House Divided

Starred review from May 9, 2011
In Lawson's excellent sixth Joe DeMarco thriller (after House Justice), DeMarco, the fix-it man for womanizing, alcoholic John Mahoney, the Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, discovers he can get into serious trouble all on his own without the help of Mahoney, who spends this entry offstage in the hospital. When DeMarco's pious hospice nurse cousin, Paul Russo, is shot to death near the Iwo Jima Memorial, the position of the bodyâhalf on federal park property, half on an Arlington County sidewalkâpresents a jurisdictional problem that's soon settled in favor of the feds. DeMarco, who barely knew his cousin and would rather be playing golf, finds himself unwittingly drawn into the mystery of Paul's murder and eventually a target of the NSA, the FBI, and the CIA. Readers will enjoy watching the smart, funny DeMarco, who's wise to the ways of Washington, as he extricates himself from one deadly threat after another.

March 1, 2011

A cousin's death draws D.C. fixer Joe DeMarco away from the golf course and into a case that teaches him much about how the war on terror is fought in this entertaining thriller from Lawson (House Justice, 2010, etc.).

With his boss in the hospital for gall bladder surgery and his girlfriend in Afghanistan on a secret mission for the CIA, DeMarco looks forward to time on the links. So he's annoyed when he has to settle his second cousin's will. Perhaps because he just wants to hit some balls, DeMarco ignores suspicious details surrounding his cousin's death. First, the cousin, Paul Russo, was shot in the head early in the morning at the Iwo Jima Memorial. Then, Russo's landlady tells DeMarco, the FBI searched Russo's apartment after his death. And a woman at the hospice where Paul was a nurse says the FBI confiscated his office computer. The FBI, meanwhile, who have jurisdiction over the case since the shooting occurred on federal property, waste no time cremating Russo's remains and suggest he was the victim of a drug deal gone bad. What DeMarco doesn't know is that his cousin's death connected to the war on terror and that the NSA, the FBI and the Pentagon want the matter covered up. Gen. Charles Bradford, for one, dispatches a man to take out the witnesses to Russo's murder. And at the National Security Agency, Claire Whiting suspects the FBI is holding back on something with the Russo case. DeMarco, meanwhile, having learned his cousin was gay, talks to an ex-boyfriend, who's in a hurry to leave town. The boyfriend finally admits Paul had acquired information that put his life in danger. Now unable to deny something's afoot, DeMarco heads into a case that finds government agencies fighting and shadowing each other.

Some stodgy exposition aside, the case moves at a nice clip and the manner and methods of the war within the war on terror are fascinating.

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May 1, 2011

When the National Security Agency intercepts radio traffic recording the assassination of two Americans, the stage is set for a showdown with the Department of Defense. However, one of the victims was the distant cousin of Joe DeMarco, a fixer for the Speaker of the House, and Joe learns that the man had a secret that may have led to his murder. This is a serviceable entry (after the excellent House Justice) in an overall superior series, but some of the edge and humor are missing this time around.

Copyright 2011 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from May 15, 2011
Joe DeMarco, fixer for Speaker of the House John Fitzpatrick Mahoney, is shrewd, tough, discreet, and resourceful. In Lawsons fine series (House Justice, 2010), DeMarco has kept the speaker free of scandal and solved crimes that threatened national security. But when he innocently becomes embroiled in a high-tech joust between the supersecret National Security Agency and the Pentagon, DeMarco realizes hes a mere babe in the woods. NSA is listeningillegallyto all domestic communications, and they pick up a hint that someone in the military has murdered a civilian who happens to be a distant relative of DeMarcos. Joe simply wants to settle his late relatives estate, but hes soon being surveilled by satellites and bugs in his clothes, home, and car; coerced by NSA operatives and threatened by a bent FBI agent; and targeted by army snipers. Lawson creates multifaceted characters, notably a top NSA administrator who is directing domestic eavesdropping and a chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff who is having people murdered at home and abroad: both are patriots, acting to prevent another 9/11, but lack faith in our elected leaders. The pacing is relentless, and Lawsons speculations about NSAs electronic spying capabilities are fascinating. House Divided is a great thriller; it also seems nearly plausible and, thus, is deeply sobering.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2011, American Library Association.)