THE SCORNED

4.5 stars out of 5

It's hard not to love hard-scrapping former LAPD cop Bruno Johnson - even though he's killed way more than his share of bad guys, he's got a heart behind his shoulder holster. For the most part, that heart belongs to his family - at this point, he's got a very pregnant wife, Marie, an aging father who's dying of cancer and at least 10 youngsters of varying ages stashed away in a Costa Rica compound. He'd also go to the mat for his even scrappier buddy, Karl Drago, whose best friend is his uber-loyal dog Waldo.

As his local doctor friend and his wife assist with Marie's difficult birth of their son, the wife pulls Bruno aside to ask his help with bringing their college-age daughter Layla, who's being stalked and claims to be in danger, back from Los Angeles. Problem is, of course, Bruno is a wanted man in the states; if he's caught, it's a pretty sure bet he'll spend the rest of his life behind bars. But he's got a debt to settle with the doctor and his wife, so he agrees - with the doctor's good wife and his mostly estranged, con artist mother Bea - who has turned up in Costa Rica but wants to return to the good old US of A.

At this point, I'm quite sure I'd have told both women to buzz off and let me alone, but Bruno, being Bruno, agrees to their demands and off they go (with a promise to a groggy Marie that he'd be back in a couple of days). Once they get on U.S. soil, however, the entire dynamic changes; both mom and the doctor's wife disappear, and Bruno finds out that, among other things, Layla's mother came along so she could bring money to pay kidnappers for her daughter's return. When that plan falls apart - big surprise, the kidnappers want more - Bruno knows he needs to find Layla himself and calls Drago for help. That plan is fraught with danger as well, but they do find Layla alive and telling quite a different story; it's not a stalker she has, but a baby - and the notorious criminal baby daddy doesn't want to give him up.

And it is at that point that I must respectfully bow out; giving out more details would spoil the story for other readers. Suffice it to say that, as is the case with the other books in this very enjoyable series, bodies and body parts dot the landscape like fireflies in the early summer night sky. Almost no one save Bruno and Drago seems to tell the truth, so twists and surprises keep readers turning pages not only to find out who survived the latest go-round, but which, if any, can be counted on in a pinch (or sting).

As I alluded to earlier, it's hard for me to understand how Bruno can so easily rationalize away and even forgive the bad behavior of other people - once burned, twice shy and thrice gone from my life tends to be my motto. Still, the whole thing makes for a great, edge-of-your-seat story - and I've gotta love a pooch who can turn the nastiest of the nasties into slobbering globs of jelly almost with a glance in their direction. Many thanks to the publisher, via NetGalley, for giving me the opportunity to read and review a pre-release copy of another of these gems!

The Scorned by David Putnam (Oceanview, February 2023); 353 pp.