The Reckless

December 1, 2018
Joseph Wambaugh has observed that well-done police work is the fun part of being a cop. If so, the cops in this sixth novel in Putnam's fiery Bruno Johnson series are having the time of their lives for at least the first two-thirds of the novel. Deputy Johnson and his colleagues in the L.A. County Sheriff's office are flattered when the FBI asks them to apprehend a couple of elusive criminals. Soon they realize they're being played. When they fail, they, and not the feds, will be tagged as losers. After not failing, they get on with the real meat of the case: finding the scumbag who is arming teenage gangs and sending them to rob banks. Since the kids are "juvies," if they're caught, they won't be put away for long. The procedural generates considerable heat, told in Putnam's effectively plainspoken style?Wambaugh without grace notes. Like the earlier novels in the series, it boils with a yearning for vengeance. "Curbside justice," Bruno calls it, a "blood-filled intent" to take the "animals" out "without due process." Readers may or may not feel badly about enjoying it.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)