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Rating: 
Summary: Fine Joe Gunther Vermont police procedural
Review: The Governor of Vermont directs his state's Bureau of Investigation to enter the war against drugs when recent crimes shows a massive increase in drug trafficking. The interrelationships between the various layers of police forces fail to unite as dissonance over jurisdiction rules. Desperate to carry out his state's executive officer's order, VBI Second in Command Joe Gunther sends Detective Sammie Martens undercover as drug distributor Greta Novak. She persuades the Massachusetts mob that runs the Vermont business that she is the right person to organize trafficking in an efficient and effective manner.Meanwhile a convenience store robbery leads to the discovery that Laurie Davis, niece of Joe's long-time lover, has been committing armed robberies to support her heroin habit. Now Laurie is in a coma in Brattleboro Hospital as this time the storekeeper shot her. Another VBI detective Lester Spinney realizes that in spite of his occupation, his teenage son is a user. To VBI, the war on drugs has turned personal. The Joe Gunther police procedurals can always be counted on to provide the audience with an insightful look at law enforcement. GATEKEEPER is an entertaining look at the war on drugs from a state, local, and personal perspective (wonder what happened to the federal war - did we declare victory?). Though not quite as exciting as some of Joe's previous cases, readers will appreciate the deep look at jurisdiction issues, the drug pyramid scheme, and how no family, even those of cops, seems immune from usage. GATEKEEPER is a strong tale that would be the best of most sub-genre authors, but more at the B+ level for superstar Archer Mayor. Harriet Klausner
Rating:
Summary: Fine Joe Gunther Vermont police procedural
Review: The Governor of Vermont directs his state's Bureau of Investigation to enter the war against drugs when recent crimes shows a massive increase in drug trafficking. The interrelationships between the various layers of police forces fail to unite as dissonance over jurisdiction rules. Desperate to carry out his state's executive officer's order, VBI Second in Command Joe Gunther sends Detective Sammie Martens undercover as drug distributor Greta Novak. She persuades the Massachusetts mob that runs the Vermont business that she is the right person to organize trafficking in an efficient and effective manner. Meanwhile a convenience store robbery leads to the discovery that Laurie Davis, niece of Joe's long-time lover, has been committing armed robberies to support her heroin habit. Now Laurie is in a coma in Brattleboro Hospital as this time the storekeeper shot her. Another VBI detective Lester Spinney realizes that in spite of his occupation, his teenage son is a user. To VBI, the war on drugs has turned personal. The Joe Gunther police procedurals can always be counted on to provide the audience with an insightful look at law enforcement. GATEKEEPER is an entertaining look at the war on drugs from a state, local, and personal perspective (wonder what happened to the federal war - did we declare victory?). Though not quite as exciting as some of Joe's previous cases, readers will appreciate the deep look at jurisdiction issues, the drug pyramid scheme, and how no family, even those of cops, seems immune from usage. GATEKEEPER is a strong tale that would be the best of most sub-genre authors, but more at the B+ level for superstar Archer Mayor. Harriet Klausner
Rating:
Summary: Series Continues: "Gatekeeper" by Archer Mayor
Review: This installment of the ongoing series finds Joe Gunther as head of the Vermont Bureau of Investigation acting more as a politician and less as an investigator. It isn't a role he relishes but has little choice when the Governor forces him into a political square box.
It begins when a convenience store owner, during the course of a robbery, shoots a young woman inside his store. The severely wounded young woman is Laurie Davis, drug addict, and the niece of Joe Gunther's longtime girlfriend, Gail Zigman. As fans of this series already know, they have had an on again off again relationship for years that has survived numerous personal crises. The shooting of her niece brings up guilt as well as painful old memories for Gail and deeply strains their relationship.
Drugs play a role in another case out of Rutland, Vermont. Unlike the situation regarding Gail's niece, this case has the Governor's full attention. Not only was a dealer by the name of James Hollowell found dead, his body hanging from a bridge, the body of his girlfriend and user Sharon Lapierre was found dead in a nearby motel room. The deaths appear to be staged for some unknown reason and so far the local media hasn't made all the connections yet. The dead woman is the daughter of Roger Lapierre, party bigwig and moneyman. The Governor plans to use the VBI to solve the murder cases, stop the flow of drugs into Vermont, and generate plenty of positive press coverage.
Forced into a case that he does not believe should be handled by the VBI, Joe Gunther has no choice. He also has no choice but to accept the situation when one of his investigators, Sammie Martens, goes undercover without authorization and hooks up with a local supplier. They need answers fast and soon everything, both professionally and personally, spins out of control with potential disastrous consequences.
While billed on the jacket copy as another novel about Joe Gunther, much like "The Sniper's Wife" the focus in this book is primarily on everyone else. Beyond the occasional sermons about the evils of drugs and their addictive lure, heavy attention is given to the backstory surround Gail and Joe and how it relates to this case and the status of their relationship. Also too, heavy attention is given to the undercover actions of Sammie Martens almost to the point of being the major story line. For large sections of the 296-page book, she operates independently and in so doing, Joe is pushed to the background. The same is true for the sections revolving around the secondary storyline of young David Spinney and his friends who unknowingly being investigated by Lester Spinney, David's father and member of Joe Gunther's VBI team for their own possible drug use and possession.
The various storylines all work and slowly weave together. While the overall read is enjoyable, I read this series primarily for the Joe Gunther character. Much like the Bill Gastner series by Steven Havill, which just isn't the same anymore now that he has been pushed off of center stage, this novel isn't quite as good for the same reasons. Clearly there is nothing technically wrong with it. It just doesn't have enough of the namesake series character in it to make it the normally excellent read.
Gatekeeper
By Archer Mayor
Mysterious Press
www.twbookmark.com
2003
ISBN # 0-89296-766-8
Hardback
$23.95 US
$34.95 Canada
Kevin R. Tipple©2004
(yes, it is my real name)
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