Tulsa Officer Writes Novel About Corruption

Lori Fullbright, News On 6

TULSA, Oklahoma -- A Tulsa police officer is branching out into a second career as an author.

Sergeant Gary Neece has written and published a novel about a Tulsa police officer who breaks his oath, his moral code and the law in a quest for revenge.

Cold Blue is about a Tulsa gang sergeant whose wife and daughter are murdered and his path to find and take out the killers, without regard to the law.

There's plenty of action and even a bit of a love story.

Gary Neece came on the Tulsa police department nearly 19 years ago. He's worked the streets as a patrol officer and as the sergeant of the vice squad.

His career path, his rank and a few other facts are similar to his lead character, a guy named Sergeant Jonathan Thorpe.

"My mother is a bus driver, like his in the book. I grew up in Kansas City, like he did. I wrote about things I know. A lot of it is me, but, he's super cool and I'm not," he said.

Gary says he didn't dream of someday writing a book.

In 2007, he bought a laptop, needed a hobby so started writing with only a basic premise in mind, not really sure what would come next.

"I sat down and thought, I want to have a likeable character, but who is doing unlikable things," Gary said.

The story line involves officer corruption and an FBI investigation of Tulsa officers.

Gary says he wrote the story well before Tulsa officers were accused of corruption in real life, which happened last year.

06/10/2010 Related Story: Tulsa Police Corruption Investigation Prompts Lawsuit

"I wrote this three years ago, about the time I was getting it published, all this hit. People are going to think I'm writing about people on the police department, but it's a total coincidence. I don't want people to think I wrote about actual officers involved in this case," Gary said.

Gary hopes this book does well enough that when he retires after getting his 20 years on the department, it could become his next career.

Seeing his work in bookstores has been a treat.

"It's really neat to see someone with my book in their hand. Hopefully, one day I'll get on an airplane and sit down next to someone reading a book," he said.

You can buy Cold Blue at Steve's Sundry and Gardener's Books in Tulsa and Book Place in Broken Arrow.

You can also purchase it online.

Find out how to get Cold Blue

Sergeant Gary Neece is doing a book signing at Steve's Sundry this Saturday, March 5, 2011 from 1 p.m. - 3 p.m.