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Type of bind: Hardcover
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.6
EAN num: 9780871139832
ISBN number: 0871139839
Label: Atlantic Monthly Press
Manufacturer: Atlantic Monthly Press
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 368
Printing Date: June 10, 2008
Publishing house: Atlantic Monthly Press
Sale Popularity Level: 97853
Studio: Atlantic Monthly Press
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Product Description:
Mike Lawson’s Joe DeMarco thrillers have drawn praise for their fine-tuned suspense, off-kilter characters, intricate plots, and revealing portrait of Washington, DC behind closed doors. In House Rules, a terrorist bombing of the Baltimore Harbor Tunnel is narrowly avoided. Then a private plane headed straight for the White House ignores warnings and is shot down. An atmosphere of fear and panic overruns the country, and when the junior senator from Virginia proposes to deport all noncitizen Muslims and run extensive background checks on all Muslim Americans, his bill gains surprising traction.
Speaker of the House John Mahoney is not pleased. He knows it is the kind of knee-jerk response people will come to regret, like Japanese internment camps, and he needs to find a way to kill the bill before it exposes a secret he wants to keep. So Mahoney calls his man DeMarco. An average guy who struggles with debt, divorce, and an unreasonable boss, DeMarco is an unlikely hero, in over his head, relying on old friends as he attempts to get to the bottom of the attacks in this riveting read, full of suspense, fascinating characters, humor, and timely political intrigue.
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Rated by buyers 
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This is the third in the Joe DeMarco series about a guy who works as an unofficial trouble shooter for The Speaker of the House in Washington. The Speaker, Mahoney, is an abrasive and slightly corrupt character although a very shrew operator with a heart of gold. De Marco is a tenacious guy with a group of friends that usually help him out when he is desperate.
Two really interesting and unusual characters - with Mahoney you see the corruption of US politics and with DeMarco you have someone who looks tough and hard but actually isn't - a bit of a twist of the usual invincible ex Special services type.
The plot is an interesting one too - again a slight twist on the usual Muslim extremist terror attacks. Here we have a US Senator proposing strict controls on all Muslims just as two terror attacks are thwarted which seem to support his view and thus he gains unexpected public support. The trouble is that the son of an old friend of Mahoney was involved so Mahoney asks DeMarco to have a quiet look into it. As readers of this kind of stuff will know, `a quiet look' usually becomes something else.....
Set with interesting characters and a scenario that captures the fear of terror attacks and a blame culture this is very good stuff indeed. I liked the characters and the interplay between them and the author also provides a subtle vein of humour. The characters make mistakes and have their own failings which make them more interesting and believable.
Mike Lawton is getting better and better with each novel and this suggests that the subsequent one may be something very special indeed.
Rated by buyers 
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Muslim terrorists attack the Washington, D.C. area by air, by car and by suicide bomber. Although all three attacks failed, the country panics as everyone assumes a new 9/11 will reoccur soonest as anyone with a competent thought knows you cannot negotiate with people willing to die for their cause especially if they fully believe God awaits to hug them.
Amidst the fervor of patriotism and fear, House Speaker John Mahoney, having learned from Oklahoma City and the extremes exploited by our leaders after 9/11, calmly looks at the known facts. He has some doubts about the majority wisdom of the pundits that Middle Easterners are behind the assault and assigns his operative Joe DeMarco to investigate the incidents. Joe wonders if the attacks are tied to anti-Islamic legislation championed in a patriotic with me or terrorist supporter against me fervor of Virginia Senator William Davis Broderick who constantly reminds everyone of the failed endeavor to blow up the Baltimore Harbor Tunnel on Labor Day.
This exciting post 9/11 Continental United States thriller is fast-paced, but what makes it a strong read is Joe who "escorts" readers through DC political power in which ambition, manipulation, and conspiracy is the norm. Fans will enjoy the hero's effort to learn the truth behind the attacks, but each step he takes seems to be murkier and fraught with "J'accuse" danger as the shadowy opponents seem in control of the media; recent NYT revelations on military experts on the TV news affirms Mike Lawson's theory that Pogo is right that we met the enemy and they are us. (see THE SECOND PERIMETER and THE INSIDE RING).
Harriet Klausner
Rated by buyers -
Mike Lawson has given us a book with a timely believable plot, lots of plot twists, and a superb cast of characters. The dialogue is snappy, the action scenes are taut, and the resolution is "O. Henryesque."
I zipped through the book, and stayed up late to finish it. Highly recommended!
SPOILER ALERT:
The reason this book doesn't rate 5-stars is because there is a superfluous subplot that adds nothing to the meat of the book, and seems as though it was added in to pad the pages.
Rated by buyers -
This is a great series which starts with The Inside Ring followed by The Second Perimeter followed by the current novel, House Rules. Several reviewers have stated this is the best of three and I agree, however, I enjoyed all of them and I would recommend you start with the very first and read all of them. He's an excellent writer. This was definitely a book I didn't want to put down!
Rated by buyers 
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What if a terrorist- even of the domestic variety- has a dirty bomb and the government must determine its location before countless innocent Americans are killed in the name of jihad? Are extreme measures warranted? Lawson takes this conundrum further with a resounding affirmative. The alphabet agencies tackle the issue with clear consciences after two Muslim-Americans are arrested in Boston before they have an opportunity to complete their mission, bombing the Baltimore Harbor Tunnel. That they are disaffected locals recruited by a visiting Iranian imam is of little consequence. The two young men have both the will and the means to do considerable damage. Now their leader has escaped, with plans to try again. Aware of the escaped man's identity, the FBI must find this loose cannon before he connects with more willing pawns. Citizens newly awakened to an increasing threat on American soil, William Davis Broderick, the junior senator from Virginia, is meeting little resistance garnering support for an outrageous bill that would affect even the Muslim-American community.
It would be natural as breathing for the Speaker of the House, John Fitzpatrick Mahoney, to block the bill, but personal complications obstruct his usual methodology. As an alternative, Mahoney calls on his trusty aide, Joe DeMarco (The Inside Ring, The Second Perimeter), ostensibly Counsel Pro Tem for Liaison Affairs, but really the speaker's fixer. As in Lawson's two previous novels, DeMarco stars in yet another thrilling race against time, this one complicated by an increase in internal terrorist activities, men who otherwise have been model citizens. As is his way, DeMarco digs beneath the surface, doubting the obvious explanation for the attacks. What he discovers yields a number of possibilities: power brokers who support Broderick's agenda with their checkbooks, overworked bureaucrats, an assassination specialist, an enormous methamphetamine distribution enterprise with a ready assortment of goons and the usual subterfuges that define Washington politics.
Wading into the fear and paranoia of terrorist attacks on American soil and the gradual erosion of public privacy, Lawson puts his finger on the pulse of a country still immobilized by 9/11 and willing to purchase safety at any price. The author seems to have found his stride in this third outing, but I didn't find this effort as tense or compelling as the prior two, although familiar characters return to help DeMarco juggle the various tangents of the investigation, particularly Emma, a former spy who still has a long reach into government agencies. By the time each now twist is revealed- and there are many- Lawson has already tipped the reader, not keeping many secrets. DeMarco has become a little too predictable; I would like to see him handle his business with more sophistication subsequent time. Luan Gaines/ 2008.
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