A rogue NYPD detective is dragged back into the past by a murder in the present.
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.
About the Author
Richard Price has written eight novels which include Clockers, Freedomland, Samaritan and Lush Life. He is also an internationally renowned screenwriter for both film and television, having written among other works Sea of Love, Ransom, the Academy Award nominated The Color of Money and multiple episodes of The Wire. The Whites is his first straight-shot urban thriller. He lives in Harlem with his wife, the novelist Lorraine Adams.
Industry Reviews
Whether you call it a crime novel or a mystery novel or a giraffe with polka dots, is largely irrelevant - The Whites is, simply put, a great American novel * Dennis Lehane *
Riveting ... He not only has a visceral ability to convey the gritty, day-to-day realities of their jobs, but also a knack for using their detective work the way John le Carre has used spy stories and tradecraft, as a framework on which to build complex investigations into the human soul * Michiko Kakutani, New York Times *
This book literally interrupted my professional and personal life. Once in, I had to stay in and stick with it to the end ... as unstoppable as a train coming through a tunnel ... It provides insight and knowledge, both rare qualities in the killing fields of the crime novel * Michael Connelly, New York Times *
The Whites is the crime novel of the year - grim, gutsy, and impossible to put down. I had to read the final 100 pages in a single sitting. I began being fascinated, and ended being deeply moved * Stephen King *
One of Richard Price's best books yet * Michael Chabon *
This is high-octane literature, with the best of Richard Price and his souped-up pseudonym Harry Brandt. Price/Brandt gets to the heart of those stories that everyone else refuses to tell. The Whites manages to patrol New York and deepen our sense of the city and all its dark corners * Colum McCann *
If a more powerful crime novel is published this year it will be a bleeding miracle * Evening Standard *
The Whites is a fine book about the corrupted moral universe in which his all-too-believable New York cops have to work ... Billy is confronted by one hard choice after another as matters build to a tense finale * Mail on Sunday *
Magnificent, hugely complex tale of criminality, revenge and redemption * Metro *
Price has constructed a maze of a novel that alternates between scenes of intense introspection and scenes driven by dialogue ... The Whites doesn't race so much as lurch and careen along, often with little breathing space between frenetic action sequences, emotional outbursts, and sheer surprise, but Price takes time out for a gem of an interrogation scene * Joyce Carol Oates, New Yorker *
Electrifying ... This is a fast-paced tale with well-written characters and a strong narrative * Daily Express *
No less a judge than Stephen King calls this 'the crime novel of the year', and it is hard to disagree. Price is acknowledged as one of the great American writers, and this elegant, nuanced story of a rogue New York detective drawn back into the past by a murder in the present amply proves it ... Price has brought ambiguity, self-doubt and fear among the police to life - as he again displays in this story of Billy Graves ... This novel reveals Price's delicate skill at its finest - the author of eight novels, including the brutal clockers, as well as the films Sea of Love and The Color of Money, he is a legend, and deserves to be * Daily Mail *
