Customer Reviews

West Side

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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

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.

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.

John Mackie has the talent of making his characters come alive and literally jump out at you. His penchant for detail and description puts him in the same league with James Lee Burke. They don't come any better.

This was my third in the Sgt. Savage series and I wish there were more. I have a feeling there is more to tell. If you have ever been curious as to what takes place on a day to day basis within a Police Dept, then run don't walk to order them all. All of the characters are true to life, exciting and a little manic, just what you expect from someone who has seen the "Not so nice side of life". If you are trying to get out of a committment, simply say I can't put this book down and I am not going, it will be the truth.

Author John Mackie keeps on surprising me. Just when I think I know the kind of book he'll write, he takes a new turn. In this novel he unravels a brilliant scheme of multiple murders for insurance. Unlike his other books, this one is not so much an action story because the detectives involved are never in jeopardy. That takes some of the "edge" off of the story. But this is equally as fascinating as Mackies other books because it shows, in exquisite detail, how really good detective work is done in the real world. Hard to put this book down. A caveat; if you don't want to read about the seamy side of homosexual life, this is not your bag. I'm hooked on John Mackie's style, though. If he writes it, I'll read it. The former NYPD detective KNOWS of what he writes.

I have read all of John Mackie books and very much enjoyed them. They are engrossing and have a real feel about them, probably because Mackie is or was a police officer himself. I'm very sorry he doesn't currently have a publisher, especially given the amount of terrible books being published instead.

John Mackie keeps you turning those pages with his new fast-paced first class thriller. If you are new to Mackie's work, you will be greately satisfied and a true fan. Don't miss East Side,Manhattan North, Manhattan South written by retired N.Y.P.D. Detective John Mackie who is one of the most talented & exciting authers of cime novels today.
Ingrid Sanchelli

This story involves the seamy gay world of s&m plus the added twist of murder to collect insurance money. Readers familiar with Mackie's past novels will welcome the return of his cast of characters from the N.Y.P.D. as well as his pet cat Ray. This is a quite realistic quick read. Keep it up John!