GATEKEEPER

A bit older, a tad slower, a shade more New England dour, Special Agent Joe Gunther (The Sniper’s Wife, 2002, etc.) chases a passel of wannabe druglords as entertainingly as ever.

The Vermont Bureau of Investigation, where Joe is second in command, is still wet behind the ears as law-enforcement bodies go, causing more established bodies to tread warily around it. Converts have been made, but because Joe knows that “observing turf” remains the order of the day, he absolutely hates it when a certain kind of politician holds a certain kind of press conference. The trafficking of heroin has had its day in the state of Vermont, trumpets Governor Jim Reynolds, up for reelection. The VBI—identified as an elite force uniquely qualified, indeed the governor’s special creation—will interdict the nasty stuff, he announces, as Joe winces at the sound of noses snapping out of joint. But Joe, who claims to despise the politics surrounding his job, is in truth a dab hand. Smart and sensitive, he placates the ruffled, prods the reluctant, and, aided and abetted by his “elite force,” sends the druggies to permanent detox, earning the thanks of a grateful governor—and incidentally solves a pair of attendant murders and, as usual, some knotty domestic problems as well.

Quiet, unassuming, yet charismatic, the ever-readable Sage of Brattleboro shines in his lucky 13th. Page-turner Joe, they call him.