The Diabolical is book number eleven in David Putnam's Bruno Johnson series, and by this point in the series Bruno is doing his best to live a quiet life in Costa Rica along with his wife, their new baby son, his grandson, and the eleven kids they've rescued from abusive homes in Los Angeles without bothering first about the required paperwork. All of that, though, is about to change, creating a dangerous situation for Bruno and Marie who are still wanted on murder and kidnapping charges back in the U.S.
And it all starts out so innocently, just as Bruno and Marie are beginning to enjoy a bout of private skinny-dipping at the beach one night. Bruno's presence in Costa Rica has not gone nearly as unnoticed as he had hoped, something he realizes only after the searchlights hit his and Marie's naked bodies. The local police chief needs Bruno's assistance in solving the mass murder of six people that's just happened in a popular nightspot - and Bruno is going to going to help whether or not he wants to. The choice is not going to be his.
What follows is a twisted and bloody investigation during which Bruno is constantly looking over his shoulder and wondering if there is anyone out there he can still trust as he works through a long list of potential suspects and motives. But Bruno keeps yanking on threads long enough for things to start to unravel, and now he hopes that he can manage to stay alive long enough to identify the killer - and that his marriage will survive the process.
David Putnam fills The Diabolical with so many unforgettable characters that even the bad guys are kind of fun to have around. There's Otis, the fat, stinky drunk who hangs around the bar all day long as Bruno serves him one Grasshopper after another; Doris, Bruno's ice-queen boss, who delights in firing and re-hiring him over and over; Eddie, the oldest child taken in by Bruno and Marie, who has a sense-of-humor all his own; and Waldo, the dog that has an intense love/hate relationship with Bruno that drives Bruno nuts.
Best of all, no matter what may have just happened to Bruno hours earlier, he always manages to show his appreciation for his family by carving out time for special games with the kids or a quiet moment alone with Marie. This man loves children, and his self-appointed mission in life is to rescue as many of them as he can - and no one is going to stop him.
The Diabolical is fun. And that's what it's all about.
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| David Putnam jacket photo |
I love the sound of this one! And I almost didn't keep reading when I saw that this one is #11 in a series because I'm trying not to start any new series until I've caught up on some of the other series I'm so far behind in. But Bruno sounds like too good of a character to miss out on. :D
ReplyDeleteI think it's the middle novels that are prequels to the first ones, Lark, so they were published in an unusual order. I haven't read them anywhere near what would have been the best order, but I couldn't resist this one. I get the feeling, though, that this one picked up almost exactly where the previous one left off, so it might be best to read that one right before this one. All that said...I figured out what had happened in the last one pretty easily because Putnam is good at sprinkling in everything you need to know.
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