House Arrest (Joe DeMarco Series #13)

by Mike Lawson

Overview

In the thirteenth book in Mike Lawson’s celebrated series, Joe DeMarco finds himself on the wrong side of an investigation—in the wake of a political assassination, he’s been framed as the killer.

As the fixer for Congressman John Mahoney in Washington, D.C., Joe DeMarco has had to bend and break the law more than a few times. But when Representative Lyle Canton, House Majority Whip, is found shot dead in his office in the U.S. Capitol and DeMarco is arrested for the murder, DeMarco knows he’s been framed. Locked up in the Alexandria Jail awaiting trial, he calls on his enigmatic friend Emma, an ex-DIA agent, to search for the true killer.

Emma’s investigation leads her to Sebastian Spear, the ruthless and competitive CEO of the multi-billion-dollar Spear Industries. Spear had a motive for killing Lyle Canton: Canton’s wife, Jean, had once been Spear’s high school sweetheart and the one true love of his life—until Canton won her over. Now Jean was dead, killed in a car crash while driving drunk, and Spear blamed Canton for the accident. But the case the F.B.I. has built against DeMarco is airtight, and not a single piece of evidence points to the grieving CEO. Using her cunning and her D.C. connections, Emma sets out to prove that Spear has been using some fixers of his own.

Featuring crimes of passion, corporate corruption, and partisan feuds, House Arrest is a gripping, timely political thriller, and one of Lawson’s best books yet.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780802148353
Publisher:	Grove/Atlantic, Inc.
Publication date:	02/18/2020
Series:	Joe DeMarco Series , #13
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	336
Sales rank:	483,359
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.20(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

Mike Lawson is a former senior civilian executive for the US Navy. He is the author of twelve previous novels starring Joe DeMarco and three novels with his protagonist Kay Hamilton.

Read an Excerpt

As Emma had no answer to Agent Peyton’s question, she asked a question of her own: “Agent Peyton, have you considered the possibility that someone may be trying to frame DeMarco for Canton’s murder?”

“You know, John Mahoney said the same thing and I’ll tell you what I told him. In my twenty-five years in the Bureau, I’ve never heard of a single person being framed for a crime.”

“Well, how would you have heard?” Emma said. “If the frame was perfect an innocent man would be sent to jail and no one would ever know.”

“Yeah, but I’ve never even heard of a botched frame. Nor can I remember a defense attorney ever making a plausible argument in court that a client was framed. Mistaken identity, yes. Framed, no. People are framed in movies.”

When Emma didn’t immediately respond, Peyton said, “Let me ask you something, Emma. If a smart, rich person like you wanted someone dead, why would you do something as complicated as framing someone for the murder? Killing the guy yourself in some clever way would be simpler. Or if you couldn’t do it yourself, why not just hire a sniper to shoot the guy?”

“I’ll tell you why,” Emma said, “and the reason is you.”

“Me?” Peyton said.

“Yes. If the person I wanted to kill was a U.S. congressman I would know that the FBI would assign a man like you to the case, along with a hundred other agents, and you wouldn’t give up until you caught me. But if I framed someone and if you caught the person I framed immediately—which you did in the case of DeMarco—then I might get away with the murder because you’d no longer be hunting for me.”

Editorial Reviews

★ 11/26/2018
Late one Friday night, at the start of Lawson’s terrific 11th Joe DeMarco thriller (after 2018’s House Witness), a trained killer in a cop uniform slips into the Capitol and shoots House majority whip Lyle Canton dead at his desk. Joe, a staffer who was in the building at the time, is arrested and dragged off to jail in Alexandria, Va. Knowing he’s been framed, Joe turns to his former DIA agent friend, Emma, to prove his innocence. All Joe has to do is try to stay alive, but a poisoning attempt lands him in the hospital. Lurking in the background is Joe’s boss, House minority leader John Mahoney, who can’t help much, because no one is supposed to know that Joe is his bag-man and fixer. While there’s no doubt that Emma will prevail, she faces enough difficulties to make the outcome suspenseful. Toward the end, as the midterm elections loom, Joe worries about his job (“You’re telling me that my future depends on the Democrats winning about thirty seats in the House?” he asks Mahoney). Readers will hope that the results of the actual 2018 midterms will ensure Joe keeps going. Agent: David Gernert, Gernert Company. (Feb.)

Publishers Weekly

Praise for Mike Lawson and the Joe DeMarco series

“Lawson [is] a reliably excellent writer . . . As always, Lawson’s plotting is ingenious and his characters memorable.”—Adam Woog, Seattle Times, on House Rivals

“Joe DeMarco, ‘fixer’ for Speaker of the House John Fitzpatrick Mahoney, is shrewd, tough, discreet, and resourceful . . . Lawson creates multifaceted characters . . . [and] the pacing is relentless.”—Booklist

“Mike Lawson shows every understanding of the skill required of a thriller writer to keep a reader fully engaged and utterly thrilled.”—Guardian

“Lawson writes a mean thriller and has a sense of humor that hurts.”—Independent (UK)

“Lawson has a true insider’s insight about real-world spinelessness, venality, and corruption that have taken the place of moral courage and true leadership on Capitol Hill . . . a fine ear for dialogue . . . [and] a good eye for irony.” —Washington Times

“Mike Lawson . . . should be a fixture on the bestseller lists, if not a household name . . . Lawson has a deceptively smooth, low-key style that is perfect for the stories he tells . . . Mike Lawson is the only writer I know who comes close to matching the stories of the great Ross Thomas, the finest thriller writer to ever roll a blank page into an Underwood.” —Strand Magazine, on House Reckoning

“A great novel from a great author! . . . Equal parts funny, clever and cool, this book will make your heart race and your mind ponder.” —Lisa Gardner, on House Divided

“A compelling story of vengeance. Lawson is a gifted master.” —Rick Mofina, on House Reckoning

From the Publisher

09/01/2018
A longtime fixer for U.S. Congressman John Mahoney (this is the 13th in a multi-Barry-nominated series), Joe DeMarco has been framed for the murder of Rep. Lyle Canton, House Majority Whip. Friend Emma then discovers that the CEO of Spear Industries, the combative and filthy-rich Sebastian Spear, has personal reasons for wanting Canton dead.

Library Journal

2018-11-13

Bagman/fixer Joe DeMarco, who has a law degree but has never practiced law, gets to see a whole new side of the legal system when he's expertly framed for murder.

DeMarco's minding his own business, working late in his subbasement office in the Capitol, when an assassin shoots House majority whip Lyle Canton, who's also minding his own business in his spiffier office upstairs, to death. The ubiquitous security cameras strewn throughout the building catch little of note. But since DeMarco's patron, House minority leader John Mahoney, has been a frequent target of Canton's attacks, and since the killer sticks around for long enough to plant some highly incriminating evidence in DeMarco's office after he leaves, it's not long before he's arrested. DeMarco, who, incredibly enough, has heretofore spent only a single night in jail despite his checkered career (House Witness, 2018, etc.), can now expect a stay of at least a year while his attorney, Janet Evans, prepares his defense. The most likely way his stay can be shortened lies with billionaire businessman Sebastian Spear, the lover whom the slain politician's wife, Jean Canton, had been on her way to meet when she wrapped her car around a tree. It's pretty obvious to pretty much everyone except the police and the FBI that Spear hired Canton's murderer; now he's trying to reach inside the Alexandria jail and have DeMarco killed, too. So the story quickly settles into a high-stakes groove of thrust and counterthrust: Bill Brayden, Spear Industry's head of security, keeps hatching more and more inventive schemes to get DeMarco's fellow prisoners to kill him; Mahoney and his well-connected allies do everything they can to head off most of these attempts, foil the ones they can't head off, and bring down Brayden, Spear, and the actual killer before they succeed.

Lawson's matter-of-fact tone, walking a fine line between satire and reportage, propels his tale forward despite its limited capacity for surprise. And his final sequence, both blackly comic and ineffably sad, provides the perfect conclusion.

Kirkus Reviews