The Whites

Still carrying the baggage of a fatal mistake made two decades ago, NYPD Sgt. Billy Graves finds the night shift’s tension suddenly amplified by two revelations. One involves the murders of several “whites” (criminals who remain as elusive as Melville’s infamous white whale). The other concerns a mystery man who is stalking members of Billy’s family. Price, an expert at creating humane characters in situations that challenge their humanity, shifts the focus to a mystery man, the depressed Milton Ramos, also a city cop, who seems to be courting suicide from the moment he’s introduced. With effortlessness, reader Fliakos creates an assortment of New Yahk and New Yawk accents and attitudes for the book’s cops and robbers. But his skill shines brightest at mirroring the increasing desperation in Billy’s voice and the flat, affectless sound of Ramos’s speech. A Henry Holt hardcover. (Feb.)