As a huge fan of Colson Whitehead, I jumped at the opportunity to read Crook Manifesto which is a continuation of Harlem Shuffle and the story of Ray Carney. Crook Manifesto is set in 1970s New York, a time when the city was burning and developers were relocating from different areas to buy real estate and change the landscape of the concrete jungle.

I love how the plot of the story begins with Carney trying to secure Jackson 5 tickets for his daughter, May. He is trying to stay on a straight and narrow path and outside a life of crime but soon realizes that all of his connections that could help him get the tickets are associates from his former life in the streets. When Carney reaches out to Munson, his former police contact, the last thing he was expecting was to get manipulated into being an accomplice to murder among other crimes.

The plot of Crook Manifesto moved a lot faster for me than Harlem Shuffle. The beginning of the story takes you on a journey where as a reader we are left wondering whether or not Carney will make it out of the situation alive. The second half of the book is where we become more acquainted with specific characters, their beef with each other, past resentments, and future hopes. I love how at the end of the narrative Carney makes the connection between his wife, Elizabeth, being the one to motivate him to be a better man. Carney is a family man to his core after all.

"What else was an ongoing criminal enterprise complicated by periodic violence for, but to make your wife happy?"

In the end, Carney is just trying to do right by his family, his business, and his friends. We learn a lot about where his loyalties lie in this story while he navigates the NYC world of drug dealers, mobsters, hustlers, and crooked cops. Thank you to the author and publisher for the e-arc copy!

A quasi sequel of Harlem Shuffle, Crook Manifesto continues to follow the escapades of Ray Carney and associates. The book again is more about Harlem in different eras than anything else. As a result, people don't have to worry about reading the titles out of order, as each novella- of which there are three -acts as an independent story arc that loosely connects to a larger whole, but a reader can tackle any of the stories in the two books out of order with little harm to their understanding or enjoyment of the exploits therein. The stories in this book involve Ray needing Jackson 5 tickets, an associate, Pepper, and his exploits in the film industry, and a vengeful story of crows coming home to roost. Very enjoyable, but that was expected with the steady hand of Colson Whitehead.

I'm historically a Whitehead fan but this did not grab me. I read the first in the series and enjoyed it but this one just felt drawn out and tedious.

It was a joy to see all the familiar faces from “Harlem Shuffle” again, and to meet a new group of eclectic characters. However, what I loved in particular was what made the first book in the saga such a delight - the way it so deeply immersed me within a past Harlem and a past New York. This time around, instead of the city in the 1960’s roaring to life through Colson’s words, it was the troublesome 70s that was vividly painted in my mind - a city on edge, a city that is seemingly falling apart at the seams, a city whose neighborhoods are bursting into flames - but like the core characters of the book, despite the chaos and the deterioration, is still resilient, and still going.

Whitehead could comfortably conclude here and leave it as a solid two-part series. Frankly though, I’m hoping that he’ll be able to transport us to 80’s Harlem within the next few years.