NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
FINALIST FOR THE L.A. TIMES BOOK PRIZE 2015 IN THE MYSTERY/THRILLER CATEGORY
Every cop has a personal ‘White’: a criminal who got away with murder – or worse – and was able to slip back into life, leaving the victim’s family still seeking justice, the cop plagued by guilt.
Back in the 1990s, Billy Graves was one of the Wild Geese: a tight-knit crew of young mavericks, fresh to police work and hungry for justice, looking out for each other and their ‘family’ of neighbourhood locals. But then Billy made some bad headlines by accidentally shooting a ten-year-old boy while bringing down an angel-dusted berserker in the street. Branded a loose cannon, he spent years in one dead-end posting after another. Now he has settled into his role as sergeant in the Night Watch, content simply to do his job and go home to his family. But when he is called to the 4 a.m. stabbing of a man in Penn Station, Billy discovers the victim is the ‘White’ of one of his oldest friends, a former member of the Wild Geese, who is now retired. As the past comes crashing into the present, the Wild Geese seemingly rise from the dead, and the bad old run-and-gun days of the 90s are back with a vengeance.
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/
Reading updates
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Started reading
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6 January, 2016:
Finished reading
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6 January, 2016:
Reviewed