I liked the book but didn’t love it. There were a lot of characters and I found it a bit hard to remember all of them. I didn’t particularly like the main character. I did enjoy how they wrapped up everything in the end.

I will consider reading another book by Kevin Wade. John Prihalla did an excellent job with the narration.

Thank you to NetGalley & Macmillan Audio for letting me read this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Kevin Wade is the showrunner and screenwriter for Blue Bloods, so he has lots of experience creating crime dramas and with the inner workings of the police – both the good, the bad and the ugly. The good is the character of Jeep Mullane, an ex-NYC cop now the chief of police in the small Long Island town where he grew up. The bad was the death of his best friend while growing up and the son of a very wealthy and prominent family. The ugly was how Jeep had to deal with the rich and influential and also deal with the normal conflicts between different small town police jurisdictions and put up with typical political fallout. Johnny Careless is a classic crime novel and police procedural with a razor-sharp and very likeable police chief who you will want to see more of.

I like that Celadon has started publishing some crime fiction like this book - Johnny Careless by Kevin Wade.

"Jeep is the Police Chief on Long Island's North Shore. A body washes up on the beach thst turns out to be one of his childhood friends. Jeep thinks there more to the case than the detective believes. Jeep has to navigate the problems of the ultra-wealthy families and secrets to find the truth."

Jeep is a great character. He is flawed and has baggage, but is unwilling to accept the story the detective spins about Johnny. He is a "have-not" versus most of the people involved who are the wealthy of NYC. There are interesting past relationships, including Johnny's ex-wife. There are the expected dynamics between the "Haves" and "Have nots" - how appearances often override what is right. There are secrets - always secrets. The final answer is a surprise. You probably won't guess the direction that Wade goes. I like the way that Jeep gets there and I like the ending.

John Pirhalla is one of today's exceptional narrators and he gives a wonderful performance.

Fast paced, good story from Wade.