Joe DeMarco

Upcoming: THE OPERATOR by Mike Lawson (Atlantic Crime)

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Congressional fixer Joe DeMarco’s misadventures in and around Washington and America’s politics continue! Now, though, he’s pitted against a merciless, far better-resourced opposing fixer…

In February 2027, Atlantic Crime are due to publish The Operator, the 20th novel in Mike Lawson‘s excellent series — an incredible milestone for the series and author. This has been a favourite series of mine ever since I read DeMarco’s debut outing, The Inside Ring, so every new volume is something to celebrate. Here’s the synopsis:

It’s fixer versus fixer, and only one can win…

Joe DeMarco is a capable man. He works as a fixer for John Mahoney, the former Speaker of the House (though DeMarco prefers the term “troubleshooter”). He’s the one Mahoney calls upon when there’s a situation that requires creative problem solving.

Carla Andretti — a cutthroat lawyer at one of the world’s top firms — is a fixer too. On behalf of the ultra-wealthy tech-mogul Leo Cage, Carla helps her boss conquer whatever he desires, even if she too must bend the law to make it happen.

When one of Leo’s schemes begins to crumble, it threatens to expose them both on a massive scale, forcing Carla to do what she does best: fix the situation. In order to keep her and Leo’s names clean, she’ll have to go after the people responsible for the unraveling. The only problem? Joe DeMarco’s onto her — and he knows all too well the tricks of the trade.

Can’t wait to read this.

While I’m waiting, I could of course get caught up on a few of the author’s novels that I have (inexplicably) yet to get around to: Redemption (a stand-alone thriller) and the Kay Hamilton series — Rosarito Beach, Viking Bay, and K-Street — which were published under the pseudonym M. A. Lawson.

Mike Lawson’s The Operator is due to be published by Atlantic Crime in North America, on February 16th, 2027.

Also on CR: Reviews of House Rules/Dead on Arrival, House Secrets/Dead Man’s List, House Justice, House Divided, House Blood, House Odds, House Reckoning, House Rivals, and The Asset

Follow the Author: Website, Goodreads

Quick Review: THE ASSET by Mike Lawson (Atlantic Crime)

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Another solid addition to the Joe DeMarco series, involving blackmail with potentially international repercussions…

In the middle of the night, on a winding road in a suburb outside of Washington D.C., a homeless veteran is killed in a hit-and-run — a tragedy that barely catches the attention of the media and police.

Days later, John Mahoney, the former Speaker of the House, is confronted by Diane Lake, an ex-CIA agent turned political researcher with a knack for digging up unsavory intelligence on some of D.C.’s biggest players. Diane is there with a gift for Mahoney: the news that Lydia Chang, the wife of one of his biggest rivals, might be working undercover as a Chinese agent.

Knowing it’s too early to get the FBI involved, Mahoney does the only thing left to do. He calls in Joe DeMarco.

DeMarco might not have the title of political researcher, but he’s no stranger to digging up dirt either. As DeMarco starts his investigation, he soon learns there’s a lot more going on than Mahoney suspected, and instead of answers, all he finds are more questions. Who’s the mysterious man Lydia Chang has been meeting in the park? Does Diane Lake have an ulterior motive? And why does everything point back to a random hit-and-run?

The Asset is the 19th novel in Lawson’s excellent and acclaimed Joe DeMarco series. I’ve been a fan since the very beginning (2005’s The Inner Circle), and each new novel is a must-read for me. I started reading this new novel as soon as I received the review copy, and I zipped through it. I really enjoyed this. Continue reading →

Upcoming: THE ASSET by Mike Lawson (Atlantic Crime)

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In February, Atlantic Crime will publish The Asset, the 19th novel in Mike Lawson‘s Joe DeMarco series. I’ve been a fan of the series ever since stumbling across the first book, The Inside Ring, at Waterstones in Durham back in 2006 (I think). After that, and while still in the UK, finding additional DeMarco novels was something of a challenge — not all of them were published in a timely fashion. But, luckily, I spent a lot of time over the next couple of decades in New York and then in Canada, and have been able to keep up-to-date easily. Lawson is one of my favourite authors, and each new book of his is a must-read. Here’s the synopsis for The Asset:

Backchannel intel points Joe DeMarco in the direction of a possible double agent in the latest pulse-pounding thriller from Edgar and Barry Award finalist Mike Lawson starring his beloved Washington DC troubleshooter.

In the middle of the night, on a winding road in a suburb outside of Washington D.C., a homeless veteran is killed in a hit-and-run — a tragedy that barely catches the attention of the media and police.

Days later, John Mahoney, the former Speaker of the House, is confronted by Diane Lake, an ex-CIA agent turned political researcher with a knack for digging up unsavory intelligence on some of D.C.’s biggest players. Diane is there with a gift for Mahoney: the news that Lydia Chang, the wife of one of his biggest rivals, might be working undercover as a Chinese agent.

Knowing it’s too early to get the FBI involved, Mahoney does the only thing left to do. He calls in Joe DeMarco.

DeMarco might not have the title of political researcher, but he’s no stranger to digging up dirt either. As DeMarco starts his investigation, he soon learns there’s a lot more going on than Mahoney suspected, and instead of answers, all he finds are more questions. Who’s the mysterious man Lydia Chang has been meeting in the park? Does Diane Lake have an ulterior motive? And why does everything point back to a random hit-and-run?

If you’re a fan of US political thrillers, then I’d highly recommend Lawson’s novels. The Asset is due to be published by Atlantic Crime on February 3rd, 2026.

Also on CR: Reviews of Dead on Arrival, House Secrets, House Justice, House Divided, House Blood, House Reckoning, House Rivals, and House Arrest

Follow the Author: Website, Goodreads

Review: HOUSE RECKONING and HOUSE RIVALS by Mike Lawson (Grove/Atlantic)

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LawsonM-JD09-HouseReckoningThe ninth and tenth Joe DeMarco novels

When Joe DeMarco was a boy, he always knew his father, Gino, had a shadowy job, working for a violent mafioso in New York. But he didn’t know that his father had been a hit man until he was murdered. The crime was never solved, but twenty years later, one of Gino’s former mob associates wants to get something off his chest before retiring to his grave: the truth about Gino DeMarco’s killer.

Only the alleged killer was not just another hood, but a supposedly upstanding citizen who is now on the brink of taking a job in Washington, D.C., that would leave him virtually untouchable. If DeMarco has any hope of finding out the truth and avenging his father’s death, he will have to act quickly. But is revenge over a two-decades-old tragedy worth his job, and maybe even his life?

House Reckoning tells DeMarco’s personal story in full for the first time, from his upbringing in Queens to his complicated relationship with his father.

Mike Lawson’s Joe DeMarco novels are among my favourite political thrillers. The series has been pretty varied so far, taking DeMarco all over the map. In these two novels, something from his past takes him to New York City and something in his boss’s past (and a fanatical offspring) takes him to the Dakotas and Montana. Another two great additions to the series.
Continue reading →

“House Odds” by Mike Lawson (Atlantic)

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The Latest Joe DeMarco Political Thriller

Washington D.C. fixer Joe DeMarco has been asked to handle a lot of difficult situations over the years for his boss, congressman John Mahoney. But nothing has ever been quite so politically sensitive, or has hit so close to home, as the task Mahoney hands DeMarco now.

Mahoney’s daughter, Molly, has been arrested and charged with insider trading. An engineer with a high-flying technology firm, she allegedly placed a half-million dollar bet on one of the firm’s clients. DeMarco’s job is to clear Molly’s name and keep his boss clean. But how did Molly get her hands on so much money to invest in the first place? Before long, DeMarco uncovers that there’s far more to Molly’s case than meets the eye, and the risk to Mahoney is more than just a little political embarrassment.

In this eighth novel featuring Congressional fixer Joe DeMarco, we get a look at the sordid underbelly of Beltway politics, complete with manipulative gangsters and politicians, crooks and thieves. I’m a big fan of this series, ever since I read the first in the series, The Inside Ring in a single day. Each new novel has been an addictive, well-written and expertly-plotted thriller. House Odds is no exception. Continue reading →

Quick Review: HOUSE BLOOD by Mike Lawson (Atlantic Monthly Press)

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The latest Joe DeMarco thriller

Orson Mulray, CEO of Mulray Pharma, a cold and calculating man obsessed with profit and prestige. Mulray believes he has discovered a drug that could prevent a previously incurable disease. It could be the salvation of millions of people and make him billions of dollars. But the drug needs to be tested on human subjects and Mulray needs more than blood samples – he needs autopsy results.

Lizzie Warwick, a naive philanthropist who provides relief to third-world victims of wars and natural disasters, is the ideal tool. But then her D.C. lobbyist uncovers the plan, so Mulray has him killed and frames his partner, Brian Kincaid, for the murder.

Two years later, DeMarco is asked to look into the seemingly hopeless case but he has other things on his mind: his powerful boss, John Mahoney, has been ousted from his position as Speaker of the House; his girlfriend has left him; and his friend Emma may be dying. DeMarco has no expectation of freeing Kincaid – and he certainly doesn’t expect to become the target of two of the most ruthless killers he and Emma have ever encountered.

House Blood, the seventh novel in the Joe DeMarco series, is another great thriller from Lawson. Filled with political and international intrigue, and populated by three-dimensional and engaging characters, it fulfilled and even exceeded my expectations. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this novel. Continue reading →

Quick Review: HOUSE DIVIDED by Mike Lawson (Atlantic Monthly Press)

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A rogue general, illegal wire-taps, and DeMarco’s stuck in the Middle…

With his boss out of commission, Joe DeMarco is on his own, a sacrificial pawn in a lethal game between a master spy and a four-star army general.

When the NSA was caught wiretapping U.S. citizens without warrants, a scandal erupted and the program came to a screeching halt. But the man who spearheaded the most sophisticated eavesdropping operation in history wasn’t about to sit by while his country sleepwalked into another 9/11. Instead, he moved the program into the shadows. So when the NSA records a rogue military group murdering two American civilians, they can’t exactly walk over to the Pentagon and demand to know what’s going on. That doesn’t mean their hands are tied, however. As the largest intelligence service in the country, both in money and manpower, they have plenty of options — mostly illegitimate.

DeMarco learns all too well just what the NSA is capable of, but he doesn’t like being used…

I’ve been a fan of Lawson’s DeMarco series ever since I read The Inside Ring. House Divided is the sixth book in the series, and it is quite possibly the best yet. Certainly a series that deserves far more attention than it receives. Continue reading →

Quick Review: HOUSE JUSTICE by Mike Lawson (Atlantic Monthly Press)

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A press-leak, a CIA asset killed, a quest for vengeance and accountability

An American defence contractor attempts to sell US missile technology to the Iranians — and the CIA knows all about it thanks to a spy in Tehran. But then the story is leaked to an ambitious journalist and the spy is exposed, brutally tortured, and executed.

Furious, CIA Director Jake LaFountaine isn’t about to let the death of his spy go unpunished. A valuable asset has been callously sacrificed, and he’s going to find out who did it no matter how many rules he has to break. DeMarco’s boss, Speaker of the House John Fitzpatrick Mahoney has his own reasons to get to the bottom of the leak: he once had a fling with the journalist, and now that she’s in jail for refusing to reveal her source, she’s threatening to expose their affair unless he helps get her out.

DeMarco and the CIA aren’t the only ones looking for the source of the leak. Someone else wants to avenge the spy’s death and is tailing DeMarco, hoping DeMarco will lead him to his prey. Continue reading →

Quick Review: HOUSE SECRETS by Mike Lawson (Atlantic Monthly Press)

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Joe DeMarco investigates the death of a reporter

It all begins with a simple request from the Speaker, Joe’s hard-drinking, glad-handing political boss from Boston, John Fitzpatrick Mahoney. One of Mahoney’s old colleagues has doubts about the supposed accidental death of his son, a middling newspaper reporter who had claimed, in the days before his death, that he had an incredibly hot story. But then again, he always said things like that, and nothing ever panned out. Mahoney just wants DeMarco to turn over some rocks around Washington and see what crawls out.

It turns out the reporter was on the trail of Senator Paul Morelli, the handsome and gifted rising star from New York, considered a shoo-in for his party’s presidential nomination. Some politicians are lucky, Morelli just happened to be luckier than most, but his opponents’ scandals and accidents had already been scrutinized and he looks clean. It seems like there’s nothing for DeMarco to do. But then some very dangerous things start to crawl out from under the rocks he’s turned over.

Dirty secrets, beltway politics, and divided loyalties threaten as DeMarco’s investigation spirals dangerously out of control, pulling in freelance operatives, intelligence figures, D.C. locals, a sinister chief of staff, and characters from his past in New York.

In House Secrets, a retired congressman, Richard Finley, has asked Speaker of the House John Mahoney to look into the death of Terry Finley, his son and a reporter who covered politics for the Washington Post. Mahoney sends his ever-reluctant bagman, Joe DeMarco, to investigate; more to do a favour for Finley, as Mahoney (and the cops, coroner, and to begin with DeMarco) believes Terry’s death was an accident. Continue reading →

Quick Review: DEAD ON ARRIVAL by Mike Lawson (Harper Collins)

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Political Thriller done right!

Joe DeMarco is back and the corridors of power have never felt so deadly…

First a bomb attack on the Baltimore Harbour tunnel is averted. Then a young American Muslim is shot down in a Cessna plane whilst trying to drive it into The Whitehouse.

What follows is chaos as a ruthless senator tries to pass a xenophobic law that will see non-citizen Muslims deported and extensive background checks on all Muslims living in the US carried out immediately.

Speaker of the house John Mahoney wants nothing to do with the bill being pushed through. He knows all to well what trouble a law like that could stir up, and what’s worse he knows the kid who tried to crash the plane into the White House.

Enter Joe DeMarco, a man with a shady past, a lawyer who has never practised law. He’s charged with investigating the attacks but there’s a twist to the attempted mass destruction, something the FBI didn’t even see, and suddenly at every turn DeMarco faces a new and terrifying danger…

Mike Lawson’s debut, The Inside Ring (2006) introduced us to Joe DeMarco, trouble-shooter for the Speaker of the US Congress, Mahoney. Called on to do all the jobs the Speaker doesn’t want publicised, DeMarco works in the dirty underbelly of US politics (not to mention having an office in the basement). In this, the third novel in the series (titled House Rules in North America) The novel is told primarily from the perspective of DeMarco and the Speaker (who’s actually an awesome character, so his increased presence here is definitely welcome), providing insight into both the public and private workings of the US government. Continue reading →