The Pigeon: A Joe the Bouncer Novel

In this violence-packed fifth Joe the Bouncer outing (after 2022’s The Wild Life), Gordon delivers a too-busy, if appealingly left-field, crime caper. Joe, who grew up in “a clan of thieves and grifters” and passed through Harvard and the Special Forces, works as a bouncer at a Queens strip club, reading classic literature in his spare time. He’s become a valued resource for New York City’s Mafia families, and one day Gio, a Mafia boss, taps Joe for a job that at first seems easy: Brooklyn gangster Alonzo is distraught over the theft of his champion racing pigeon, Ramses, valued at over $1 million, and he believes that Wing Chow, a rich pigeon collector, is responsible. But when Joe’s burglary of Chow’s Upper West Side apartment goes south, he finds himself in the crosshairs of a league of assassins he must fight off—in, of course, hyperviolent fashion—if he wants to survive. Joe is a memorable creation, but Gordon overloads the plot with convoluted character motivations that detract from his gleefully gruesome set pieces. Admirers of humor-leavened antihero capers may enjoy themselves, but this isn’t a shining example of the genre. Agent: Douglas Stewart, Sterling Lord Literistic. (June)