his way into the middle class while resisting the urge to follow in the footsteps of his thuggish father. That novel played out in Harlem during the civil rights struggles of the early 1960s.
Now he has written a sequel. When “Crook Manifesto” opens, it is 1971, Carney has been on the straight and narrow for four years, and civic harmony is in short supply.
Carney’s desire to score impossible-to-get Jackson 5 tickets for his increasingly aloof teenage daughter prompts him to seek out the corrupt cop and fixer he used to do business with — and all hell breaks loose. With Carney back in the game, Whitehead proceeds to show us “the invisible barrier that separated his city from the white city” in a decade when the Bronx was burning and the Daily News blared “Ford to City: Drop Dead.”
The novel is broken into three parts loosely connected through the storylines of Carney, his family and a handful of other characters, including Pepper, a hardcore criminal who is surprisingly endearing. The second section, set in 1973, revolves around the shooting of a blaxploitation movie on location in Harlem, including at Carney’s furniture store. The third part takes place in 1976, when the son of one of Carney’s tenants is severely injured in an arson fire, and Carney can’t work up much enthusiasm for the nation’s bicentennial celebrations.
As he did in “Harlem Shuffle,” Whitehead mixes noir crime tropes and
social history to present a slant, cynical view of New York as a thoroughly rotten Big Apple, only occasionally redeemed by individual acts of love, loyalty and kindness.
Whitehead’s sly sense of humor and encyclopedic knowledge of the city make “Crook Manifesto” an entertaining read, but as incident after incident piles up, you just want it to be over. — Ann Levin, Associated Press
Edie O’Dare was there
that night, the night that changed the lives of a dozen names in Hollywood — the night Sophie Melrose, newcomer at FWM studios, was sexually assaulted by Freddy Clarke, famous for playing dashing heroes. And for all that Edie wants to be hardened and unattached, Sophie grabs a hold of her heart from the first interaction they have together.
Lindsay Lynch’s debut novel “Do Tell” goes far beyond that fateful night in 1939 and the court case that follows — which is loosely based on the real case brought by Peggy Satterlee and Betty Hansen against actor Errol Flynn — and creates a noir-like tale of Hollywood’s underbelly.
Edie’s acting contract is almost up, and Sophie’s
court case propels her into a new career as a gossip columnist. She has learned the trade, how to barter information and pull strings, when to make up details and even full stories.
When the trial ends, the fallout is quickly eclipsed by a world war, casting a shadow over Hollywood to both ludicrous and devastating effect.
The glamor of Old Hollywood is met with a distinctly noir feel that Edie brings as she sleuths in the proverbial shadows, using dirty tricks and touching moments of empathy alike to get where she needs to go. She’s a hardboiled detective and a femme fatale all wrapped up in one. And, like a good noir, the clues were there, but you’ll have to wait until Edie pieces it together to get the full story. For all her skills and conniving, there’s something big she has overlooked.
Things get terribly messy, but the ending is surprisingly sweet, a poetic justice that is not at all what you would expect from the opening chapters, turning a book about Hollywood gossip and the patriarchy into one about love and how to find fulfillment. — Donna Edwards, Associated Press