Aubrey Nye Hamilton Reviews: House Standoff by Mike Lawson

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 15^th 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.

Aubrey Nye Hamilton Reviews: House Justice by Mike Lawson

Mike Lawson spent most of his career working on nuclear submarines and ships for the U.S. Navy in the Pacific Northwest. When he retired, he decided to write about what he knew, which was the U.S. Government. He created Joe DeMarco, a lawyer and trouble-shooter for the Speaker of the House, as Counsel Pro Tem for Liaison Affairs, based in Washington, DC. DeMarco has appeared in 15 political thrillers since 2005. Five different titles in the series have been shortlisted for the Barry Award and a sixth for the Edgar.

In the fifth book about the political fixer, House Justice (Grove/Atlantic Press, 2010), DeMarco’s at the top of his game, looking for the person who leaked a story that caused the savage death of a valuable spy in Tehran. The journalist who scooped the story refuses to cite her source and she’s imprisoned for contempt of court. From her jail cell, where she’s planning the book based on her experience and the subsequent television appearances, she appeals to DeMarco’s hard-drinking boss Speaker of the House John Mahoney. Either he gets her out of jail or she blows the whistle on their affair of 20 years before. The CIA is also hot on the trail of the informant, as well as someone else who keeps tagging behind DeMarco, waiting for him to find the spiller of the beans.

A fast-moving story that does not lag despite its length. Significant insider detail gives the story a ripped from the headlines of the Washington Post feel. The conflict between the two agency directors protecting their respective territories is most realistic. A slick kidnapping performed by Russian thugs and an even better escape from a moving car on a mountain road. The characters are terrific. Mahoney is an underhanded and womanizing politician who slips out of his office on Capitol Hill to watch the nearby elementary school baseball games and serve as umpire when one is needed. DeMarco tends to stand back and watch the circus antics of those around him while he focuses on the job and ties up loose ends.

Most fans of political thrillers have already discovered Lawson so I am recommending this title for anyone in need of some good contemporary escapism.

Starred review from Booklist.

·         Hardcover: 388 pages

·         Publisher: Grove/Atlantic Monthly Press; First Edition (June 1, 2010)

·         Language: English

·         ISBN-10: 0802119379

·         ISBN-13: 9780802119377

Aubrey Nye Hamilton ©2021

Aubrey Hamilton is a former librarian who works on Federal It projects by day and reads mysteries at night.

Bookblog of the Bristol Library: Mike Lawson, reviewed by Doris Stickley

Bookblog of the Bristol Library: Mike Lawson, reviewed by Doris Stickley: Last week, the Bristol Public Library lost a beloved member of our family, Doris Stickley . In her role as Marketing Director, she was the ...