The Pigeon

Joe the Bouncer #5

by David Gordon

A BookPage best mystery of the month.

A New York mob fixer’s search for a stolen racing pigeon sends him into a warren of assassins.

Harvard dropout and ex-Special Forces operative Joe Brody is climbing the ranks in the criminal underworld. After successfully executing multiple missions for the various crime syndicates that run New York City, he has come to earn the trust and respect of the city’s most dangerous denizens. Which is why his newest task — retrieving a pet pigeon snatched from a rooftop coop in Brooklyn — has Joe puzzled … until he learns that the bird is valued at close to a million dollars.

Joe hatches a plan to sneak into the luxury park-side apartment building where the pigeon is held captive. But that simple plan takes a deadly turn when he stumbles upon a nest of international war criminals and a ruthless building manager overseeing the nefarious operation. Fearing that Joe's entry into the building has somehow compromised the scheme, they put a bounty on his head. In New York, Joe is untouchable, but his new foes come from outside the flock, and he’ll need a wing and a prayer to elude their assassins.

With high-stakes action sequences punctuated by laugh out loud humor, The Pigeon is an entertaining caper with nods to vintage crime fiction by masters like Elmore Leonard and Richard Stark. It’s a perfect entry point into David Gordon’s enjoyable Joe the Bouncer series, and a great continuation for returning fans.

Genres: Fiction, Thriller, Crime, Mystery

375 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 13, 2023

About the author

David Gordon was born in New York City. He attended Sarah Lawrence College and holds an MA in English and Comparative Literature and an MFA in Writing, both from Columbia University, and has worked in film, fashion, publishing, and pornography. His first novel, The Serialist, won the VCU/Cabell First Novel Award and was a finalist for an Edgar Award. His work has also appeared in The Paris Review, Purple, and Fence among other publications.

Reviews

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Pigeon is book #5 in David Gordon’s Joe the Bouncer series. A series chock full of action and laughs.

Joe Brody, the badass, ex-Special Forces sheriff of New York’s criminal world, has been on some dangerous missions over the years. Tangling with everyone from terrorists to psychopaths. This time? His assignment is to retrieve a stolen pigeon. Yup. You heard right—a pigeon. On the surface, the job sounds simple. Joe even knows who stole the bird and where it’s being kept. Easy-peasy. Riiiight. We all know Joe is a magnet for mayhem. And boy, does he step in it here. A simple in & out job turns into major security, explosions, and one assassin after another. Someone wants Joe dead over a pigeon? What is going on?

“A pigeon?” You got into all that hassle over a pigeon?” Juno stared at him in disbelief. “Say it ain’t so, Joe.”

Around to help solve the mystery is Joe’s crew of hackers, thieves, and killers. Gio Caprisi, Mafia boss and Joe’s BFF, is at the helm. Juno, Cash, Liam, Josh, Yelena, Gladys, and more are in on the fun. Grandma Gladys has a hell of a scene! Then, we have the other side of the law. Our favorite FBI Agents are back along with NYPD’s best. Fusco and Chang cracked me up! Everyone did. This cast of crazies and crooks is a family. And readers will see and feel the chemistry in little snippets of their lives on the job and at home. Like Josh and Liam’s apartment full of family or Cash’s partying ways. My favorite was Juno and his love for grape Snapple though. The man is obsessed! Anyway….that was my rambling way of saying come meet the gang. They’ll make you laugh out loud and cheer.

My only complaint is the tendency for Gordon to over explain some of the action scenes rather than allowing the adrenaline to take over. I really don't need every detail about an old passage way. Obviously, it’s not a huge distraction, because I had a blast here. I had fun with the words—like caper and bupkes. And New York! The city plays a huge roll in the action and atmosphere. You’ll be sipping a Manhattan Special soda with a huge smile across your face by the end of the book.

Pick up this action packed read full of pigeon problems, sleepovers, and creative body disposals. Ha! Actually creative body disposals says it all. I should have led with that line. :)

Highly recommended.

[Ajay · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty good. Nice plot, nice writing, and a touch of humor. Nice way to pass some time!

[Jesse · Rating 4 out of 5]

In which Gordon leans wholly into absurdism, with the MacGuffin here being the titular stolen champion racing pigeon (we get an early Wikipedia dump of racing-pigeon info, helpfully doled out by the owner and his friend), attempted retrieval of which leads Joe into an apartment building that's got way more going on than anyone knew. In its antic spirit and a couple of set-pieces that recall nothing so much as A Night at the Opera, but armed, this reminds me of those early Thomas Perry books (Metzger's Dog, like that) where I was almost sure that "Thomas Perry" was just another of Donald Westlake's pseudonyms to publish even more Dortmunder stories. (With a whole lot more violence, to be sure, as well as some slapstick who's-on-first routines, as well as logistical questions about corpse disposal that Dortmunder never faced. This also captures the game-theory aspect of later Perry work, especially the Butcher Boy series, where one more-or-less innocuous act is misinterpreted, its implications misunderstood and responded to violently, which sets off all kinds of alarms that rebound hard on those who set them.) I can't tell if the novel's increasingly multicultural cast (we've got mobsters of all races and religions, including Italians and Orthodox Jews [the other members of the NYC crime cartel don't appear in this one], some Russians, the Irish/Israeli couple, the Chinese-American car thief, the apparently mandatory Black hacker living in his mom's basement [cf. Mosley, Ide, and Stephen Mack Jones]...) is meant as a parody of that trope or just a knowing deployment, but...I surrender. Gordon dextrously spins a bunch of plot plates all at once and eventually brings them together with a satisfying crunch. Preposterous but (or and) very entertaining.

[Ricki · Rating 3 out of 5]

About a 3.25 read. Joe Brody (aka the bouncer) works at the club of his friend Gio (mobster). As an ex-Spec Forces guy, he works for his childhood friend as a fixer. That said, when Gio comes to him to retrieve a stolen racing pigeon, it's one of the weirder jobs he's been given.

Joe also dates Donna, a FBI agent on the QT since both of their "lives" would be over if they were found out.

The pigeon in question is being held in an upscale apartment building near Central Park and Joe's first effort to retrieve it becomes a roller coaster of unseen events. What is with all the security in the building?? Turns out it's full of international criminals and being managed by another criminal who decides to take out a contract on Joe on the dark web.

The ensuing chaos is at times ludicrous, implausible and just plain nuts. It starts slow but gets better in the second half.

[Scott Butki · Rating 4 out of 5]

#12 The Pigeon by David Gordon
This is part of Gordon's excellent Joe the Bouncer series, one of the brain candy series i return to because i love the cast of characters and the plotting.
Joe is not just a bouncer but he's also the fixer for crime families in New York City and when a gang leader loses a valuable pigeon Joe is tasked to find it.
Meanwhile, Joe has a girlfriend, donna, but they have to keep it secret because she's a cop and if their relationship is known it will make life hard for both Joe and Donna.
This is another excellent addition to the series, with some violence, humor and plot twists. The last 50 pages had me laughing hard.
I give this an 8.

[Arthur · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is good, rollicking fun. Joe once again gets wrapped up in events beyond his control all due to a pigeon. A cast of bad guys with hearts of gold return from previous adventures to make sure that justice is served amongst the outlaws.

The chase scenes and the explosive end at the Eleanora are made for film. If there is such a thing as a palate cleanser in this genre, the Joe the Bouncer series is it.
The body count is high, but Gordon doesn't take the book too seriously and neither should the reader.
(Okay, there is some fat shaming).

[Jack Hurley · Rating 1 out of 5]

I've loved the entire series. the writing, the plot lines and the character development. Sadly, I cannot read this book because it has DRMs on the EPUB version. If I buy a Kindle or whatever B&N or Rakuten sells, I could, but why deny the owner of a Fire tablet or laptop software???

I even ordered a paperback copy, but I'd need a magnifying glass along with my readers.
Sounds like a publisher made a poor choice.

[Ellen Walsh · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was disappointed in this novel in the series. The author changes the reason for the fix the main character finds himself in, but other than that it is like reading the same book over and over. In the past I liked the love interest but in this book she was so shallow. The way she responded to the situation she was in was totally out of character from previous books. If you liked the previous books in the series you may be disappointed as I was.

[Mel Entus]

Joe The Bouncer has been a great series. In order to really appreciate and know the characters and their background, it is best to start at book one and continue on.
This last book " The Pigeon", is good, but not the best of the series. Again, start with the first of the series and read through. You won't be disappointed.

[Anna · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received this book as a giveaway and only later realized it was part of a series. I felt like I was missing background on the characters so that makes sense! The story was very well written and I enjoyed the suspense of it. This is not my particular genre, but I thought the overall storyline was interesting and if crime suspense is your thing I think you’d really enjoy it

[Aristotle · Rating 4 out of 5]

A pigeon heist

What?
Hmm.
What was this books plot?
Uhm, a million dollar pigeon was heisted and some rich guy wants it back.
Ok.

This was a character driven story. Joe the strip club bouncer, Sarah the teenage gamer, FBI, NYPD, assassins and a haunted co-op on central park west.
What?
A good read with no real plot.

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

The last book of the Joe the bouncer series, so far at least. Gordon writes another fast moving, action filled story. Gordon evidently knows and loves NY. Veniero’s no less, yum!
Once again Joe is ahead of everyone, even as he kills many people and struggles with his love life. I’d read the next one, if Mr. Gordon has one in him.

[Anthony Blanc · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one of a series based on the exploits of Joe The Bouncer - self explanatory. I am not one to read more than one of a series and this is no exception. A fast paced drama and it was the Title that drew me in! Without giving too much away, The Pigeon plays a relatively minor part but if you like cops and crooks, you’ll enjoy this one. All in all an entertaining read.

[Jon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Certainly not the best in the series, but still worth a read. Uses some time-worn plot constructions (setting the enemies against themselves, city-wide bounty) but never gets too predictable. The romance takes a bit of a backseat, which is okay by me.

[Senthilkumar Gopal · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. Got this as a kindle free read. This is my first Joe Brody book. The first half is a bit slow and could have been edited a lot better. The second half, once it catches speed on the chase, builds really well and ends on a high.

[Matt Hurlburt · Rating 2 out of 5]

What happened?

I have really enjoyed the previous books in this series, but the writing in this one felt like an exposition-heavy first novel. This installment left me cold and uninterested in future Joe adventures.

[Patrick Schultheis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another great book in this series. The characters are terrific and the plot was fun

[Mickardo · Rating 5 out of 5]

don’t miss this one!

What a delightful tale of mayhem. Tongue in cheek action yarn with some might good dialogue. Most entertaining I’ve recently read.

[JoAnn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Was a bit disappointed, but Mr. Gordon stays true to the protagonist and his dilemmas. Looking forward to the next installment of Joe’s life.

[Tj · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the most fun series going. Over the top funny crime- the love of Elmore Leonard so apparent. Enjoyed that this entire story was built around a red herring/pigeon.

[Najaf Naqvi · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.3

[Barbara · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read like a novel with Damon Runyon characters running around. Started to get interesting from page 300 to the end.

[Chick Marks · Rating 5 out of 5]

Characters are lots of fun as are their interactions.

[Johnathan McAllister · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cool book about dude who needs to find a expensive pigeon but its not that easy. Bro fights a bunch of bad guys and stuff

[Pamela · Rating 4 out of 5]

As always, a bit unbelievable, but oh so much fun.

[Frank K · Rating 4 out of 5]

Didn’t love the “emotional Donna” story arch in this one but overall. 4.5⭐️

[Chefanutti · Rating 4 out of 5]

There’s not as much pigeon involvement as the title suggests, but this book is tons of fun

[Judy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gordon knows how to spin a good yarn in a madcap tale of crooks and cops.

[Chaya · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is my first dip into the "Joe the Bouncer" series of novels, and it did not disappoint. Joe is a hard-boiled kind of guy, an ex-Army man caught up in the mob's business. His task in this novel is to retrieve an expensive pigeon from his boss's nemesis. On this mission he uncovers dastardly deeds and dangerous dudes. The story is well-paced with some cool twists and turns. Joe himself is a crooked but charming character. Solid crime thriller.

[Bridget · Rating 4 out of 5]

I admit this is the first book in the series that I've read, but it was a lot of fun! A cross between The Sopranos and John Wick in book form. Perfect summer read, and now I have to go read the rest!