VERO BEACH — The life of New York City policeman-turned-writer John Mackie has had as many dramatic twists as one of his fictional plots and – as he ventures into the unfamiliar new territory of e-publishing – it’s clear that the surprises aren’t over. Interviewed in his home in Vero’s Harbour Island Club, the 68-year-old author shared stories of cops, crime, and commercial publication.
Mackie was born and raised in Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn. In 1949, well before the introduction of the Salk vaccine, he contracted polio. He spent months in a specialized clinic that helped him to walk again.
A local reporter wrote about his release from the clinic on Christmas Eve, mentioning that the five-year-old hoped to play third base for the Brooklyn Dodgers, “just like Billy Cox.”
The article caught Cox’s attention; for years thereafter, the baseball player sent Mackie signed baseballs, cards, and passes to Ebbets Field.
Unfortunately, the same disease that had brought him to the Dodgers’ attention also dashed Mackie’s future in baseball.
He discovered that though he could pitch, catch and hit well, polio had left him unable to run fast enough for professional athletics.
Mackie quit high school in 11th grade and worked menial jobs for several years before a career plan clicked.
“My father was friendly with many New York policemen. I liked how they conducted themselves – I saw them as a kind of person I could be.”
Mackie got his GED, passed the departmental test, and graduated from the city’s Police Academy in February 1968.
That April, his class was put on the street faster than usual following the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.
“With rioting going on and some of the city in flames, they needed blue suits on the street,” Mackie said.
The very first call he answered was a shooting, giving him “a baptism of fire.”
“I absolutely loved the ‘Job’ – capital ‘J’. I wanted to be out on the street to play cops and robbers, frankly.”
Mackie served in a variety of precincts and worked on a plainclothes street crime unit for seven years before being promoted to sergeant.
Among many other decorations, he was awarded the prestigious NYPD Medal of Valor for his bravery during an incident in which two fellow officers were shot.
After 17 years in the force, police department regulations forced Mackie into early retirement due to injuries sustained when another driver hit his unmarked car.
He spoke candidly about how devastating it was to have to leave the profession he loved in his 40s.
“The Job was my home – my life. Even at a tremendous cost to my family.”
Deciding that he didn’t want to live in New York if he couldn’t be a policeman there, Mackie moved first to the Asheville, N.C. area and then to Vero Beach.
The Dodgers’ spring training in Vero was a draw, but the author also praised “its beaches, its quiet, its people, its lack of congested automobile traffic.”
“Vero just felt like home to me,” he said.
He began his first book in the early 1990s, writing every day and then spending years in revision.
“It was a sour day when I got clear that the book wasn’t going to fly. It just wasn’t very good. Very few first novels ever get published. All they are is a learning experience. But then you have to walk away from that first attempt and undertake writing your first real book,” he said.
Mackie attended classes with local author David Hagberg, who helped him hone his writing for publication.
In the acknowledgements of his first published novel, Mackie paid homage to Hagberg’s help.
“Anyone serious about writing fiction for publication needs a guru with a million how-to answers and a willingness to share them,” he wrote. “David Hagberg was mine.”
Mackie’s second novel got only rejections until it landed on the desk of New York agent John Talbot.
Talbot called the author the day after receiving the manuscript, saying that he would be honored to represent it.
Sold to New American Library, the book was published in 2002 under the title “Manhattan South.”
Readers praised the novel’s gripping story, its accuracy, and its vivid glimpse of New York City’s unique police force.
Former New York City Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik called it “a thrilling read. Mackie was a cop’s cop; now he’s a writer’s writer.”
Publishers Weekly said, “Retired NYPD Detective Mackie captures the character of Manhattan in his gripping debut novel…Mackie writes with authority and presents a street-wise protagonist that readers will welcome.”
Mackie followed this debut with “Manhattan North,” “West Side,” and “East Side.”
Each one features Thornton Savage, a detective Mackie says is a “mixture of opposites” and an “amalgamation of myself and others I worked with in the NYPD.”
Mackie’s writing process has also remained the same for all of his books.
“I don’t write with an outline. I let my books tell their own stories. I create an opening scene, but I’m just like my detective – I don’t know where it’s all going.”
Like so many authors, Mackie was hit by the widespread changes in the publishing industry resulting from the economic downturn.
When New American Library underwent a shakeup, his editor was one of many staffers let go, and Mackie’s tenure with the house hit a dead end.
A chance event brought his imagination to life again.
A longtime admirer of ocean liners, Mackie was thrilled when Cunard Cruise Lines hired him as author-lecturer on the Queen Mary 2.
On one of his voyages, the ship was turned around when a passenger came up missing.
The mysterious disappearance got Mackie thinking about how terrorists might use a similar cover to hijack a great ship.
The novel that resulted, “To Kill a Queen,” brings terrorism, nuclear threat, and international diplomacy aboard the Queen Mary 2.
Thorn Savage returns, this time as an ordinary traveler hoping for a relaxing vacation.
When danger intervenes, Savage musters his personal courage and professional skills to help lead the other passengers into action.
With “To Kill a Queen,” Mackie ventured not only onto the high seas but also into the new world of e-publishing.
With help from his agent, the author regained the rights to his first four novels; he has now contracted with Amazon.com to make all five books available exclusively on Amazon’s Kindle for one year, with the titles getting extra promotion there.
Where his books and career will go from there, Mackie isn’t clear.
“It’s like we’re back at Kitty Hawk,” he said. “This is the future, but it’s only starting to take off. We’re all just learning to fly.”