Cool Machine by Colson Whitehead review – final part of the Harlem Trilogy is freewheeling fun

The grit and grandeur of 80s New York drive this rollicking story of an underground wheeler-dealer In the summer of 1977 a bolt of lightning struck a substation on the Hudson River, knocking out power across New York City. Two nights of darkness sparked a wave of looting as Harlem and Bronx teenagers swiped high-end items from the downtown stores. They took speaker systems and turntables to experiment with at home. They taught themselves how to scratch and mix, and sang self-styled scat lyric...

By Xan Brooks