The Heartless

by David Putnam

Overview

Perfect for fans of Robert Crais and John Sandford

Former LA County Deputy Bruno Johnson is now a bailiff in the courts having stepped down from his role on the Violent Crimes Team to spend more time with his daughter, Olivia. Bruno fears his job decision may have come too late when he gets a frantic call to extricate Olivia from a gunpoint situation in a LA gang-infested neighborhood. His desperation escalates when he realizes Louis Barkow, a stone-cold killer awaiting trial, had orchestrated that deadly tableau. When Barkow and three other criminals break out of jail and hit the streets, Bruno is plunged back into violent crime mode. Now, the agenda is personal—Olivia has become a pawn in the desperate chase of this sinister murderer. The walls are caving in on Bruno as violence escalates in his hunt for Barkow and his heart strings are stretched to the breaking point as he struggles to protect his daughter not only from the criminal violence swirling around them, but from Olivia’s own impetuous life choices.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781608093786
Publisher:	Oceanview Publishing
Publication date:	02/04/2020
Series:	A Bruno Johnson Thriller Series , #7
Edition description:	None
Pages:	368
Product dimensions:	6.25(w) x 9.25(h) x (d)

About the Author

Best-selling author David Putnam comes from a family of law enforcement and always wanted to be a cop. During his career, he did it all: worked in narcotics, served on FBI-sponsored violent crimes teams, and was cross-sworn as a US Marshal, pursuing murder suspects and bank robbers in Arizona, Nevada, and California. Putnam did two tours on the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s SWAT team. He also has experience in criminal intelligence and internal affairs and has supervised corrections, patrol, and a detective bureau. In Hawaii, Putnam was a member of the real-life Hawaii Five-0, serving as Special Agent for the Attorney General investigating smuggling and white-collar crimes. The Heartless is the seventh in the Bruno Johnson series and the third of the “young” Bruno prequels. Putnam lives in Los Angeles with his wife, Mary.

Editorial Reviews

“With its incredible action, great characters, and engrossing, timeless story, [The Heartless is] a fast-moving page turner that sizzles toward its fulfilling end.” —Foreword Reviews


“[The Heartless is a] cop-novel story of kidnapping and murder, told with Putnam's usual high energy and a knack for description that makes words bloom on the page.” —Booklist

“David Putnam's The Heartless is full of suspense, sharp dialogue, and a father's desperate love for his daughter. There's also a great plot line. Welcome back, David Putnam. I look forward to Bruno's next escapade.” —BookLoons

“Putnam’s action-packed seventh Bruno Johnson mystery [The Heartless] hits the ground running. Those who like straightforward crime novels in which the good guys prevail and the bad guys get what’s coming to them will be satisfied. —Publishers Weekly

From the Publisher

2019-11-10
An ex-cop struggles to raise his rebellious teen daughter but knows no limits when it comes to protecting her.

Former LA County deputy Bruno Johnson (The Reckless, 2019, etc.), now working as a bailiff, gets a distressed call from his 15-year-old daughter, Olivia, during the murder trial of psycho killer Louis Borkow. A frightened Olivia reports that she and her boyfriend, Derek Sams, are in a house with a bunch of armed people—she's not sure exactly where—and they're threatening to kill Derek. After Bruno rescues her, she reverts to rebelliousness and passionately defends Derek. Bruno's girlfriend, deputy district attorney Nicky Rivers, tries to warn him against taking too harsh an approach with his daughter. Meanwhile, Borkow, bent on revenge against his own lawyer, Gloria Bleeker, engineers a daring prison escape, with henchwoman Lizzette adding muscle. Once Olivia's safely home, Bruno tracks down Derek, grabs him and puts him on a bus home, hoping his father will drive some sense into the boy. Then Bruno's called abruptly to the courthouse, where Judge Connors plays a tape in which Borkow agrees to kidnap Olivia in payment of a substantial debt to "dem boys on Pearl." One of his flunkies comes to warn Borkow that unstoppable Bruno is after him, but the escaped con is unimpressed. Olivia, meanwhile, has taken refuge with Nicky, who manages to negotiate a temporary peace between the remorseful father and his daughter. Olivia tearfully adds that Derek is missing; can Bruno find him? The news of Gloria's murder just adds one more item to Bruno's to-do list.

Blunt and compelling, Putnam's seventh franchise installment makes up in pace and punch what it lacks in finesse.

Kirkus Reviews

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