The Latest Breaking News from Ray Carney

Cool Machine by Colson Whitehead: A triumph of molls, dolls and deadpan humour

After any chapter of Colson Whitehead’s Harlem Trilogy, I feel as though I am reading a particularly operatic story by Damon Runyon, complete with molls, dolls and Broadway-laden side-eyes. It is the kind of widescreen social drama that immediately reads like a screenplay. With pitch-perfect colloquialisms and deadpan humour, these…

Evening Standard · Jul 21

Cool Machine by Colson Whitehead review – final part of the Harlem Trilogy is freewheeling fun

The grit and grandeur of 80s New York drive this rollicking story of an underground wheeler-dealer

The Guardian - UK · Jul 21

Cool Machine by Colson Whitehead: a fitting end to the Harlem trilogy that is sure to make it a classic of New York fiction

This article contains spoilers for the first two books in the Harlem Trilogy

The Conversation · Jul 15

Crook Manifesto is strike two for Colson Whitehead’s 'strangely inert' Harlem crime saga

Midway through Colson Whitehead’s new novel Crook Manifesto, a filmmaker muses on how “reviewers like to trap you in their idea of you”, just as old friends and family only see “who you used to be”. The critical reception the book has received so far bears this out. Expecting yet…

The Conversation · Aug 14, 2023

Lelia Goldoni obituary

Actor who starred in John Cassavetes’s Shadows and gave Michael Caine the plans for the heist in The Italian Job

The Guardian - UK · Aug 3, 2023

5 new books to read this week

This week’s bookcase includes reviews of The Trackers by Charles Frazier and Crook Manifesto by Colson Whitehead.

The Independent UK · Aug 2, 2023

Harlem Shuffle by Colson Whitehead audiobook review – New York’s criminal underworld

Actor Dion Graham narrates this noirish tale of a wise-cracking furniture salesman who struggles to stay on the straight and narrow

The Guardian - UK · Jul 28, 2023

Review: Crooked hero in 'Crook Manifesto' learns that getting Jackson 5 tickets is not as easy as A-B-C

FICTION: The second novel in Colson Whitehead's Harlem Trilogy is a masterwork of stylish noir and social satire.

Tribune News Service · Jul 19, 2023

'Crook Manifesto' takes Colson Whitehead's heist hero in search of Jackson 5 tickets

The playful second book in the author's Harlem Trilogy shows Ray Carney scheming how to get his teenage daughter into the concert of her dreams. Alarming capers ensue.

WEKU · Jul 18, 2023

Book Review: Colson Whitehead pens entertaining, uneven sequel to 2021 bestseller 'Harlem Shuffle'

Colson Whitehead is back with a sequel to his 2021 bestseller “Harlem Shuffle.”

The Independent UK · Jul 17, 2023