Due to a sudden, unexpected passing in the family a few years ago and another more recently and my subsequent (mental) health issues stemming from that, I was unable to download this book in time to review it before it was archived as I did not visit this site for several years after the bereavements. This meant I didn't read or venture onto netgalley for years as not only did it remind me of that person as they shared my passion for reading, but I also struggled to maintain interest in anything due to overwhelming depression. I was therefore unable to download this title in time and so I couldn't give a review as it wasn't successfully acquired before it was archived. The second issue that has happened with some of my other books is that I had them downloaded to one particular device and said device is now defunct, so I have no access to those books anymore, sadly.

This means I can't leave an accurate reflection of my feelings towards the book as I am unable to read it now and so I am leaving a message of explanation instead. I am now back to reading and reviewing full time as once considerable time had passed I have found that books have been helping me significantly in terms of my mindset and mental health - this was after having no interest in anything for quite a number of years after the passings. Anything requested and approved will be read and a review written and posted to Amazon (where I am a Hall of Famer & Top Reviewer), Goodreads (where I have several thousand friends and the same amount who follow my reviews) and Waterstones (or Barnes & Noble if the publisher is American based). Thank you for the opportunity and apologies for the inconvenience.

Published by Grove Atlantic/Mysterious Press on May 25, 2021

The third book in the Joe the Bouncer series returns Joe Brody to the fight against terrorism. Joe is a former Special Forces guy who has conquered addictions and other demons. Now he works as a strip club bouncer who does freelance work for Gio, the Mafia boss who owns the club. His freelance work so far has advanced the New York underworld’s war on terror, a war it fights because terrorism is bad for business. And because doing occasional favors for the FBI and CIA has its perks.

Much of Against the Law will be familiar to series readers. Joe the criminal continues his flirtation with Donna the FBI agent, who continues her distrust of the CIA agent to whom she was once married. Joe continues something more than a flirtation with Yelena the Russian criminal. Donna’s mother continues her friendship with Joe’s grandmother. All of those characters play important roles in the novel. As one might hope and expect in a series, a couple of these relationships change by the time the novel ends. Even a subplot involving Gio’s marital problems, exacerbated by proclivities that he tried to hide from his wife, appears to be resolved.

The story begins in Afghanistan, where Joe has traveled to kill Zahir, a nemesis he has seen before. Zahir has been smuggling high quality heroin into New York by unknown means. Zahir seems to be trying to corner the New York drug market with better heroin than the locals are supplying. Zahir then funnels the profits to terrorist cells. New York’s criminal organizations don’t appreciate foreign competition. Gio and the other crime czars are paying Joe a half million dollars to take out Zahir.

When Joe’s mission doesn’t go as planned, the plot detours to a corporation called Wildwater (think Halliburton combined with the company formerly known as Blackwater). The CIA is in bed with Wildwater, which is in bed with Zahir and with a psychopathic military contractor named Toomey. Toomey’s take on the war against terror is to inflict some terror of his own, bringing about the clash of civilizations for which people on the far right long, provided they are not personally inconvenienced by the clash. All of those entities in the same bed makes a predictable mess. It falls to Joe and his underworld buddies, with an assist from Donna, to clean up the mess and once again save New York from imminent disaster.

This book seems to bring to an end to a three-book arc, while leaving room to move forward with the development of certain characters and their relationships. While the familiar characters are likeable, the familiar plot — Joe takes on terrorists, fights and kills and survives — has become a bit predictable. I have enjoyed all the Joe the Bouncer novels, but I enjoyed this one less because it seemed like a book I had read twice before. I hope David Gordon moves Joe away from terrorism plots and toward something fresh and original in the next novel. Still, I look forward to reading the next one because Joe the Bouncer remains a unique and engaging criminal protagonist.

RECOMMENDED

Unfortunately, I didn’t realize this book was part of a series until I had already started reading. There are two previous books in the Joe the Bouncer series, The Bouncer and The Hard Stuff. However, the author did a great job of making this book work as a standalone, with enough backstory to get the gist even though I missed the previous two books. There were a few side plots that were a little hard to be engaged with due to the lack of the full backstory, but they luckily didn’t detract from the main story. Also, the ending with Joe and Donna would have probably been more impactful had I read their interactions in the previous two books.

For the most part, the pace was fast. There were occasional moments between the action where the pace slowed, but it was fitting. The whole idea is an interesting concept: a bouncer who acts as an enforcer and fixer for the various mob families of New York. Even crazier is the idea of these various mob families going up against a paramilitary organization in an all-out drug war, but it works. You end up rooting for a bunch of characters who frankly aren’t good people. But it’s okay because the “good guys” are written in an incredibly likable way, and for all the bad things they do, the bad guys are worse.

I enjoyed the structure of the plot as well; jumping between Joe’s exploits, Zamora’s investigation into White Angel, and the activities of Wildwater, and then seeing how the three slowly came together and entwined.

The plot is also very topical: the whole reason that the villains are able to get away with what they are doing for as long as they have is that they were essentially able to feed into, monetize and weaponize the Islamophobia that has persisted since 9/11. It’s unfortunate that this is still a feasible scenario, but it works for the purpose of the story.

Overall I thought that the characters were well written. I felt like I was missing a bit of backstory and characterization with some of the main characters like Joe and Agent Zamora, but that’s to be expected when you jump into the third book of a series. Joe is what you would expect from a former Special Forces operative with a case of PTSD, but has enough of an “everyman” feel that makes him easy to root for, even if he is technically working for dubious people. And, he’s a Mets fan, which is always a plus in my mind. Yelena, Joe’s occasional partner, is a great companion, and the banter between the two characters is great. They come across as kindred spirits, even though they come from greatly different backgrounds. Honestly, I got most of my enjoyment from the various side characters that Joe interacts with. Having grown up hearing my Irish father say “eejit” all the time, it was fantastic to read Liam, Joe’s Irish associate, use it frequently. Fusco, an NYPD detective who is assisting Agent Zamora in the White Angel investigation, while also secretly working for Gio, is another highlight. It was entertaining to see him juggle between his duties as a detective, while also doing his best to cover for Joe, Gio, and the others. The author also does a great job with the various crime bosses of the city, giving each of them distinct personalities. Gio is given the most material, due to his close connection to Joe, but there is enough written about each of the bosses to make them feel like their own characters, as opposed to just lifeless mobsters. And seeing as this is the third book in the series, I imagine that going back one would get even more backstory on these various characters.

If I had one major critique in terms of characterization I would say that I wouldn’t have minded if the villains had been fleshed out a bit more. Obviously, the main draw was Joe and the interactions between him and his allies, and with regards to that Richards, Toomey, and the rest of the antagonists served their purpose well as foils to the main characters. However, the most compelling villains are the ones who feel like what they are doing is justified, and as ill-advised as they were, Richards and Toomey believed that they were fighting for the future and soul of the country, so I wouldn’t have minded seeing that be explored a bit more.

There is a conclusive and satisfying ending to this story, but it does leave a few threads open to be explored in potential sequels, mainly the relationship between Joe and Agent Zamora.

The writing style was easy to read and flowed well. The action scenes were great; exciting enough to keep you engaged and on the edge of your seat, but also feasible and not embellished. I never felt like Joe or his friends were some superhuman warriors that couldn’t be killed and were surviving completely outlandish situations. The banter between the characters was great as well.

I would be interested to go back and read the first two books of this series, and see how we got to the events of this book. I’d also be interested in reading any potential sequel.

Joe is a retired Special Forces operative with a bad case of PTSD and some substance abuse issues, trying to rebuild a simple life as a strip club bouncer living with his grandmother in Queens. But this simple life is constantly complicated by the fact that, at the invitation of his childhood friend, now a Mafia boss, Joe also moonlights as a fixer for the most powerful crime families in town.

This is not my usual genre or style of book to go for but I was surprised. This is not a light read so not one to be read in a light-hearted mood, more one to be curled up with and get stuck into. This is a first for me by the author and one I enjoyed and would read more of their work. The book cover is eye-catching and appealing and would spark my interest if in a bookshop. Thank you very much to the author, publisher and Netgalley for this ARC.

3.5/5.

A special forces agent-turned-strip club bouncer with a side hustle as a hitman for the New York mob seeks out a deadly drug lord in the poppy fields of Afghanistan.
Joe is a retired Special Forces operative with a bad case of PTSD and some substance abuse issues, trying to rebuild a simple life as a strip club bouncer living with his grandmother in Queens.

This book was great. Action packed with great characters! This is one book I really enjoyed!