The Inside Ring, was selected by The Seattle Times as one of the ten top thrillers of 2005, received positive reviews in more than twenty publications, and is currently being published in ten countries. Publisher’s Weekly stated: “While Lawson’s debut may look like others in the genre, it’s in a league by itself.”
The book begins with an assassination attempt on the president. The president is wounded and his best friend and a Secret Service Agent are killed. General Andrew Banks, the Secretary of Homeland Security, received a note prior to the assassination attempt warning him that the president was in danger and that Secret Service agents guarding the president had been compromised. Immediately after the assassination attempt, a man claiming to be the assassin is found dead in his home.
General Banks is reluctant to tell the FBI about the warning note partly for self-serving political reasons and partly because he doesn’t want to damage the Secret Service’s reputation based on a note that might be a hoax. Banks requests help from his friend, House Speaker, John Mahoney, and Mahoney assigns his troubleshooter, DeMarco, to determine if the Secret Service was really involved in the assassination attempt. Mahoney’s motive for helping is not pure: the Director of the Secret Service is an old political enemy. (For more about the lead characters in my DeMarco books, see the “Behind the Books” section of this website.)
The novel moves at a breakneck pace and has plenty of humor as well as suspense. It snakes through the Department of Homeland Security, the FBI, the Secret Service, and ultimately leads back to one of the most enduring mysteries of the twentieth century.
The New York Daily News: The Inside Ring is thrilling enough to demand a sequel.
Bestselling Author Thomas Perry had this to say about The Second Perimeter: “A rich variety of spies, former spies, and criminal operatives entangled in a deadly and suspenseful war of attack and reprisal. What could be more entertaining? ”
When the Secretary of the Navy’s nephew tells him that two colleagues at a U.S. Naval base are committing fraud, his uncle is skeptical. Reluctant to launch an official investigation based on a relative’s vague suspicions, the Secretary asks House Speaker, John Mahoney, to send his go-to guy DeMarco to check out the story. As DeMarco and his friend Emma, a retired DIA agent, begin to investigate what they thought was a low-stakes government swindle, they come to the terrifying realization that an espionage ring has infiltrated the naval base.
The leader of the espionage ring is a woman with whom Emma has a history dating back to the Cold War. Their encounter destroyed the woman’s once promising career and turned her into a ruthless operative who cares about only one thing: destroying Emma. DeMarco has never been near a spy in his life - at least not that he ever knew of - and now he’s dealing with a foreign agent who is more lethal than anyone he’s ever encountered. Not only is Emma’s life in danger, but ultimately the Speaker himself becomes a target.
Sarah Weinman, critic for the Baltimore Sun: “…has snappy dialogue, fantastically off-kilter characters, and one extremely pissed off Chinese spy makes for non-stop reading. Lawson’s got the goods for bestsellerdom …”
The Oregonian: “In this sequel to his highly praised The Inside Ring, Lawson again ratchets up the suspense and takes DeMarco on a wild ride.”
Booklist: “At once a solid thriller and a revealing look behind the scenes of American politics, the tale will appeal to a wide spectrum of readers.”
The Tampa Bay Tribune:“…another one of those summer page-turning thrillers.”
House Rules begins with the FBI stopping a terrorist attack on the Baltimore Harbor Tunnel. The terrorists were young Muslim American men, but the mastermind behind the attack was an al-Qaeda operative working in the United States. The first attack is quickly followed by three more: an attempt to fly a plane into the White House and two attempts to destroy the U.S. Capitol. All the attacks involve Muslim Americans. An atmosphere of fear and xenophobia quickly permeates the country, resulting in an ambitious senator introducing a bill to deport Muslim immigrants and do background checks on all Muslim Americans. John Mahoney, Speaker of the House, refuses to support the bill but what he doesn’t tell the media is that he is a life-long friend of one of the terrorists and has his doubts regarding the FBI’s investigation into the attacks. He sends his man DeMarco down the rabbit hole to find the truth. House Rules involves mobsters, terrorists, meth dealers, and corrupt politicians. It’s a story of assassination, terrorism, political intrigue, and greed − a story where nothing is as it seems to be.
Tess Gerritsen, bestselling author of The Bone Garden, had this to say about House Rules: "House Rules has it all: a lightning-paced plot, a quirky cast of players, and best of all, one of the most engaging heroes I've ever encountered. In Joe DeMarco, Mike Lawson has created a charmingly likeable character whom I'll happily follow for many books to come."
House Rules will be available in hardback in June 2008.