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In Crook Manifesto, multi award winning author Colson Whitehead returns to the Harlem of Ray Carney for some continuing adventures in crime in his follow up to 2021\u2019s Harlem Shuffle. Similar in structure to the first book, Crook Manifesto comprises three long short stories, each some time on from the last. Through these stories Whitehead once again lovingly illuminates the world and underworld of Harlem, this time moving from the 1960s well into the 1970s.<\/p>\n
When the first story, Ringolevio opens it is 1971 and Ray Carney, son of a gangster and former fence, has been on the straight and narrow for four years. But a desire to secure Jackson 5 tickets for his daughter sees Ray looking up an old nemesis, corrupt cop Munson, being asked to do one quick job and, as a result, quickly being disastrously dragged back into the criminal underworld. The second story Nefertiti T.N.T., set in 1973, while still fairly violent, stands as the light relief. Carney is more of a walk on role in the story of his father\u2019s old enforcer Pepper trying to locate the missing lead actress in a Blacksploitation film. The final story, The Finishers takes place in America\u2019s bicentennial year 1976 and takes Carney and Pepper to darker places, including the world of institutionalised corruption, as they try to find out who is responsible for a series of fires in Harlem. The three stories stand on their own but also speak to each other and previous stories in this series. Events from Harlem Shuffle continue to resonate and everything that happens has consequences down the line.<\/p>\n
As with Harlem Shuffle, these are not just stories about Ray Carney. They are packed to the brim with history, side stories and an array of colourful characters. Such as Pepper whose personality is described as:<\/p>\n