Former NYPD Det. Gerald Paul "Jeep" Mullane is eight months back on the North Shore of Long Island as Police Chief of his hometown when the body of his boyhood best friend washes up. John Payson "Johnny Careless" Chambliss built a rep as the wastrel son of a rich and powerful man. Through the county executive, Johnny's father pressures the town police and the county police to find out how Johnny died, but also to limit the family's exposure.
Shopping on Independent Bookstore Day, I browsed this year's Edgar Awards nominees and bought Celadon Books' Johnny Careless, the first novel by Kevin Wade, playwright, screenwriter, and a longtime producer on CBS's Blue Bloods.
Not a Blue Bloods fan, didn't know going in the protagonist and I had the same name, and I'm wary of movels set where I live. Carl Hiaasen's blurb likening the novel to "Robert Parker in his full stride" sold me.
Indeed the book is a concise 240 pages, but Wade details the collision of Jeep's current casework and memories of Johnny with skill and evocation, compelling me not to binge-read but pause after each chapter, let it sink in.
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| Jacket design: Henry Sene Yee |
Not a Blue Bloods fan, didn't know going in the protagonist and I had the same name, and I'm wary of movels set where I live. Carl Hiaasen's blurb likening the novel to "Robert Parker in his full stride" sold me.
Indeed the book is a concise 240 pages, but Wade details the collision of Jeep's current casework and memories of Johnny with skill and evocation, compelling me not to binge-read but pause after each chapter, let it sink in.
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