House Reckoning: A Joe DeMarco Thriller (The Joe DeMarco Thrillers, 9) - Hardcover

Mike Lawson is a former senior civilian executive for the U.S. Navy. He is the author of eight previous novels starring Joe DeMarco.

Fans of Lawson’s fine Joe DeMarco novels will know that Joe’s father, Gino, worked for a New York Mafia don, that he was murdered, and that the murder was never solved. But when the don’s aged underboss learns that he is dying of cancer, he tells Joe the murderer’s identity—the current NYPD commissioner, who has just been nominated to run the FBI. He also tells Joe that Gino was the don’s hit man. Reeling from both revelations, Joe wrestles with ending the man’s career or ending his life. At the heart of this series have always been DeMarco’s bone-deep cynicism; his relationship with his boss, conniving, lecherous, alcoholic House minority leader John Mahoney; and often-hilarious portrayals of congressional chicanery. This time, though, those elements are largely abandoned. Joe is alone in New York, hunted by every cop in the city, and blinded by rage. Readers accustomed to outrageous but almost plausible political knavery may be disappointed, but House Reckoning is a fine thriller with a tense, twisting plot and a sociopathic villain worthy of a seat in the House. --Thomas Gaughan