The Inside Ring: A Joe DeMarco Thriller [Kindle Edition]

Mike Lawson (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The Washington conspiracy thriller is a publishing evergreen, and while Lawson's debut may look like others in the genre, it's in a league by itself. Joe DeMarco has a Capitol building office and the title of "Counsel Pro Tem for Liaison Affairs," but he's really an all-purpose legman for John Fitzpatrick Mahoney, Speaker of the House. In DeMarco's words: "If a politician thinks his wife is cheating on him, I make sure she's not screwing a journalist. That's the kind of stuff I do, sir. Little stuff." But he's pushed into a much bigger game after Mahoney lends him to the director of homeland security, who wants DeMarco to investigate a recent assassination attempt on the president. Of particular interest to the director is Secret Service agent Billy Ray Mattis, who predicted the assassination attempt. All the stock government types are here, but Lawson's craft, intelligence and humor turn these ho-hum regulars into characters worth savoring. DeMarco himself is perfectly human, prey to all the species' frailties and tremendously appealing. The bad guys are sufficiently evil, the plot properly labyrinthine, the solution to the mystery completely satisfying. This is high-level entertainment from a writer who could soon rise to the top of the thriller heap. Agent, David Gernert. Foreign rights to Germany, Holland, Israel, Poland and the U.K. (May)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

This exciting, danger-filled novel begins with an attempt on the life of the U.S. president; he survives, but there are two other fatalities. Days before the assassination attempt, Andy Banks, secretary of Homeland Security, received a note threatening the president's life. He passed the note on to the Secret Service, whose director ignored it. Now, Banks is wracked with guilt over the note and his failure to make anyone pay attention to it. He turns to the Speaker of the House, who knows a guy who solves problems without going through the usual political channels. That guy is Joe DeMarco, a fix-it man who's never dealt with something of quite this magnitude. When the Speaker sets him loose on the Secret Service director, DeMarco soon discovers that the world of politics is a heck of a lot more complex than he had ever suspected. The author, who was an "independent contractor" for the U.S. Navy, seems to know what he's talking about; and clearly DeMarco is being positioned as a series lead. So far so good. David Pitt
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Format: Kindle Edition
• File Size: 473 KB
• Publisher: Grove Press; Reprint edition (November 15, 2011)
• Sold by: Amazon Digital Services
• Language: English
• ASIN: B0061T1ZJ4
• Text-to-Speech: Enabled
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (39 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #17,372 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Combines action and humor to great effect, July 19, 2005

By 

Henry W. Wagner (Rockaway, NJ USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Inside Ring: A Novel (Hardcover)

One might reasonably assume that the action in any book that begins with the attempted assassination of a U.S. President might taper off a bit thereafter. In the case of The Inside Ring, however, you'd be dead wrong--the ride just keeps getting hairier as the story progresses.

Investigating the assassination attempt at the behest of Speaker of the House is attorney Joe DeMarco, a gifted troubleshooter whose byword is discretion. Although a viable suspect has already been identified, Speaker Mahoney is privy to inside information which suggests that there was more to the shooting than is readily apparent. Poking into the matter, DeMarco uncovers some troubling facts concerning Secret Service Director Patrick Donnelly and Agent Billy Mattis, a member of the unit assigned to protect the President on the day of the shooting. Backed up by a unique support system, Demarco doggedly pursues the truth, placing himself in jeopardy.


Although marred by some of Lawson's lazy habits (he's fond of describing characters as looking like one movie star or another), The Inside Ring is a great read, a book that combines action and humor to great effect. With a plot reminiscent of one John Grisham might cobble together, and a villain seemingly imported from one of John D. MacDonald's Travis MacGee books, Lawson's first effort provides a great jump off point for a series, which, judging from the publicity materials, was the author's intent. Readers will certainly clamor for future installments from Lawson, a welcome new presence on the thriller scene.

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Riveting Whodunit Thriller - Quirky Cast Of Characters!, June 6, 2005

By 

Jana L. Perskie "ceruleana" (New York, NY USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Inside Ring: A Novel (Hardcover)

From the adrenalin-charged Prologue, where a sniper takes three shots at the President of the United States, wounding him, and killing his best friend and a secret service agent, Michael Lawson's "The Inside Circle" provides a roller-coaster ride of a riveting read. This suspense thriller has a tautly written storyline involving political corruption, blatant abuse of government power, cover-ups at the highest levels, murder, incest, and a lurid gothic tale of a megalomaniac who rules his turf with an iron fist.

The sign on lawyer Joe DeMarco's office door, reads "Counsel Pro Tem For Liaison Affairs, J. DeMarco." The title was the invention of the Speaker of the House of Representatives, for whom Joe works. His job description reads "get it done guy." He is Speaker John Fitzgerald Mahoney's heavy, the man to go to when problems need to "be resolved" in a manner which cannot be associated with the Congressional offices. When Mahoney orders DeMarco to meet with Homeland Security Secretary Andy Banks, our appealing protagonist learns that Banks received a warning note concerning the assassination attempt days before the event occurred. The note was immediately passed on to Secret Service Director Patrick Donnelly, who obviously did not act on it. Banks asks DeMarco to investigate a secret service agent for possible complicity in the crime. The deeper Joe digs the more suspicious, unsubstantiated "non admissible evidence" he discovers. And none of the information points to the suspect who supposedly fired the shots - the man who conveniently committed suicide before further investigation could be conducted.

DeMarco is a terrific character, and his wit, (the author's really), honesty, resilience, along with the quirky crew he brings into the case to assist him, make the novel more unique than it would be ordinarily. After all, there is usually a glut of well-written political thrillers on the market. Joe's fact finding takes him from Washington, DC, to Georgia's Chattooga River, and finally, to a southern Georgia county which encompasses a big part of the Okefenokee Swamps. We travel with him through as many twists and turns a plot can take and still be navigable. I really enjoyed this chilling debut novel, loved the humor, and highly recommend it!
JANA

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Reasonbly solid thriller, June 17, 2005

By 

Jerry Saperstein (Evanston, IL USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Inside Ring: A Novel (Hardcover)

Michael Lawson has invented Joe DeMarco. Son of long-dead Mafia hit-man, DeMarco is a lawyer who can't land a job with a big-name law firm because of his father's reputation. This is an unfortunate plot device since we all know the children of major crooks of all kinds are highly employable in our society. But Lawson needs this hook to hang DeMarco from as becomes apparent in the telling of the story.

Rejected by polite society, DeMarco is employed by the Speaker of the House. See? I told you the children of crooks are highly employable. DeMarco operates as a fixer for the Speaker.

So when an assination of the President is attempted, the Secretary of Homeland Security turns to the Speaker for assistance in ferreting out the truth of the dastardly deed. See, the Secretary can't go to the FBI or Secret Service because they may be involved in the plot to kill the President. The "inside ring" refers to the circle of Secret Service agents closest to the President. Since the Secretary of Homeland Security was tipped in advance of the plot --- and ignored the warning --- he fears that the Secret Service is up to no good. The Director of the Secret Service is a close buddy of the FBI boss, so they're suspected as well.

Thus does lawyer Joe DeMarco single handedly set out to get to the bottom of the evil cabal.

Yes, the story is thin. But it's fun. Lawson is quite inventive and conjurs up a Southern baron who makes Faulkner's folks look normal. The characters don't have much depth, but Lawson does an excellent job with dialog. Lots of quick thinking, lots of derring-do and an assortment of weird living things not seen in most zoos.

All in all, a fun, enjoyable read and not a bad mystery as well.

Jerry