The Wild Life

Edgar finalist Gordon’s rollicking fourth Joe the Bouncer mystery (after 2021’s Against the Law) finds Joe, a former Special Forces operative, still fighting lingering PTSD while working as a club bouncer in Queens and reading the classics in his spare time. He’s also an all-purpose Mafia fixer, and when sex trade workers begin to disappear under suspicious circumstances, New York’s crime bosses turn to Joe for help. Can Joe and his team find the killer before more lives are lost? In the caper tradition popularized by Donald E. Westlake and Lawrence Block, Gordon uses humor to good effect. The parking lot fight in which Joe uses a copy of Ulysses to beat up a pair of thugs, no doubt a literary first, and his attempt to teach a self-defense class at a local community center are particularly amusing. The character-driven plot contains quite a large cast, but each member has an important role to play. Delightful misadventures include a wild chase on a yellow-and-orange Ducati motorcycle and a luxury car heist. Gordon’s found his groove in this one. (Apr.)