In 1960s Harlem, Ray Carney has a reputation as an upstanding used furniture salesman. Although Carney strives to live up to what he knows he can be, times aren't like they used to be, and he occasionally supplements his income with a side gig fencing items for the underworld of Harlem. When Carney's cousin ropes him into being the fence for a heist gone wrong, Carney finds himself caught up with shady cops and local gangsters.

Whitehead is a gorgeous writer with a powerful command of visuals, but I have to admit, I struggled to get into his newest novel. The beginning moved so slowly I was tempted to quit, and just as it picked up (a heist, a murder!), the section ended and the story jumped 2 years ahead. However, I'm so glad I stuck with it, because halfway through, I finally connected with Ray's struggle to straddle moral and ethical lines as he deals with the good, the bad, and the ugly parts of 1960s Harlem.