House Rules:
A Joe DeMarco Thriller

by Mike Lawson

Copyright 2008 by Mike Lawson. All Rights Reserved.

Categories:  Contemporary  Mystery  Politics  Thriller

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Message from the Publisher of DailyLit

It’s a first for DailyLit. We’ve just released this highly anticipated thriller House Rules by Mike Lawson as a first serial—prior to the scheduled June 10th publication date for the book. Enjoy!

Description

Mike Lawson's Joe DeMarco thrillers have drawn praise for their finetuned suspense, off-kilter characters, intricate plots, and revealing portrait of Washington, DC behind closed doors. House Rules, the third novel in the series, opens with a narrowly averted terrorist attack, a bomb meant for the Baltimore Harbor Tunnel. Then a private plane headed straight for the White House ignores warnings and is shot down. The pilot, a Muslim American, is suspected of having ties to al-Qaeda. An atmosphere of fear and panic overruns the country, and when the junior senator from Virginia introduces legislation to deport all noncitizen Muslims and start extensive background checks of all Muslim Americans, his bill gains surprising traction.

Speaker of the House John Fitzgerald Mahoney is not pleased. He knows it is the kind of knee-jerk intolerant response people will come to regret, like the Japanese internment camps in World War II, and he needs to find a way to kill the bill before it reaches the House. But Mahoney has a secret—the man who tried to park his plane on the president's desk was the son of one of his oldest friends. The speaker is in a bind, and also has some vague suspicions about the attack, so he calls his man DeMarco.

An average guy, DeMarco struggles with debt, divorce, and a difficult, unreasonable boss. He is an unlikely hero, in over his head, relying on old friends—Emma, a spy who may or may not be retired, and Neil, an information broker—as he attempts to get to the bottom of the attacks. House Rules is a riveting read, full of suspense, fascinating characters, humor, and timely political intrigue.

Praise for Mike Lawson and House Rules

"Lawson shows a knack for sketching realistic characters, even minor ones, in deft and nuanced strokes. Lawson is droll, writes sharp dialogue, and seems to know his way around Beltway politicking...reminiscent of the cynical but bemused espionage tales that the late Ross Thomas wrote."
—Adam Woog, The Seattle Times

"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."
—Tess Gerritsen, author of The Bone Garden

"Mike Lawson's The Inside Ring is one of the most assured first novels I've ever read. His next one, The Second Perimeter, continued in the voice of a master story-teller. His third, the forthcoming House Rules is, in my opinion, a knockout. Relaxed, slightly droll, yet in total command of a complicated plot, you have to believe this guy has been telling tales for a lot of years, but just recently started writing them down."
—Bill Farley, Seattle Mystery Bookshop

"The kind of whodunit thriller you can't stop thinking about while you're reading and can't stop talking about once you're done. Smart, original, crafted with true insider knowledge, brimming with vivid characters, and a forward drive that just won't quit....I couldn't put it down."
—Vince Flynn on The Inside Ring

Extended Copyright Information

Copyright 2008 by Mike Lawson. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, or the facilitation thereof, including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer, who may quote brief passages in a review. Any members of educational institutions wishing to photocopy part or all of the work for classroom use, or publishers who would like to obtain permission to include the work in an anthology, should send their inquiries to Grove/Atlantic, Inc., 841 Broadway, New York, NY 10003.

Published by arrangement with Grove/Atlantic, Inc.

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organizations, places, events, and incidents either are the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

About the Author

A former senior civilian executive for the U.S. Navy, Mike Lawson is the author of two previous novels starring Joe DeMarco: The Inside Ring and The Second Perimeter. He lives in the Pacific Northwest.

Opening Lines (Experimental)

To Keith--the best birthday present ever. We're so very proud.
They had no idea how big the blast might be.
The techs, those useless dorks, said the bomb could take out just the garage or just the surrounding homes--or it could flatten structures as far as a quarter mile away. It all depends, they ...

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