JOHNNY BAD ASS

A sports-themed thriller and debut of The Big Lefthook.

Johnny “The Kid” O’Reilly is a young man in Brooklyn who is good with his fists; as he explains it, “When I hit someone, he stays hit!” Johnny’s prowess gains the attention of a local crime boss known as the Old Man, who offers Johnny the opportunity to go pro as a boxer. But before Johnny can make a decision, he is drawn into a dustup outside of the local Boys Club. Johnny’s involvement in the incident garners him a strange offer from the police: He can face charges or join the force as part of the newly minted Police Cadet Program. Naturally, he chooses the latter. After some adventures on the force, Johnny finds himself in need of some serious money. He accepts the Old Man’s offer, quits the force, and heads to Las Vegas for his first professional fight. But what will happen to Johnny’s relationship with his girlfriend Gina? She’s had a hard enough time convincing her father that Johnny is not a hoodlum. While Gina stays back in New York City, Johnny must navigate the life of a professional boxer. Even with guidance from those like the Old Man, it is a hazardous occupation. Johnny’s tale is indeed a wild one. From the premise that his punishment for being in a rumble is an offer to join the NYPD (and carry a gun) to the ease with which he shoots two mobsters, it becomes clear that just about anything can happen to Johnny, no matter how outrageous. The novel’s action, both in and out of the boxing ring, is certainly lively. Characters in the thick of it all tend to fire off impassioned, simple statements, as when Johnny says of Gina, “I would never hurt her!” The story manages to effectively blend elements of a sports drama, a mob story, and a conflicted romance. As he goes from thug to cop to athlete and beyond, there is no telling what The Kid will do next.

An ambitious mixture of genres with a hero who really packs a punch.