The Squandered
A Bruno Johnson Novel
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4.4 • 7 Ratings
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- $5.99
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- $5.99
Publisher Description
Best-selling author of the Bruno Johnson Crime Series
Can Bruno ignore his inmate brother's plea? Not if children are at risk.
The Squandered propels Bruno into an emotionally charged high-speed chase as he and Marie leave their rescued kids in Costa Rica and risk returning to the U.S. at the request of Bruno's terminally ill father. Bruno's estranged and incarcerated brother needs Bruno to help rescue his abducted young grandchildren—children that Bruno didn't know existed.
Bruno cannot deny his father, and Marie will not let Bruno go alone. As fugitives, they return to the U.S. to face not only imminent arrest, but also to confront ruthless kidnappers, drug dealers, and government agents who will stop at nothing to keep a secret from the past buried forever.
Glimpses of Bruno's law enforcement past shed light on the mayhem they encounter once they are discovered in L.A. It seems that Bruno's brother, Noble, has inadvertently kicked a hornet's nest of criminals, both in and out of prison, and among various law enforcement agencies looking to find a long missing load of nine million dollars' worth of cocaine. And Noble's grandchildren are caught in the crosshairs.
The chase, the brutality, and the emotional stress tests Bruno and Marie's relationship and forces them to define family—what's okay to forgive, and what should never be forgotten. Armed with a new moral code, will they live long enough to put it into practice?
Perfect for fans of Robert Crais and Michael Connelly
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)
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Putnam's gripping third Bruno Johnson novel (after 2015's The Replacements) takes Bruno from Costa Rica, where he fled with the woman who's now his wife, Marie, and 10 mistreated children he rescued (illegally), back to Los Angeles, to help his incarcerated brother, Noble, whose two young grandchildren have been kidnapped. Unable to turn away from kids in peril, Bruno soon gets mixed up in a caper involving the cocaine trade, a failed heist, and plenty of cold-blooded killers. Luckily, he has help from a nephew also named Bruno (the kidnapped children's father), some police buddies, and of course Marie. A former police officer, Putnam combines a spot-on procedural with a hero and heroine whose banter and obvious affection for each other provide some welcome levity amid some very dark deeds. At times, awkward excerpts from A Noble Sacrifice, a memoir written by Noble, slow the narrative, but everything else is so well crafted, readers will zip right through this poignant crime thriller.
