It’s been
awhile since I checked in with Joe DeMarco, the sardonic Capitol Hill
troubleshooter, problem solver, and fixer created by Mike Lawson. In the 15th
book of the series DeMarco leaves his usual Washington, DC, environs and heads
west to Wyoming after he learns that a former girlfriend was shot in the small
town of Waverly. No suspects had been identified and the only motive considered
was robbery, as her purse and laptop were gone. His boss, the corrupt Congressman
John Mahoney, is on a factfinding mission to China, so Joe can slip out of the
office for a couple of days unnoticed.
Shannon Doyle
was in Wyoming to gather material for her next novel. She had been intrigued by
the standoff a few years earlier that occurred between a local rancher who
wanted to graze his herd on public lands without paying for it and the Bureau
of Land Management who decided to take a few cattle instead. The rancher and
his staff held the BLM personnel at gunpoint and eventually the government
backed down.
Feelings
against the BLM were still high and DeMarco learned that a BLM agent who had
been in the area to monitor public land usage had been killed a short time
before Shannon was shot and no one arrested. DeMarco wondered if there was a
connection. He discovered her diary, which no one knew she kept. It described
the town residents in some detail and Shannon’s dealings with them.
As usual,
DeMarco lost no time in annoying the locals. He was repeatedly invited to leave
town. After being mugged once, he decided to buy a bulletproof vest and hired
an investigator he’d worked with before to serve as bodyguard. But in the end,
even after all the ructions he caused, it was the FBI who solved Shannon
Doyle’s murder, not DeMarco.
Mike Lawson reliably
turns out one good book after another. They each have a fast-moving, complex
story with cynical asides from the jaded DeMarco and insights into the inner
workings of the Federal government. Sometimes when a long-running series takes
the main character away from his usual haunts, the story falters because the character
relies on the world around it for definition. Perhaps because the Federal
government is still present in the form of the BLM, this book doesn’t have that
flaw. I am still in two minds about the ending, though, which was more than a
little unexpected.
Recommended, especially for fans of political
thrillers.
Amazon Associate Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/3wMbXST
·
Publisher: Atlantic Monthly Press;
First Edition (April 6, 2021)
·
Language: English
·
Hardcover: 304 pages
·
ISBN-10: 0802158560
·
ISBN-13: 978-0802158567
Aubrey Nye Hamilton ©2024
Aubrey Hamilton is a former librarian who works
on Federal It projects by day and reads mysteries at night.
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