Crook Manifesto - Colson Whitehead

Colson Whitehead's latest novel appears to indulge in a nostalgic - or perhaps there should be a case for coining a word like 'anostalgic' - run through the seedy districts and black ghettos of New York in the style of the classic crime of Chester Hines and the blaxploitation movies of the seventies. As you would expect from this Pulitzer Prize-winning author, Crook Manifesto comes however with added authenticity and historical backing. As entertaining as it might be, the first part alone an incredible full pelt crime spree the like of which you haven't seen since those classic movies of the 70s ("a kamikaze run through Harlem"), Whitehead doesn't let you forget that it has a serious and relevant side to the black African-American experience in this three part novel.

The opening chapters of Crook Manifesto actually give little indication for what is ahead, but what they do is establish a context for what is to come that is beautifully drawn and immediately immerses you in the character of Harlem, New York and the attitudes and behaviours of the wider society of the time. Ray Carney, who was introduced in Whitehead's previous novel Harlem Shuffle, has put aside his criminal activities as a fence for stolen goods and has overcome the odds to now own his own successful business and property as a furniture store manager in Harlem. It's 1970 and things are changing for black people in America.

It's still Harlem though, and Carney's past associations with crime come back to haunt him, although perhaps not to the extent that he expected when he attempts to hit up with an old acquaintance, police detective Munson. It seems like a simple matter to call in a favour from a well-connected friend in order to get a couple of tickets to take his daughter to a sold-out Jackson 5 concert at the Madison Square Garden. There might be a price to pay, but Carney clearly has no idea of what lies ahead when he finds Munson in hiding pending an official investigation into crooked police dealings. Munson is desperate and planning to embark on one final 'collection' round.

The opening story is wild enough, but NYC is a big city with many different stories, recollections and experiences and Whitehead continues to dig deep. Carney is still involved in the story in Part Two, but the focus switches to Pepper another one-time crook who also finds that it's difficult to entirely escape from the past, particularly as there are still considerable challenges for a man like him in New York in 1973.  As it happens, Pepper is at all loose end after his last operation failed to live up to promise and is working as a guard/bouncer on the film set of an art blaxpolitation movie, Code Name Nefertiti. The director Zippo is using Carney's furniture store for a couple of scenes and has employed Pepper to stop equipment being stolen off the set. When the film's super spy female lead disappears mid-shoot and Pepper trawls some of the lowest hangouts in Harlem to find where she has gone.

The plot progression is again quite thrilling with Pepper encountering all manner of characters and hoods across Harlem, but the richness of the tale and an insight into what lies at the heart of the novel is in the side observations; the social context, the tensions and the criminal underground's hold over the city. Pepper sees how the city is changing, sees how 'brothers' are becoming more open, asserting their own identity as race relations are changing. Not necessarily improving, but becoming perhaps more entrenched or focussed by "crazy radicals and nutjob revolutionaries". There's a wonderful mix of social change and personal reminiscence that is revealing of the changes, and of the things that haven't changed so much. Either then or now.

One of those things might be ever-present is corruption. In Part Three, in 1976, Carney teams up with Pepper again to investigate the deliberate burning down of a Harlem building that results in the near death of a young child known to Ray. The burning of buildings in Harlem is not infrequent, but there are lots of ways for a building to burn and it's often for insurance and often involving arsonists. But who ultimately benefits? Sometimes the tenant, the owner, sometimes the city planners, sometimes the politicians looking renewal and reelection. Sometimes it's just crazy arsonists, firebugs. Either way, it's often organised and dangerous to get involved, ask questions, try to find who is behind it. As Ray and Pepper are about to find out.

Again, aside from the crime thriller aspect, the third part of Crook Manifesto is another rich insight into American corruption, filled with entertaining anecdotes and humorous observations. It's provides a full open account of the social background of everyone involved, taking in the history of the constantly changing face of the city. It might be set in Harlem across a large part of the 1970s, it might be a venture into its colourful past filled with ruthless characters, as well as others just trying to survive, but Crook Manifesto is also a reminder that the lawlessness is still there, not confined to Harlem or New York, still open for all to see and still with the authorities turning a blind eye while they can make a great deal of money from it.

Reading notes: Crook Manifesto by Colson Whitehead is published by Fleet on the 18th July 2023. Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the advance copy for review.