Bruno Johnson Books In Order

Publication Order of Bruno Johnson Books

The “Bruno Johnson” Series is a set of novels by bestselling thriller author David Putnam. Putnam had always wanted to be a police officer ever since he was young and as an adult, he spent more than three decades in law enforcement. He was involved in several departments in the police as he was in a violent crimes team sponsored by the FBI, worked in narcotics and pursued bank robbers and murder suspects as US Marshall in California, Nevada, and Arizona. He also served in the SWAT team of the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s office, where he was team sniper, hostage rescue and executor of dynamic entries. He has also worked in internal affairs, criminal intelligence and has been the supervisor of a detective bureau, patrol, and corrections. After three decades working in law enforcement in California, he moved to Hawaii where he worked investigating white-collar crimes and smuggling as a Special Agent in the office of the Attorney General. After retirement, he moved back to Southern California and when he is not writing he loves to read and farm avocado trees. Alongside his wife who is also a writer, they often attend several writer conferences every year.

David Putnam first knew he wanted to become an author when he was eight. By ten years old he had written a time-travel cum western science fiction that was about forty pages. He would, however, be distracted by other childhood pursuits and would not write again until he was a junior in high school. His novel was about organized crime whose lead character had a love interest with many similarities to his then-girlfriend. Once he was done with school, he got into law enforcement and did not write for more than two decades. However, looking back, he remembers his law enforcement friends and superiors asserting that his reports were nothing but short fiction works. Putnam was inspired to write his first novel while he was working surveillance on a meth lab on the desolate flat desert of the Lucerne Valley. While other police officers would watch portable TVs in their cars during the downtime, he brought along crime fiction novels that he would read to pass the time. It was during one of his stakeouts that he thought he could do better than what he was reading and penned the manuscript for “The Disposables,” the debut novel of the Bruno Johnson series.

While “The Disposables” was the first novel that Putnam got published, it was not his first rodeo as he had 38 manuscripts in his drawer by the time he sold it. During this time, he had tried everything from sci-fi, young adult, police procedurals, and mysteries. Bruno Johnson was number thirty-four and one of many attempts to finally get someone interested in his writing. His lead character Bruno Johnson is an ex-police officer and also ex-con that works from South Central Los Angeles, rescuing children from toxic homes. It is something he always wanted to do but the regulations and rules in law enforcement had made it impossible while he was a cop. Since he is no longer encumbered by rules, he does everything in his power including break the law to rescue the children. The author made the lead an African American man just to create an extra layer of conflict in the story. He got this from his experiences working in the sheriff department and interacting with African American deputies. He had once had to witness firsthand the layer of conflict when he rode out with an African American friend of his that was a deputy.

“The Disposables” the first novel of the Bruno Johnson series by David Putnam introduces Bruno, a member of the elite violent crime team and tough street cop. He is feared by criminals but is a friend to all who abide by the law. But then he is forced to break the law which he loves and upholds in the mid of a personal tragedy. He is sent to prison for six months and comes out an ex-cop and ex-convict. But his life outside the law is not a bed of roses as the police take advantage of the fact that he is on parole to make his life difficult. Even Robby Wicks his former partner that he considered a friend and is now a senior detective joins in. Wick forces him to get involved and provide his expertise to resolve a high profile crime that had bamboozled everyone. Meanwhile, Marie his girlfriend encourages him to turn a corner and together they work outside the law to save abused children in the South of Los Angeles. They are creating an illegal underground railroad that they use to take away neglected, disposable and at-risk children. However, they are faced with interference from Wicks who has his own agenda and a warped justice system that seems not to care about the children.

“The Replacements” the second novel of the series opens to an ex-convict and former detective of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Bruno Johnson hiding from the feds. He managed to get out of the country and is now a bartender in Costa Rica, where he is supporting eight children he took away from abusive parents and smuggled to the foreign country. But then one afternoon his former partner and now Chief of Police of the department he once worked in walks into the bar. It is a face he never expected to see down in Costa Rica and now all manner of thoughts race through his mind. Could she be there to take him into custody and take him to jail back in the US? It happens that she needs some help with the case of two children that have gone missing, believed to have been kidnapped. The culprit is Jonas Mabry who as a child had once been rescued by Bruno and Wicks believes he can exert some influence. But Mabry is not budging as he wants a million dollars as ransom. Bruno may have to put his life on the line to try to save the children though he also cannot abandon the children in his care or Marie his new wife.

“The Squandered” the third novel of the Bruno Johnson series opens to Bruno in a high-speed chase together with his wife. He has left the children in Costa Rica as his father is terminally ill and requested that he go see him. It is highly risky and is made even more so when his imprisoned and alienated brother asks that he rescue his kidnapped children. They are fugitives returning to the United State where they could be arrested even as they have to deal with government agents, drug dealers and ruthless kidnappers with bad motives. In LA, things go from bad to worse when they soon realize that Noble his brother had unwittingly kicked a hornet’s nest and angered law enforcement agencies and criminals. The emotional stress and the brutality puts a lot of strain on their relationship and forces them to redefine their relationships. But could they survive long enough to get through all the obstacles put in their path?