A faultless ending to a superb trilogy; Whitehead’s glorious flowing style paints a vivid picture of 1980’s Harlem to bring Ray Carney’s story to a close. It’s sharp, funny, heartfelt and immersive - a literary thriller of the highest calibre. Churn, baby, churn!

Many thanks to the publishers for an advance proof copy of Colson Whitehead’s final volume in his Harlem trilogy. All three books form an immensely enjoyable love letter to Harlem and its residents, and to New York in general, centered around Ray Carney, an only slightly bent furniture salesman and dealer in stolen goods. The first two volumes take place in the 1950s-‘60s, and in the 1970s, while Cool Machine moves us into the 1980s. It’s in three parts: 1981, 1983 and 1986. In 1981 Ray inadvertently comes to the attention of legendary Harlem crime figure Uncle Rich, long thought missing and presumed dead, but who is back and is putting together a crew for a series of high stakes jobs. Ray has a sudden need for some extra cash so decides to no longer be a bystander and joins Uncle Rich for a brilliantly realised heist, culminating in the theft of a legendary piece of sporting memorabilia. In 1983 Ray’s wife Elizabeth now owns a successful independent travel agency, and she hires Ray’s old friend Pepper as a bodyguard for a client who is in town to buy a rare African artefact. The sale, at an art gallery in the East Village in Manhattan, goes wrong and Pepper comes up against a brutal hit-man. Pepper is, by now, old, tired and ill, prone to blackouts and vomiting up blood, and keeps swigging Pepto-Bismol to hold the acid at bay, but he is still a formidable presence. In 1986 Ray and Elizabeth are having dinner at the top of the World Trade Center, and the most poignant line in the series appears at the end of the first paragraph in this section. They are enjoying their dinner, and the views across the city, and although it was Ray’s first time at the restaurant he had been in no rush to get there. After all… “It wasn’t going anywhere.” Later that night Ray is visited by the ghost of his long-dead cousin Freddie and learns the next morning that Freddie’s son Robert is missing. With a nod to Dickens Ray has visitations from past, present and future Freddies while trying to find and save Robert, who is on the run from downtown gangsters. Pepper has recovered from his ill health of a few years before, and has had proper medical care, so is also on the case. Ray risks everything for Robert, and the final showdown is nerve-shredding. Colson Whitehead’s prose is wonderful throughout all three volumes of the trilogy, with lashings of humour, grit, and violence, but most of all with lashings of love. Love for family most of all, but also love for the city, and for good furniture.