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.

The Train from Platform 2

The Train from Platform 2 by Stephanie Steel
1/17/25; 320 pages
HarperCollins

The Train from Platform 2 by Stephanie Steel is a highly recommended locked-room mystery set in London on an incapacitated underground tube train.

Former Detective Inspector Jessica (Jess) Hirsch is stuck on the London Underground train after the power goes out along with the lights leaving the train incapacitated and in darkness. Jess takes charge and goes to see what is happening with the driver. It is then she finds him dead, stabbed, and the wires cut in the cabin. The car behind them is empty of passengers, so Jess knows that one of the people she's with in their car is a killer and her investigative experience kicks in. Stuck with her are teenagers Chloe and Liam, tough Carling drinker Scott, exhausted business man Saul, anxious red-head Amelia , uni-student protestor Isa, and American influencer Jenna.

This is a classic, deliberate locked-room mystery with a small cast of characters and almost everyone of them is a suspect to some degree or another right up to the end. Don't expect a fast-paced thriller, but do expect the tension to rise gradually as they all know one of them is a killer. When the emergency lights go out and they are relying on cell phone lights, for those who still have power, the atmosphere closes in and becomes more claustrophobic.

Jess is a great character and her investigative instincts are strong. As Jess questions her fellow passengers, she can tell that several are lying or holding something back. The narrative unfolds through the point-of-view of all the characters, with the exception of Liam.

The Train from Platform 2 is a well-plotted, well executed locked room mystery. Thanks to HarperCollins for providing me with an advance reader's copy via NetGalley. My review is voluntary and expresses my honest opinion.

Tartufo

Tartufo by Kira Jane Buxton
1/28/25; 352 pages
Grand Central Publishing

Tartufo by Kira Jane Buxton is a recommended farcical tale tale, highly for the right reader, involving a giant truffle. The rural Tuscan village of Lazzarini Boscarin is in decline when local truffle hunter Giovanni Scarpazza finds a giant truffle, un tartufo. The worth of truffle has the power to change the course of the village by both helping the citizens and revive interest in visiting it. A large cast of colorful characters from the village come to life in this over-the-top humorous novel.

It is helpful that the cast of characters are listed at the beginning of the narrative so readers can follow who everyone is and all the connections between them. Honestly, there are almost too many characters, all of the quirky but not all of them play an essential role in the novel. Some of this unrestrained writing style is also found in the excessive descriptive passages. At first I appreciated it, until it began to grate and got in the way of actually telling the story and slowed the pace and my appreciation of the novel down.

There is an interesting story woven in all the excesses, which made it an average okay novel for me. Perhaps those who like the author's writing style will appreciate Tartufo more. Thanks to Grand Central Publishing for providing me with an advance reader's copy via NetGalley. My review is voluntary and expresses my honest opinion.

Hope

Hope by Andrew Ridker
1/30/25; 433 pages
Duckworth Books/Farrago

Hope by Andrew Ridker is a recommended literary domestic drama.

"The year is 2013 and the Greenspans are the envy of Brookline, Massachusetts..." Scott Greenspan is a cardiologist overseeing a clinical trial and is caught falsifying data which starts the exposure of a series of scandals. His wife Deb works as a volunteer who helps resettle refugees. She also asked Scott for an open marriage so she can also be with her girlfriend. Their daughter Maya works in NYC for a publishing house and makes a series of bad choices. Their son Gideon, who wanted to be a doctor, drops out of college after his father's scandal and undertakes a dangerous journey.

The narrative is told through four different sections, each one focused on the point-of-view of one of the characters. The first is husband and father, Scott, second is daughter Maya, third is wife and mother Deb, and fourth and final is son Gideon. The story is told over the course of approximately a year. Each section opens with the time period covered. 

The writing is good and there are some humorous and poignant moments but it also feels like the story has been told before. This is a drama but it is also an in-depth character study. Making this even more challenging was the fact that none of the characters are likable or engaging. Finally, the slow pace covering this family and their interpersonal relationships over a year made reading Hope a bit of a struggle at times. Perhaps some editing and tightening up the story would have helped.

Originally published by Viking in 7/23 this review is for the kindle edition being released on1/30/25. Thanks to Farrago for providing me with an advance reader's copy via NetGalley. My review is voluntary and expresses my honest opinion.

The Mailman

The Mailman by Andrew Welsh-Huggins
1/28/25; 360 pages
Mysterious Press/Penzler Publishers

The Mailman by Andrew Welsh-Huggins is an excellent, action-packed thriller and the first book in an entertaining new series featuring Mercury Carter, a highly-skilled freelance courier.

Mercury (Merc) Carter, a former postal inspection agent, is currently working as a mailman, a one-man delivery service. He takes great care to make sure his deliveries go directly to the intended recipient. When he arrives with a delivery at the Indianapolis home of married couple Rachel and Glenn Stanfield, he comes across a gang of violent criminals there, led by a man called Finn, who are about to torture the couple for information. Due to Merc's training as a federal agent, he is able to incapacitate the two goons sent out to eliminate him.

Finn and gang escape with Rachel as a hostage. Merc, with an injured Glenn in tow, takes off in pursuit of the men, so he can make his delivery to Rachel. Along the way he encounters numerous dangerous situations, which he skillfully handles, while uncovering a much broader conspiracy.

Once I started this well-written, high-octane, action-packed thriller it was quickly un-put-downable. This is a great choice for those who like intricate, fast-paced, intriguing thrillers where the clues followed are like a puzzle that must be solved. It is so satisfying to follow Merc's tenacity as he uncovers new clues and handles the numerous threats along the way.

Merc is an intelligent, determined, perceptive, and resourceful protagonist that never misses a delivery. He is an engaging character whose backstory is told in short segments as the present day action unfolds so readers are introduced to him while seeing his skills in action. Merc is comparable to Lee Child's Jack Reacher.

The Mailman introduces a new series full of action and I look forward to Mercury Carter's next delivery. Thanks to Penzler Publishers for providing me with an advance reader's copy via NetGalley. My review is voluntary and expresses my honest opinion.

The Vanishing Point

The Vanishing Point: Stories by Paul Theroux
1/28/25; 336 pages
HarperCollins

The Vanishing Point: Stories by Paul Theroux is a highly recommended collection of 18 short stories with settings ranging from New England to Hawaii to Africa. As expected, the writing is excellent in the collection. These insightful stories are about men experiencing aging,  reliving memories, longing for fulfillment, and the passing of time.

With any short story collection it is natural for some stories to resonate with various readers more than others. While I found the majority of the stories were compelling and insightful, others were less pertinent for me. It should be noted that the majority of the stories were really written for a male audience and in a few the situations were off-putting for me. This is a good, but uneven collection.

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

Hold Strong

Hold Strong by Robert Dugoni, Jeff Langholz, Chris Crabtree
1/28/25; 555 pages
Lake Union Publishing

Hold Strong by Robert Dugoni, Jeff Langholz, and Chris Crabtree is a very highly recommended, exceptional historical WWII fiction based on real events from the Pacific theater. Hold Strong will certainly be one of the best books of 2025.

Sam Carlson and Sarah Haber are high school sweethearts from a small town in Minnisota. After high school Sam goes off to join the National Guard while Sarah, an excellent student who excels at math, has a scholarship to attend college and plans to be a teacher. Sam's unit suddenly becomes active and become part of the army as a tank unit. After the Japanese bomb of Pearl Harbor, Sam is sent to the Philippines and subsequently captured as a POW. He is one of the few survivors from the Bataan Death March, endures brutal horrors at a POW camp and, as one of 1,800, ends up on the notorious Japanese Hell Ship, the Arisan Maru.

Sarah went on to earn her masters degree and decided to accept an offer to go to Washington, DC, and work on code breaking. Sarah's natural skills allow her to quickly move up the ranks and become one of the few women to work at an secret, classified facility breaking codes from the Japanese.

What makes this an exceptional novel is the absolutely outstanding quality of the writing and the fact that it is based on real historical events. The amount of research that went into this novel is commendable. Included at the end are a comprehensive Afterword, Bibliography and End Notes.

Chapters which follow the atrocities Sam survives contrasts with those following Sarah's work as one of the first WAVES. Both are working for their country, using their abilities the best they can and based on real people. Their devotion for each other is inspiring. However, Sam's storyline is the most impactful and unforgettable because of the sadistic, vicious treatment he and others endured. His survival against insurmountable odds never seemed to be guaranteed.

The cruel, barbaric horrors that the POWs endured at the hands of the Japanese in WWII is fully covered here for those who never learned about the war crimes that occurred in the Pacific theater. The Bataan Death March should be a known fact by everyone. The conditions and treatment of the prisoners at the Japanese POW camps was brutal and inhumane. Over 21,000 POWs were killed on the Japanese hellships.

Hold Strong truly is an epic novel that is based on the most shocking war crimes of World War II. Thanks toLake Union Publishing for providing me with an advance reader's copy via NetGalley. My review is voluntary and expresses my honest opinion.