Harlem Shuffle by Colson Whitehead

I have to admit, while I have only read three previous novels by this author, I find him to be an excellent storyteller who tells compelling stories about black people in America. He is unemotional in rendering extremely difficult situations and making them both real and bearable to hear. This is almost light in comparison to his last two books. Set in the early 1960s, it is an extraordinary story about an ordinary man. Furniture salesman Ray Carney is a good guy who ever so gradually becomes a man gone wrong. He gets sucked into schemes and heists through his cousin Freddie, the proverbial bad influence. The lure of what Freddie's world offers is just too much for Ray to turn his back on. The novel is structured in three parts, covering a period from 1959 to 1964, each climactically peaking with criminal activity. Part one demonstrates how easily a man can step downward into crime. Part two covers Carney’s upward criminal journey, what might even make you think it is not a disaster. Part 3 considers whether a man should step up to help others, what is one's responsibility to the greater social good? This book made me think that I need to go back and read the books that come before it that I have missed.