She Treads Softly: Johnny Careless

Tuesday, January 7, 2025

Johnny Careless

Johnny Careless by Kevin Wade
1/28/25: 240 pages
Celadon Books

Johnny Careless by Kevin Wade is a highly recommended procedural and the debut novel of a veteran screen writer and showrunner for Blue Bloods.

Police Chief Jeep Mullane has returned to head up the small police department in his hometown on Long Island’s North Shore after working at the NYPD, as his father did. Jeep is used to being the blue collar guy among the wealthy. His best friend growing up was Johnny Chambliss, nicknamed Johnny Careless, son of the elite Chambliss family. When a body washes up on a beach in Bayville, Jeep can immediately identify him from the tattoo on his ankle. Jeep has a matching tattoo so he knows it is his friend Johnny.

Mourning the loss of his friend, Jeep is also questioning what happened to Johnny and, since he can't investigate the death, undertakes his own investigation into Johnny's death. Jeep knows many of his friends secrets and the corruption among the wealthy elite and eventually has a colleague give him clues to follow. At the same time he is under pressure from the local mayors to break up an organized gang who are target stealing expensive cars in the area.

The well-written narrative moves between the present day action to flashbacks from Jeep's past following incidents, many involving Johnny, that are spaced about a year apart, leading up the the present. This develops both the characters of Jeep and Johnny, while showcasing their friendship and how it changed over the years. Since Jeep knew Johnny's family, he is privy to inside information and has insight into their characters too.

As the even-paced plot unfolds, there is a lot of political and societal expectations heaped upon Jeep's shoulders. This is an intricate mystery that has many moving parts that don't all connect as expected, but it does reach a satisfying conclusion. Johnny Careless is a police drama that is a quick read and compelling throughout.

Thanks to Celadon Books for providing me with an advance reader's copy via NetGalley. My review is voluntary and expresses my honest opinion.

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John Updike's six rules for reviewing:

1. Try to understand what the author wished to do, and do not blame him for not achieving what he did not attempt.

2. Give him enough direct quotation--at least one extended passage--of the book's prose so the review's reader can form his own impression, can get his own taste.

3. Confirm your description of the book with quotation from the book, if only phrase-long, rather than proceeding by fuzzy precis.

4. Go easy on plot summary, and do not give away the ending.

5. If the book is judged deficient, cite a successful example along the same lines, from the author's oeuvre or elsewhere. Try to understand the failure. Sure it's his and not yours?

To these concrete five might be added a vaguer sixth, having to do with maintaining a chemical purity in the reaction between product and appraiser.....Review the book, not the reputation.... Better to praise and share than blame and ban. The communion between reviewer and his public is based upon the presumption of certain possible joys in reading, and all our discriminations should curve toward that end.