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Crook Manifesto

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Crook Manifesto

By: Colson Whitehead
Narrated by: Dion Graham
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About this listen

'Glorious' New York Times Book Review

'The compelling energy of a crime thriller and the sharp wit of social satire' Guardian

'Whitehead's crime series is one of the most enjoyable streaks in recent fiction' Telegraph

'This novel has it all' Mail on Sunday

A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER: a powerful and hugely-entertaining novel that summons 1970s New York in all its seedy glory.

1971, New York City. Trash piles up on the streets, crime is at an all-time high, the city is going bankrupt, and a shooting war has broken out between the NYPD and the Black Liberation Army. Furniture store owner and ex-fence Ray Carney is trying to keep his head down, his business up and his life straight. But then he needs Jackson 5 tickets for his daughter May and he decides to hit up an old police contact, who wants favours in return. For Ray, staying out of the game gets a lot more complicated - and deadly.

1973. The old ways are being overthrown by the thriving counterculture, but Pepper, Carney's enduringly violent partner in crime, is a constant. In these difficult times, Pepper takes on a side gig doing security on a Blaxploitation shoot in Harlem, finding himself in a world of Hollywood stars and celebrity drug dealers, in addition to the usual cast of hustlers, mobsters and hit men. These adversaries underestimate the seasoned crook - to their regret.

1976. Harlem is burning, while the country gears up for the Bicentennial. Carney is trying to come up with a celebratory July 4th advertisement he can actually live with, while his wife Elizabeth is campaigning for her childhood friend, rising politician Alexander Oakes. When a fire seriously injures one of Carney's tenants, he enlists Pepper to look into who may be behind it, navigating a crumbling metropolis run by the shady, the violent and the utterly corrupt.

'Fast, fun, ribald... with a touch of Quentin Tarantino' Sunday Times

'A delight' Financial Times

'Hugely enticing' Independent©2023 Colson Whitehead (P)2023 Hachette Audio UK
Literary Fiction Fiction Emotionally Gripping City

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Better than anything on Netflix!

Colson Whitehead is a superb writer and storyteller. Dion Graham does a perfect job reading this fabulously crooked tale of life in Harlem at the time of the Black Panthers and the Jackson 5 - as experienced by furniture salesman and poor boy made boy made good, Ray Carney who has a side hustle as a receiver and seller of stolen goods. Harlem Shuffle was the first instalment and Crook's Manifesto the second. This is twenty hours of spellbinding entertainment for this white boy from Sydney, Australia. Loved it! Couldn't recommend it highly enough!!!

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