About the Book
Best-selling author of the Bruno Johnson Crime Series
“Bruno Johnson believes so passionately in justice that he’ll lie, cheat, and steal to achieve it—and he’ll pulverize anybody who gets in his way” —Booklist
Former cop and ex-con Bruno Johnson and his wife Marie, living in their safe haven in Costa Rica with the children they illegally rescued from certain death, find a message from their outlaw motorcycle gang enemies—written on the back of one of their beloved children.
The motorcycle gang, Sons of Satan, out for revenge, will stop at nothing to lure the now furious Bruno back into their web. Bruno and Marie, forced to return to Southern California, battle additional demons in the form of an ex-spouse's entanglements.
The FBI, watching the Sons of Satan, recognizes Bruno's unique skills and ties. They recruit him to recover a stolen military drone armed with Hellfire missiles, while Bruno struggles to keep pregnant Marie out of the crossfire. Ultimately, Bruno's inability to ignore a woman in peril yields unspeakable consequences.
Perfect for fans of David Baldacci and Robert Crais
While all of the novels in the Bruno Johnson Crime Series stand on their own and can be read in any order, the publication sequence is:
The Disposables
The Replacements
The Squandered
The Vanquished
The Innocents
The Reckless
The Heartless
The Ruthless (coming February 2021)
The Sinister (coming February 2022)
About the Author :
During his career in law enforcement, David Putnam has done it all: worked in narcotics, violent crimes, criminal intelligence, hostage rescue, SWAT, and internal affairs, to name just a few. He is the recipient of many awards and commendations for heroism. The Squandered is his third Bruno Johnson novel, following the best-selling and critically acclaimed The Disposables and The Replacements. Putnam lives in Southern California with his wife, Mary.
Review :
"Bad Boy Bruno Johnson comes out of hiding to battle a vicious biker gang that threatens his family. Bring an oxygen tank with you when you read The Vanquished because you'll be holding your breath the whole time. Unrelenting action with more twists than a sidewinder trail. A lightning read!" Matt Coyle , Author of the Anthony Award-winning Rick Cahill crime series
"Dave Putnam is the real deal. He gives us an insiders view of what it's like to be a copthe grit, the intense camaraderie, the futile nature of the joband most important, what one good and selfless soul can accomplish. He even managed to make me miss ratty old Dodge Diplomat patrol car. THE VANQUISHED takes you on to the mean streets so you feel like you're there with Bruno, fighting and grieving alongside him. The most real cop books I've read in ages. Good old authentic storytelling from someone who's been there and done that." Marc Cameron , New York Times best-selling author of the Jericho Quinn series
"Bruno Johnson believes so passionately in justice that he'll lie, cheat, and steal to achieve itand he'll pulverize anybody who gets in his way. Putnam's fourth outing for his rumbustious hero finds Johnson and his wife, Marie, in Costa Rica, where they care for children he's rescuedwell, kidnappedfrom abusive families. Before the law catches him, he's summoned to Los Angeles for unfinished business with a biker gang. The beauty of these novels is the textured, visceral prose. One can smell the hot gun metal, feel the whiskey's bite, taste the beer at the end of a dusty day. Notice the reporting Putnam has brought along from his lawman days. Crooks destroy street signs so cops can't give locations when calling for back-up. And the vivid writing: "Fatigue hung in my bones like some incurable disease." Readers who find the plot overwrought can still glory in the astute observations and the wonderfully alive writing." Booklist
"In Putnam's action-packed fourth Bruno Johnson novel (after 2016's The Squandered ), the ex-cop must once again leave his home in Costa Rica and return to Los Angeles, where the members of the Sons of Satan, an outlaw motorcycle gang with whom he tangled previously, are making trouble. Flashbacks to 1988 chart the story of Johnson's partnership and affair with police trainee Sonja Kowalski and that affair's tragic end. Back in the present, Bruno receives an unexpected phone call from Sonja. Bruno's feisty, pregnant wife, Marie, accompanies Bruno to L.A., where Bruno reconnects with Karl Drago (who two decades earlier helped him take down the Sons of Satan), Sonja, and eventually FBI special agent Dan Chulack, who needs his assistance in a case involving the theft of a military drone and four Hellfire missiles. Putnam combines some surprising facets of Bruno's past with some startling betrayals and plenty of violence." Publishers Weekly
"...exciting scenes, plus plenty of blood and gore." BookLoons
"...the perfect action thriller" ArtisticBent.org
"a page-turner, jammed with threat and danger." Kingdom Books
"The best-selling author has put a 31-year law enforcement career to good use in his bad boy cop hero, and this latest installment is as thrilling as the previous three, The Disposables , The Replacements and The Squandered ." In Search of Ada
Praise for the Bruno Johnson Crime Series "I really loved The Disposables . It's raw, powerful, and eloquent. It's a gritty street poem recited by a voice unalterably committed to redemption and doing the right thing in a wrong world. I'll be first in line for the next one from David Putnam." Michael Connelly, New York Times best-selling author
"Dark, disturbing, and all too believable, this is the tale of one man's quest for atonement in a world where innocence is a liability." T. Jefferson Parker, New York Times best-selling author
"Reading a novel by David Putnam is almost as good as riding shotgun in a patrol car. He writes what he knows and what he knows is that justice on the mean streets isn't always black and white." Robin Burcell, New York Times best-selling author
"Putnam is a master of the gritty realism of law and order at street level. I guarantee that The Ruthless will grab you by the throat, shove you against the wall, and won't release you until the final, satisfying page." William Kent Krueger, New York Times best-selling author
"Terrifica smart, well-written, relentless account of a battle against evil, fought by a protagonist who has a real man's flaws, but also shows us the kind of heroism that's real." Thomas Perry, New York Times best-selling author
"David Putnam knows the mean streets and the characters who inhabit them better than anyone writing crime fiction." Alan Russell, New York Times best-selling author
"Bruno Johnson believes so passionately in justice that he'll lie, cheat, and steal to achieve it -- and he will pulverise anybody who gets in his way" -- Booklist
