Garnering praise
from all reviewers, award-winning author Colson Whitehead has earned it with Cool
Machine, the final installment of the Harlem Trilogy. The series started with the novel Harlem
Shuffle, a story
that is subdued. A lot of background — family, neighborhood, and relationships –
a calm before the storm. Book two, Crook Manifesto, is a non-stop fling
into the unplanned and random violence that crime generates. In Cool Machine
Ray Carney, the protagonist of the three books,
appears to recognize his fate and embrace the criminal he has become, a cool
machine. There are no subtleties; Carney gets punched by page 15. Whitehead
manages to weave the feel of 1980s New York into every page. Rare is the author
that generates a page-turning crime novel and a sociological treatise in one
book. Bonus — the writing is first-class.
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