House Justice [Kindle Edition]

Mike Lawson (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

After the head of the CIA, Jake LaFountaine, gives a secret briefing to a group of congressional leaders in Lawson's engaging fifth thriller featuring fix-it man Joe DeMarco (after House Secrets), someone leaks the information to the press. This slip results in the brutal killing of CIA agent Mahata Javadi (one of the bravest persons I ever met, LaFountaine tells a room full of reporters), who was working undercover in Iran. John Fitzpatrick Mahoney, Speaker of the House of Representatives and Washington's premier political puppet master, tasks DeMarco with finding the leaker. Despite three wild cards confounding the search—a Russian mobster, the wealthy head of a technology company, and a mysterious killer bent on revenge—DeMarco manages to remain alive and get himself a fabulous new girlfriend. The always present push and pull between the political machinations of alcoholic, egotistical Mahoney and De Marco's basic decency raises the ethical stakes. (July)
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From Booklist

*Starred Review* An American spy in Iran is exposed by a female journalist, and the spy is tortured, then executed. Enraged, the director of Central Intelligence blames the leak on Congress. Speaker of the House John Fitzpatrick Mahoney isn’t sure who leaked the information, but he’s certain the journalist, jailed for refusing to name her source, will spill the beans about their one-night stand 20 years earlier. Mahoney summons Joe DeMarco, his personal gumshoe and fixer, to identify the leaker and keep the journalist from embarrassing him. Lawson’s tight, high-energy prose drives a plot with more turns than the Burma Road, as DeMarco finds himself surrounded by sleazy legislators, CIA spooks, Russian gangsters, FBI agents, assorted hit men, a misanthropic billionaire, a SoCal surfer/computer-gamer/millionaire, and a mysterious Iranian florist hell-bent on avenging the murdered spy. Some two dozen characters, major and minor, are introduced, and Lawson makes all of them memorable; whatever their background—Congress, espionage, Russian organized crime, or American business—they all behave exactly as their culture dictates they must. The dialogue is sharp, cynical, and often funny, but the book succeeds because of its characters. Readers may reasonably wonder if these twisted individuals and the bent cultures that animate them might be shaping our lives. A superb example of the post–cold war espionage novel. --Thomas Gaughan

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Product Details

• Format: Kindle Edition
• File Size: 2633 KB
• Publisher: Atlantic Monthly Press (June 1, 2010)
• Sold by: Amazon Digital Services
• Language: English
• ASIN: B003TFELFS
• Text-to-Speech: Enabled
• Lending: Enabled
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #53,432 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Lawson disappoints here, falls down on the job rather a bit, August 23, 2010

By 

Dr. Lester Hoffman (NYC) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: House Justice: A Joe DeMarco Thriller (Hardcover)

I'm a big Mike Lawson fan ... and so it pains me to say that this newest entry is, IMHO, nowhere nearly as good as the previous ones. First, there are simply too many subplots thrown at the reader one after the other early on.

Second of all, Mahoney has a much smaller role than in previous books in the series, and even that is rather contrived, about a long-ago affair.

Also, two of my favorite Lawson characters, Emma and Neil, have minimal roles here - they were always fun and interesting.

And there is only minimal about congressional politicking, which was always the beef of the prior books, and often quite fascinating.

Finally, there is simply way too much of these brutal Russian mafia guys, who are only minimally distinguished as character types from one another.

Sorry, Mike, this one just does not do it for me - I finished it only because I'm a Joe Demarco fan, but even he is less alive, less scared, less outrageous, less funny, less goofy even, than in the previous books.

Come'on, Mike, don't let me down in the next one in the series!

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars "Before you embark on a journey of revenge, dig two graves.", May 27, 2010

By 

Luan Gaines "luansos" (Dana Point, CA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: House Justice: A Joe DeMarco Thriller (Hardcover)

What begins as the usual Joe De Marco coverup on behalf of his boss, Speaker of the House, John Fitzpatrick Mahoney, explodes into a complex plot of murder and mayhem, all beneath the radar of law enforcement. De Marco is a fixer for the Speaker, an off-the-record employee whose only real job is to do the dirty work for his powerful boss, within limits. But in this thriller, which begins with a leak, a newspaper story of a clandestine meeting to sell Iran missile technology and the tragic death of a dedicated spy in Iran,
De Marco finds himself embroiled in the shady world of spycraft, the CIA's reaction to the loss of one of their own and the clandestine activities of the Russian mob in America.

De Marco is dispatched to deal with the reporter who has chosen jail in order to protect her sources. Over-the-hill and desperate for a book deal, Sandra Whitmore demands Mahoney's help via the threat of revealing a past indiscretion. Hoping to work his magic and make the problem go away, De Marco steps into a morass of complicated agendas, a CIA director who wants revenge, a brutal Russian mobster who has been bleeding a company dry, a surfer-tech genius whose greed has left him vulnerable, a beautiful CIA agent who wants to make her bones and make a difference in the war on terror and a silent, deliberative killer who stalks De Marco from one source to another, a pile of dead bodies in his wake.

For all the drama and the danger, there is a grim irony in Lawson's novel, the characters a rogue's gallery of miscreants and patriots, from hired thugs and contract killers to the cold-eyed Russian who hovers below the radar of federal attention until the botched Iran deal. And while De Marco is the link between these disparate folk, from mob muscle to corrupt individuals courting personal gain, it is the solitary killer who remains the key, who tortures and kills with impunity but saves De Marco from another's bullet. House Justice is a wild ride through unpredictable territory, from the CIA's passion for revenge to the Russian thug, each link in the chain that led to the spy's demise eliminated. Washington politics seem tame compared to this tale, but greed and corruption breed at the heart of it all. Luan Gaines/2010.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A CAN'T PUT DOWN READ, July 13, 2011

By 

lois walker "BOOKNUT" (MICHIGAN) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: House Justice: A Joe DeMarco Thriller (Joe DeMarco Thrillers) (Mass Market Paperback)

This is the fourth book I've read by Mike Lawson. I'm pretty fussy when it comes to books, but have found each
and every one of Lawson's book extremely entertaining with just the right amount of Washington insight, humor,
and just good old fashioned suspense and action. Can't believe that I've never heard of him berfore. With so
little info about the author, I suspect that the books are the work of someone with a name I'd recognize Whatever,
I've found all of his books a great read and he's now right up there with my favorite legal thrillers. The plots
move right along. The characters are interesting. I'm glad I found this author whoever he is.