The Whites

by Harry Brandt and Richard Price

Back in the bad old days, when Billy Graves worked for an anti-crime unit in the South Bronx known as the Wild Geese, the NYPD branded him as a cowboy. Now forty, he has somehow survived and become a sergeant in Manhattan Night Watch. Mostly, his team of detectives conducts a series of holding actions--and after years in police purgatory, Billy is content simply to do his job. But soon after he gets a 4:00 a.m. call about the fatal knifing of a man in Penn Station, his investigation moves beyond the usual handoff to the day shift. And when he discovers that the victim was once a suspect in the unsolved murder of a 12-year-old boy, he finds himself drawn back to the mid-1990s when the Wild Geese were at their most wayward. -- Provided by publisher.

• ISBN10: 0805093990
• ISBN13: 9780805093995
• Publish Date: 17 February 2015 (first published 12 February 2015)
• Publish Status: Out of Print
• Out of Print: 26 May 2021
• Imprint: Henry Holt & Company
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 352
• Language: English

Reviews

[Michael @ Knowledge Lost]

In the mid-90s, Billy Graves worked in the South Bronx as part of a special anti-crime unit. He made headlines when he accidently shot a ten year old boy, emotionally scarring Billy and damaging his career. Eighteen years later, Billy has finally become a sergeant in Manhattan Night Watch. The Whites follows the life as Billy Graves as he gets a 4:00 am slashing of a man at Penn Station. However The Whites is much more than a police procedural, rather it covers the life of the people in working the night watch.

Harry Brandt is a pseudonym of crime writer Richard Price who has been acclaimed for his books, like Clockers. He adopted the pseudonym so he could explore his writing in a new direction. However, I have heard that the writing style turned out to be very similar to his other stuff. I have not read anything by Richard Price, but hearing it is similar I hope to pick up Clockers in the future.

What I think stands The Whites apart from a typical police procedural is the fact that Richard Price focuses mainly on the character development. I love exploring the lives of people working in a similar field and how the people are effected in different ways. Sure, Billy Graves is the primary focus and there is a great deal to do with the crime but Price really did a good job of not making this a typical crime novel.

The Whites is a fascinating read and the style of book I look for in police procedurals. The novel even made the Tournament of Books list, but I do not expect it to make it too far. It was a wonderful book but not something I would consider high literature. If you have some recommendations of other books similar to this, please let me know.

This review originally appeared on my blog; http://www.knowledgelost.org/book-reviews/genre/crime/the-whites-by-harry-brandt/