The Whites

Here's a compliment that I've never given before: I first purchased this novel on CD, but soon found that the writing was so lush that I shelved the audio in favor of a printed version, the better to savor each sentence. (I consume approx. 2/3rds of the books I "read" in the car.) Harry Brandt-who's-really-Richard Price (that wasn't a very well-kept secret, was it?) combines the intrigue, fast pace, and yes, violence, of the police procedural with the complex characters (the bad guy isn't all bad) and the aforementioned sophisticated language of the literary novel. I stopped short of the full 5-er because some plot elements were just a *little* confusing, but I do highly recommend the book to readers who are turned off by the misogynist people in John Lescroart but who don't want to read about four women coming to terms with their past.

"The Whites" is excellent - great storytelling, very enjoyable reading. Gritty, with a very New York feel to it on every page. It's Price's ninth book; the first was published in 1974. Most of his books take place in the NY/NJ region. So, what's a 'white'? It seems every long time cop has one case that haunts him. For whatever reasons, the perp of some horrific, fatal crime has gotten off scot-free from justice. Maybe it's the shooting of three young girls, or chasing a scared immigrant kid into the path of an oncoming bus. These crimes and those responsible are never forgotten. The lead cops keep tabs on the killers (the Whites) on a regular basis, and they maintain contact with the victims' families. They are obsessed with their own White. Billy Graves is the only member of his team of five who has remained on the force. But he stays in contact with the others and regularly meets with them to keep tabs - and to discuss their Whites. And then, one of the Whites is killed.....But it's not all about the Whites. We also get to know Billy's family, his nurse wife, the two school age boys, his dad, a former cop, now drifting in and out of dementia episodes. The descriptions of their daily struggles to make ends meet and keep a family together, and safe, is as fascinating as the tales of Billy's crime scenes on the midnight shift. Then there's the guy who accosts one of the boys after school, giving him a friendly pat on the back, but leaving a very red hand print on the back of the jacket, a message for Mom and Dad. The plot and characters are excellent, the story is well paced. And the prose....Let me give you just one example - let me set the scene. Billy is talking to Yasmeen, one of his former cops, when she gets a call from her young daughter, crying about a little boy who is always pinching her. Yasmeen tells her daughter to put the offender, Jacob, on the phone right now: "Is this Jacob? This is Simone's mommy. Listen to me, you know that monster that lives under your bed? Your parents tell you he's not real, but they're lying to you. Not only is he real but he's a friend of mine, and if you lay one more hand on my daughter I will make sure he comes out from under there when you're asleep tonight and sucks your eyeballs right out of your head, you hear me? Yes? Good. Now give the phone back to Simone....Stop crying and give the phone back to Simone." I am now a big Richard Price fan. Think I'll read "Clockers" next. Or maybe "Freedomland", or.......

I don't think star ratings for serious novels are fair, but this is Amazon's system, so ..... This novel is very well done. It is structurally sound. It carefully builds tension. It keeps you guessing -- about a lot of things -- and gives you the satisfaction of watching the narrative pieces click into place at the appropriate time. Many of the reviews remark on the confusion created by the number of characters. That is a valid comment, and I did experience that sense of character overload at about page 50. I had to scroll back through what I had read. Once I did that, however, I never had to do it again. What makes the characters somewhat confusing is that there are two groups of characters: 1) the "night shift" cops that Billy, the main narrator, works with at the time the story is being told, and 2) the cops Billy used to work with in the 70s, known as the "Wild Geese." It is not a spoiler to point out that the two worlds ultimately converge, as they should. A further potential source of confusion is the second narrator, Milton Ramos. Chapters narrated by Ramos are always titled "Milton Ramos," so the author is merciful in that regard. From my recollection (it's been a couple of months), the first Ramos chapter pops up at about page 50, which gives the reader the sense of, "Whoa, I'm just starting to sort out the rest of the characters, and now this?". But, again, the saving grace is the structural soundness of the novel, and the Milton Ramos element will integrate into the narrative with the satisfying 'click' that is the reward for a patient and diligent reader. So why only three stars? There are too many great books. This is a very good one of its kind.

Das Thema ist sehr glaubhaft und unterhaltsam aufgebaut. Es geht eigentlich um Schuld und wie man damit umgeht. Zum Schluss versagen dann eigentlich alle, und bleiben trotzdem gute Menschen. Oder Menschen diie glauben dass sie so gut sind, dass sie ueber andere urteilen und richten koennen. Also, Menschen wie Du und ich. Ich moechte auf jeden Fall mehr Buecher von Richard Price lesen.

The Whites is a new detective/crime novel by Richard Price. I will try to ignore the whole embarrassment of the attempted pseudonym of "Harry Brandt" but clearly when this didn't work (whether by accident or because the publisher objected) they should have dropped the "Richard Price writing as Harry Brandt" headline! In any event, "the Whites" is a brilliant book, slightly communicating with the old noir detective novels, but flows faster and is straight to the point. Sort of an “in your face” detective novel. A bit about the story: Billy Graves is a night shift detective, and the last one in active duty of his original old 5-detectives gang, that have kept a tight family-like group, and kept the Bronx' streets as clean as possible about a decade ago. Each one of the group members' has his own "white" - the one who got away (named after the great white whale); only all of a sudden, these "back on the street, living a cosy life" perps are getting popped one by one. Billy juggling his family life with his dementia stricken old man, his wife's own problems, and his white nights, is trying to get to the bottom of these murders. At the same time, we have the parallel story of one Milton Ramos, a heck, washed up, brutal detective, with a hard life story of his own, who himself is running towards some kind of a collision course with Billy's. The Whites is quite consuming, in fact Michael Connely has writtenin the NY Times book review that this book literally interrupted his professional and personal life, as he could not put it away. This says a lot from a man who's a best-selling author on his own merit. Sure - the sea of names can be confusing, and yes - you might need to scroll back and forth to try to remember which perp was implicated in what and why, but half way through you will have it all figured out. All, that is, except who is behind the baffling perps popping and why, and what does Milton Ramos has to do with it. A lot of NY police slang- good old fashion cop jargon, and not the regular detective tracks a killer story. Price/Brandt is really pulling us into the lives of the Billy and the other 4 golden shield owners, as well as this shady Ramos. A much recommended read for this genre lovers

Good fast paced read

Well written as usual. The dialogue gives you the feeling of being there. I thought I knew what was going on but was a little surprised, so good on Richard. His character development was well done and the whole story was believable. I would've thought that police would care more about each other than it seemed his town police did but perhaps that's realistic as well. Only criticism was that I sometimes had a hard time keeping up with the different bad guys (there are a lot).

Read this on holiday expecting something similar to Michael Connellly. Not in that league or really comparable but I found it eventually gripping and no way worthy of the very negative reviews some have given it. The setting and characters are realistic and engaging if not heroic and the writing quality if not to everyone's taste. Don't expect Connelly's right and fast plotting but worth a read if you have a broad appreciation of crime fiction.