Harlem Shuffle: from the author of The Underground Railroad

　　普立茲獎二次得主科爾森‧懷特黑德，帶你一覽紐約哈林區最黑暗底層的故事
重新雕塑關於種族、權力，以及人性道德間的灰色地帶
 
　　作為顧客和鄰居眼裡125號街上最厲害的推銷員，Ray Carney總是很盡心盡力地促銷這些二手傢俱和家電，努力靠自己的力量，給予家人舒適的生活，好好準備迎接第二個孩子的誕生。身為一個流氓孩子，不甚愉快的童年回憶，促使他的成長過程總是獨立自主，得到大部分人的肯定，但就是得不到岳父的歡心，尤其在被岳父發現自己的女兒和外孫，竟然必須住在每天被地鐵通勤聲不堪其擾的小公寓後。
 
　　身為拼命三郎的Ray，仍無法完全斬斷來自原生家庭的那些黑暗，這些就像是長在他生命中的裂痕，而裂痕只會逐漸擴大。Ray為了事業能夠向上發展，過度投資卻讓手頭現金吃緊，為此，他決定對表弟Freddie老是丟給他的那些戒指項鍊珠寶什麼的來歷睜一隻眼閉一隻眼，同時也不經意地將這些貨轉賣給市中心同樣閉口不追問的珠寶商。陷入犯罪污泥的腳，從此便很難拔起，尤其在那件事過後。
 
　　Freddie竟加入了一個欲搶劫號稱哈林區最豪華象徵－特瑞莎飯店的犯罪集團，並自顧自地把Ray扯進來做掩護，然而搶劫案未能按照計畫成功進行。自此，Ray的人生一分為二，光明與黑暗。他在黑暗中行走，卻意外發現掌控哈林區背後的那隻手。在1960年代，犯罪遍地橫行的紐約哈林區，Ray是否能夠全身而退，保衛自己的性命同時拯救出表弟，重回陽光底下的正常生活呢？

　　(文∕博客來外文館)

　　FROM THE AUTHOR OF THE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD (Now a major Amazon Prime TV show)

　　'Ray Carney was only slightly bent when it came to being crooked...'

　　To his customers and neighbors on 125th street, Carney is an upstanding salesman of reasonably-priced furniture, making a life for himself and his family. He and his wife Elizabeth are expecting their second child, and if her parents on Striver's Row don't approve of him or their cramped apartment across from the subway tracks, it's still home.

　　Few people know he descends from a line of uptown hoods and crooks, and that his façade of normalcy has more than a few cracks in it. Cracks that are getting bigger and bigger all the time.

　　See, cash is tight, especially with all those instalment plan sofas, so if his cousin Freddie occasionally drops off the odd ring or necklace at the furniture store, Ray doesn't see the need to ask where it comes from. He knows a discreet jeweller downtown who also doesn't ask questions.

　　Then Freddie falls in with a crew who plan to rob the Hotel Theresa - the 'Waldorf of Harlem' - and volunteers Ray's services as the fence. The heist doesn't go as planned; they rarely do, after all. Now Ray has to cater to a new clientele, one made up of shady cops on the take, vicious minions of the local crime lord, and numerous other Harlem lowlifes.

　　Thus begins the internal tussle between Ray the striver and Ray the crook. As Ray navigates this double life, he starts to see the truth about who actually pulls the strings in Harlem. Can Ray avoid getting killed, save his cousin, and grab his share of the big score, all while maintaining his reputation as the go-to source for all your quality home furniture needs?

　　Harlem Shuffle is driven by an ingeniously intricate plot that plays out in a beautifully recreated Harlem of the early 1960s. It's a family saga masquerading as a crime novel, a hilarious morality play, a social novel about race and power, and ultimately a love letter to Harlem.

科爾森‧懷特黑德  Colson Whitehead

　　1969年11月6日生於紐約，在上東區長大，童年時期就立志成為作家。曾就讀紐約三一學校，畢業於哈佛大學。大學畢業後為美國老牌雜誌《村聲》撰寫專欄。他曾任教於普林斯頓大學、紐約大學、哥倫比亞大學等名校，也曾擔任瓦薩學院、懷俄明州大學駐校作家。他是《紐約時報雜誌》的專欄作家，獲得過麥克阿瑟天才獎、古根海姆獎及懷丁作家獎。

　　他寫過六部小說，兩部非虛構作品。1999年發表處女作《直覺主義者》(The Intuitionist)即引起廣泛關注，進入筆會／海明威獎的決選名單；第二部長篇小說《約翰‧亨利日》（John Henry Days）進入普利茲獎決選名單，約翰‧厄普代克在《紐約客》上專文盛讚——「揮灑自如的天才作家」；2003年的散文集《紐約巨像》（The Colossus of New York），被譽為「9‧11」後最好的紐約故事。

　　科爾森‧懷特黑德創作題材廣泛，風格各異，被《哈佛雜誌》稱為「文學變色龍」。

　　2016年8月，科爾森‧懷特黑德構思長達16年的長篇小說《地下鐵道》出版，入選歐普拉讀書俱樂部推薦書目，被歐巴馬列入夏季書單，11月獲得美國國家圖書獎，自此「地下鐵道旋風」席捲全美，作品進入年底全部選書榜單。科爾森‧懷特黑德被媒體譽為「美國在世作家中最出類拔萃的一位」。