West Side [Paperback]

John Mackie (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 4, 2005

In a Manhattan bar, two strangers pick up a soon-to-be-dead look-alike for one of them. After pulling off a flawless one-and-a-half million dollar insurance fraud, the perpetrators decide that one perfect scam deserves another. As Detective Sergeant Thorn Savage and his Manhattan South Homicide squad enter the investigation, they are drawn into the city's seamy underbelly where dangerous fun-and the answers to an ingenious murder case-await those who know where to look.

Product Details

• Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: Onyx (October 4, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0451411986
• ISBN-13: 978-0451411983
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.2 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #946,606 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, John attended public schools and grew up playing baseball. In this, the first chapter of his life, he was a die-hard Brooklyn Dodger fan and spent many summer hours as a boy watching his heroes play at Ebbets Field. He often fantasized that someday he would be wearing a Dodger uniform and playing third base for them. Though good with a glove and bat, and blessed with a great arm, he lacked speed. Playing for the Dodgers was not to be. Besides, the Bums had gone west to Los Angeles. He was a New Yorker.

In the second chapter of his life, John married young. With a wife and children to support, the fantasy thinking of his youth soon faded into reality and he became a New York City policeman. It was a good decision. John soon found that he loved The Job,and would rather be a New York City cop than a third baseman for any ball club...well, almost. His years with the department were spent working in Midtown Manhattan (Times Square), Uptown Manhattan in Harlem, and in the Brooklyn neighborhoods of Bedford Stuyvesant and Brownsville. During his tenure as a policeman, John loved to work the street. He was decorated more than several dozen times, and is a holder of the NYPD's prestigious Medal of Valor. He stayed with the department for seventeen years until work-related injuries forced him into early retirement while at the rank of sergeant.

Then came chapter three. Needing a new identity, John had to reinvent himself. He picked up a pen and, with a tightly focused view on becoming a published author of fiction, began to write. The reality thinking of his middle life had reverted back to the fantasy thinking of his youth. The pursuit turned out to be a long and winding road, one that demanded three things: talent, perseverance, and luck. He believed he had the talent, for absolute certainty he had the perseverance; it was the luck--much like the baseball requirement of speed--which he seemed to lack. But things eventually began to happen. Perseverance and talent finally found luck. His first book, MANHATTAN SOUTH, was published by NAL/Penguin in July 2002. MANHATTAN NORTH, EAST SIDE, and WEST SIDE followed.

John now makes his home in Florida.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars John Mackie Mytery Writer, January 9, 2006

By 

Joni A. Volski - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: West Side (Paperback)

John Mackie, a former member of the NYPD is one of the best contemporary mystery/detective writers. His cop stories rank right up there with Joseph Wambaugh and Archer Mayor. He is one terrific read. He understands human nature and is able to convey it. He also is an expert on police procedure. New York City and his characters come out of the pages. You can visualize every street, smell the city and feel the beat. Detective Thorn Savage, his main character, is smart and sophisticted. Savage heads up a team of elite homicide dectectives. Mackie's stories grab you from the first page. Mackie has written four books: Manhattan South, Manhattan North, East Side,West Side. I hope it will not be too long until there is a fifth book

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "On The Sidewalks of New York...", December 29, 2005

By 

J. H. Minde "Everything I need is right here" (Boca Raton, Florida and Brooklyn, New York) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: West Side (Paperback)

The wonderful thing about John Mackie as a writer is his ability to take a canned and generically labelled storyline down from the shelf and cook up something mesmerizingly readable and thoroughly entertaining with it.

In MANHATTAN SOUTH Mackie presented us with a tale of political blackmail ending in death; MANHATTAN NORTH was the story of a drug lord seeking to revenge himself on the cop that sent him up; and EAST SIDE concerned itself with a Church scandal and a cover-up.

WEST SIDE, his latest, is about an insurance fraud scam sometimes called the "Dead Man's Shuffle," where some poor passed-on unfortunate takes the identity of the still-quite-alive insured, who then collects on his own premium. In this case, the three beneficiaries are well-heeled but greedy denizens of New York's leather bar scene, who have killed a gay drifter as a substitute.

Although initially it looks like they are free, clear and in the money, alarm bells start ringing when the deceased is immediately cremated, the doctor who signed the death certificate begins to develop a sweaty lip, and two of the three conspirators suddenly vanish before sunup.

Detective Sergeant Thorn Savage begins a laborious and sometimes hilarious manhunt through New York's gay bars, sometimes finding clues but most often being propositioned by men wearing spiked gloves and nipple rings, but never finding true love.

Fortunately for Savage, the three caballeros leave a wake as big as the USS Theodore Roosevelt's behind them. Unfortunately, they seem to have gone everywhere from Brooklyn to Belfast to Amsterdam to Sardinia to South Florida, and Savage has to play continental hopscotch to close the case and bring the perpetrators to justice.

Once again, Mackie's sense of place, time and scene is flawless. He knows New York.

This plot, though essentially conventional, has some amazingly supple twists and turns. Mackie knows when to restrain himself, and this story never careens over the edge into excess despite the very strong temptations presented by the characters and settings.

WEST SIDE is the latest of Mackie's books; hopefully, MIDTOWN (my guess at a title) will be next.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Reader review of "West Side" by John Mackie., December 22, 2005

By 

Bo Baner (Smithtown N.Y.) - See all my reviews

This review is from: West Side (Paperback)

Just had the pleasure of reading "West Side" by John Mackie. Unlike police novels by most authors, this one is right on target. Mackie has obviously been there and done that. His descriptive powers and attention to detail bring each charactor to life and draw the reader into each scene.

He has captured the flavor of a NYPD Homicide Squad as its members labor to solve their latest puzzle. His excellent knowledge of police procedure makes fascinating reading as you follow the men and women of this elite unit in their step by step trackdown of a vicious killer team.

Best book I have read in a very long time.