The Whites

Price designs a fast-paced novel. Nevertheless, with all the crime shows,this could have been a plot from one of those multitudes - however, the thing that Price does that could not be duplicated in crime shows is developing a thought provoking back story about the police officers (and relatives) and their "whites." Price has a rich capacity and talent for capturing rhythm with realistic dialogue - especially his socially "inept" Milton Ramos - Price brings him and Billy to life by allowing us to hear them as we travel vicariously through their world - sardonic dialogue which builds to a very exciting ending. I cannot wait to read CLOCKERS next. THE WHITES is a great summer read and a very notable read if the reader likes police drama with a more in-depth and humanizing peek at what makes the human officer and the human "perps" tick - which I assume will be the basis for CLOCKERS. Fast and exciting read that this reader recommends.

Originally, Richard Price planned on releasing The Whites under the pen name "Harry Brandt," saying that he wanted to separate the novel's more commercial, plot-driven aspects from his usual writing. It's a decision he didn't stick with, obviously, and has made numerous jokes about, remarking in one interview that he realized that the novel would be just "another damn book by me" too late into the process. All of which is to say, it's not surprising that The Whites feels like an uneasy union between a traditional hard-boiled police procedural and Price's more thoughtful, internally driven novels focused on social factors. The hook is pulpy enough - an NYPD detective named Billy Graves starts realizing that numerous "white whales" (hence the title) that have gotten away with horrible crimes on various technicalities keep turning up dead, and starts investigating - and once you mix in the way that another officer begins slowly stalking and terrorizing Graves and his family in payback for a long-ago crime, you've got a pulpy setup for revenge and hard-boiled retribution. But that's not really entirely Price's style, and while The Whites gives us a good mystery to hang onto and some tightly paced thrills, Price keeps turning the novel into something more complex and introspective, making us understand not only the appeal for revenge but turning it into a question that touches on religion, divine purpose, and a lack of justice in the world. And while Price never comes across as pro-vigilante justice, he never forgets the way that grief can impact people and tear apart families, leading to victims not only of the original crimes, but victims of the rippling consequences that spread out from them. And, as if that's not complicated enough, Price realizes that you can't take on the idea of murdered suspects without taking on questions about police brutality, racial profiling, and more, and while The Whites never quite dives into those aspects fully, they undeniably linger around the edges of the novel, informing the debates and shaping characters' reactions to what's going on. With all of that thrown into the mix, as you might imagine, The Whites turns from a pulpy revenge thriller into something far more complex, and that juxtaposition doesn't always entirely work. Price's work often works best when he lets his characters drive the story, keeping the plots simple and allowing internal monologues and psychological complexities be the hook for our story. Here, The Whites sometimes struggles to hold up under the weight of its characters, as though Price really wanted to deliver a nasty noir novel and instead couldn't help but turn it into a character study in which these people's decisions are rendered in all of their complexity and nuance. That all may make for an uneasy marriage of elements, but it also means that The Whites is a rich, engrossing novel, even if its one that feels like its story is holding it back some. (For instance, it's worth noting that the novel's best scene involves an interrogation sequence which has no bearing on either of the main plot threads, and yet whose emotional impact has stuck with me for many days, long after I finished the book.) But maybe that's the best thing about The Whites; what you're expecting is a lurid noir tale, but what you get is something more sophisticated, more nuanced, and more complicated, giving us not archetypes but people, not bloodless murders but awful crimes, not easy motivations but complex reasoning, and not easy answers but instead an awful uncertainty. Maybe that's what makes it a better book than you'd expect it to be.

I was very disappointed having read the rave review in the Times Book Review and hearing interviews with the author on NPR, etc. This is certainly not a great American novel and it is only a mediocre police procedural/ mystery. I recently read the most recent Parker Jesse Stone novel and I think it superior in every way; excellent characterizations and writing and gripping to the very end. Though comparisons are odious...I can't but help to compare these similiar works.

The book is very well written. The prose is rich and engaging. It is also morally ambiguous, which is something I can usually appreciate. Here it left me feeling disappointed. The book would, no doubt, have been a dressed-up cheap dime store paperback had the main character taken a more conventional high road, but the author misses some opportunities to solidify his position. The fact that he failed to do so suggests that he either hopes the book reviews will do that for him or he tacitly endorses an indefensible position. For me, the most compelling theme of the novel is the phenomena of being a victim. Victim status is a coveted position in modern America, both in popular culture and the courtroom. The need to be a victim, and the need to advocate for the victim, can dehumanize the actor -the subject of the prosecution- and the victim. The desire for revenge, closure, and belonging are all heavily explored in the novel, some instances of this phenomenon more skillfully sketched out than others. When figures close to the main character begin to exhibit these symptoms, we can watch his sympathies rise and fall predictably with the changing context. By the end, however, Billy loses his center, consumed and eaten away just as decisively as those objectively in the wrong. The plot poses a seemingly valuable ambiguity: who carries the right to be a victim and what authority or power does that status rightfully confer? For the seeming majority of Americans in this country, the question is well worth asking. Given the present state of popular opinion, I simply wish the novel took a position rather than leaving the main character utterly in my contempt. I highly recommend the book, assuming as I must that we are called upon to skeptically challenge the character's conclusions.

After what seemed like a slow start, this book rockets to a smash ending that almost knocks you down. The slow start, though, is a building of Richard Price's wonderful characters, so that when you get to the end, the payoff is extraordinary because of how well you know them. Slow here does not translate as boring by any means. If you're used to the normal thriller, the slam-bang opening, the action that is clearly more important than the characters, this book may feel daunting at first. Billy, the main protagonist, is one of the good guys. Here is a great study in how to make the good-guys as interesting as the bad guys. There is moral conflict abounding, something that in many of our novels today is missing and reducing them to new levels of mediocrity. I don't think Richard Price is physically, mentally or morally capable of short-shrifting his readers that way. His action is always another level of understanding his characters, their motivations, the way they love, the way they hate, they way they work, what they are morally capable or incapable of doing. Richard Price's work as a novelist has been outstanding from the beginning. He is a voice that will be heard generations down the line; no one gives a better portrait of life in these United States at this time than Mr. Price. His books are lessons is sociology, psychology and a few more disciplines, delivered with style, punch and memorable metaphors. His language is street, tough, yet poetic, pushing at the boundaries that confine language. No plot details from me; I leave that to other reviewers. The plot is quite wonderful, but read Richard Price for it all. He is a truly great American novelist, and he has written not just one Great American Novel but several. READ HIM.

Nobody writes cops like Richard Price. The police patter, as he writes it, is just the best. Not sure where I'd place 'Whites' against other earlier of his books. Loved 'Clockers' "Lush Life', 'Samaritan' and 'Freedomland'. I thought 'Whites' was somehow a little more confusing. I found myself having to go back and re-read sections to pick up things I missed on first reading, something I never do. Between his former 'Wild Geese' partners and their respective cases and criminals (the 'whites'), together with the alternating story line/chapters, it was too many little threads for me to keep straight Didn't really mind the re-reading (and I got the best use ever of the Kindle search feature) but it was different. Book really picked up steam in last third, as the alternating story lines became one. Great ending. Enjoyed it a lot and don't want to have to wait another couple of years for another.

Richard Price has written a morally complex and richly detailed novel about the demons we struggle with and the ghosts that lead us to self destruction. A terrific, empathetic and conflicted character study disguised as an urban crime novel, Price delves into various psyches as he tells multiple overlapping stories with a keen eye for narrative and emotional details. "Lush Life" was a big, bold, beautiful novel and this finds a way to top that. No one has an ear attuned to how we talk like Price, but what gets lost in all the discussions of his master ear is the guy is so much more than a literary mechanic. Here, he nods to "Moby Dick" and struggles with how the past somehow always manages to consume, and sometimes, destroy us. For all its humor, and some of this is very,very funny, this is an often dark, despairing book. He clearly understands that sometimes just making it through to see the sunshine each day is itself a little victory--one we should not take for granted. Sometimes, the very small epiphanies and the little happy endings (no, not those, silly) to minor situations can be life sustaining. It's one of the great novels about New York--if you've lived anywhere in the boroughs or on Long Island you will visualize and practically smell the locales. He's that good. Not sure if this will be made into a movie like some of his other books ("Wanderers," "Clockers," great..."Freedomland," disaster) but it will be very hard to capture not only the grit, but the soul of this masterwork. Have no idea why he used a pen name like Harry Brandt other than to pay homage to someone because this is all Richard Price, one of the best contemporary American novelists.

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.