Crook Manifesto

The first Whitehead novel I read was The Underground Railroad, and I have eagerly awaited his new novels ever since. Crook Manifesto does not disappoint. It is a follow-up to Harlem Shuffle, which you don't need to have read in order to understand this book (although you should read it anyway because it is fantastic). Whitehead has an incredible gift for language, and the snappy prose in Crook Manifesto makes the book impossible to put down. At the same time, Whitehead has a sharp eye for detail, and his language also exposes the brutal reality of race relations in the 1970s. A fabulous book from a remarkably talented writer.

Follow on from Harlem Shuffle. Evolution of survival over several years. The skill employed by the developing characters and that fine line between legit and illegality ; against the backdrop of community/environmental erosion and gentrification. We feel it.