They say good things come in threes.

And a lot of people suspect author Colson Whitehead may become the first person this century to win three Pulitzer Prize awards in fiction.

Only three other novelists, William Faulkner, John Updike and Booth Tarkington, have won two Pulitzers for fiction.

Whitehead was recognized for "The Underground Railroad" and "The Nickel Boys." Both books use prose to draw attention and insight to systemic racism in America.

| RELATED | Colson Whitehead talks about his new book 'Harlem Shuffle'

But Whitehead's latest novel, "Harlem Shuffle," his eighth, takes a detour and tells the story of Ray Carney, a lovable crook in 1960s Harlem.

• Why "Harlem Shuffle" is such a diversion from Colson's previous two novels