Publication Date: January 28, 2025
“A fast-moving classic crime novel” (John Sandford) crafted by the veteran screenwriter and showrunner for the acclaimed police procedural series Blue Bloods, Johnny Careless is Kevin Wade’s razor-sharp debut novel.
Police Chief Jeep Mullane has been bounced back home to Long Island’s North Shore by a heartbreaking case that both earned him his NYPD detective’s shield and burned him out of the Job. Now heading up a small local police department, he finds himself navigating the same geography he did growing up there as the son of an NYPD cop. Jeep is a “have-not” among the glittering “haves,” a sharp-witted, down-to-earth man in a territory defined and ruled by multigenerational wealth and power and the daunting tribal codes and customs that come with it.
When the corpse of Jeep’s childhood friend Johnny Chambliss—born into privilege and known as “Johnny Careless” for his reckless, golden-boy antics—surfaces in the Bayville waters, past collides with present, and Jeep is pulled into a treacherous web. He is challenged by Johnny’s wealthy and secretive family and his beautiful, enigmatic ex-wife as he untangles a knotted mystery fraught with theft, corrupt local moguls, and decades-old secrets, all while grappling with his own deep-seated grief for his lost pal.
As a veteran screenwriter for Blue Bloods, Kevin Wade plays a significant role in bringing the story alive.
With his debut novel, Johnny Careless, he demonstrates that those skills are transferable via print. The author’s writing ability goes well beyond what would be expected of someone new to the publishing world.
The storyline is set up with Police Chief Jeep Mullane as the primary lead character. When a body washes up on the beach, Mullane knows who it is. With the primary storyline unfolding in the present, it alternates with a trip into the past from Mullane’s first-person perspective.
With the victim turning out to be from a powerful, wealthy family, the political pressure heats up, in addition to the typical jurisdictional disputes. Add in a high-end car theft ring for an extra twist.
The storyline fires on all cylinders. The characters are multi-dimensional, which allows readers to understand their motivations. The action is off the charts, with precise plotting and sufficient details. Yet, it may be the dialog that pushes the story into the exceptional category.
Johnny Careless tells an impactful story about a police chief, the death of his childhood friend, and a web of secrets just waiting to be unraveled.
Kevin Wade is a playwright, screenwriter, and television writer and producer whose credits include the stage plays Key Exchange, Mr. & Mrs., and Cruise Control, and the screenplays for Working Girl (seven Academy Award nominations), True Colors, Mr. Baseball, Junior, Meet Joe Black, and Maid in Manhattan. For television, he created the ABC television drama Cashmere Mafia and in 2010 joined the rookie CBS drama Blue Bloods as a writer. Starting with the second season and for the rest of the show’s fourteen year-run, Wade served as its showrunner, executive producer, and back-seat driver.
