The Inside Ring (Joe Demarco Book 1)

Praise for The Inside Ring “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. This book will have the Beltway buzzing—and just about everywhere else. I couldn’t put it down.” –Vince Flynn“[A] wonderfully complex plot, sardonic humor, and memorable characters…. Lawson has the ability to shade character and evoke meaningful descriptions as economically as possible. In two words… more please.” –Sarah Weinman, The Baltimore Sun “While Lawson’s debut may look like others in the genre, it's in a league by itself. ... High-level entertainment from a writer who could soon rise to the top of the thriller heap”— Publishers Weekly “Fresh and entertaining ... an assured debut ... Tight and engaging story, sharp writing, and dialogue that’s good to the last line.” – Kirkus Reviews (starred review)“Thrilling enough to demand a sequel.”— New York Daily News “Enlivened by just the right touch of menace and mystery . . . witty [and] lightening quick.” — Library Journal "[An] exciting, danger-filled novel." — Booklist “Mike Lawson shows every understanding of the skills required of a thriller writer to keep a reader fully engaged and utterly thrilled.” – The Guardian (UK)“Lawson writes a mean thriller and has a sense of humor that hurts. I loved this one.” – The Independent (UK)“This assured first novel shows Mike Lawson to be a talented storyteller . . . DeMarco makes a likeable hero as he follows an intricate trail through some typically murky American politics.”— The Telegraph (UK) A former senior civilian executive for the US Navy, Mike Lawson is the author of six previous novels starring Joe DeMarco: The Inside Ring , The Second Perimeter , House Rules , House Secrets , House Justice and House Divided . He lives in Seattle. From Publishers Weekly The Washington conspiracy thriller is a publishing evergreen, and while Lawson's debut may look like others in the genre, it's in a league by itself. Joe DeMarco has a Capitol building office and the title of "Counsel Pro Tem for Liaison Affairs," but he's really an all-purpose legman for John Fitzpatrick Mahoney, Speaker of the House. In DeMarco's words: "If a politician thinks his wife is cheating on him, I make sure she's not screwing a journalist. That's the kind of stuff I do, sir. Little stuff." But he's pushed into a much bigger game after Mahoney lends him to the director of homeland security, who wants DeMarco to investigate a recent assassination attempt on the president. Of particular interest to the director is Secret Service agent Billy Ray Mattis, who predicted the assassination attempt. All the stock government types are here, but Lawson's craft, intelligence and humor turn these ho-hum regulars into characters worth savoring. DeMarco himself is perfectly human, prey to all the species' frailties and tremendously appealing. The bad guys are sufficiently evil, the plot properly labyrinthine, the solution to the mystery completely satisfying. This is high-level entertainment from a writer who could soon rise to the top of the thriller heap. Agent, David Gernert . Foreign rights to Germany, Holland, Israel, Poland and the U.K. (May) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition. "A harrowing debut thriller." – The Seattle Post-Intelligencer “Wonderfully complex plot, sardonic humor and memorable characters. . . . Lawson has a great ability to shade character and evoke meaningful description as economically as possible. . . . In two words: more, please.” – The Baltimore Sun “Lawson shows a knack for sketching realistic characters, even minor ones, in deft and nuanced strokes. Lawson is droll, writes sharp dialogue, and . . . know[s] his way around Beltway politicking.” – The Seattle Times “Thrilling enough to demand a sequel.” – Daily News From the Paperback edition. --This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition. Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved. 1The receptionist--Boston-bred, fiftysomething, hard and bright as stainless steel--arched a disapproving eyebrow at DeMarco as he entered Mahoney's offices."You're late," she said. "And he's in a mood today.""So since I'm late I guess that means I can go right in," DeMarco said.The receptionist was married to a successful accountant, a very nice man, very slim and neat and considerate. On those rare occasions they made love she fantasized about burly Italian construction workers. She used to fantasize about black men with washboard abs and shaved heads but the last few months it had been men who looked like DeMarco: dark hair, blue eyes, a Travolta dimple in his chin--and arms and shoulders made for wife-beater undershirts. However, fantasy man or not, she didn't approve of tardiness--or flippancy."No, you can take a seat," the receptionist said, flashing a brittle smile, "and in a few minutes, after I finish my tea, I'll tell him you're here. Then he'll make you wait twenty more minutes while he talks to important people on the phone."DeMarco knew better than to protest. He took a seat as directed and pulled a copy of People magazine from the stack on the coffee table in front of him. He was addicted to Hollywood gossip but would have died under torture before admitting it.Thirty minutes later he entered Mahoney's office. Mahoney was on the phone wrapping up a one-sided conversation. "Don't fuck with me, son," Mahoney was saying. "You get contrary on this thing, next year this time, the only way you'll see the Capitol will be from one of them double-decker buses. Now vote like I told ya and quit telling me about promises you never shoulda made in the first place."Mahoney slammed down the phone, muttered "Dipshit," then aimed his watery blue eyes at DeMarco."You see Flattery?" Mahoney asked.DeMarco took an unmarked envelope from the inside breast pocket of his suit and handed it to Mahoney. DeMarco didn't know what was in the envelope; he made a point of not knowing what was in the envelopes he brought Mahoney. Mahoney sliced open the envelope and took out a piece of paper the size and shape of a check. He glanced at the paper, grunted in either annoyance or satisfaction, and shoved the paper into the middle drawer of his desk."And the Whittacker broad?" Mahoney asked."She'll testify at the hearing.""What did you have to give her?""My word that I wouldn't tell her husband who she's been sleeping with.""That's all it took?""She signed a prenup.""Ah," Mahoney said. Greed never surprised him--nor did any other human frailty. "So those bastards at Stock Options R Us will spend eighteen months in a country club prison, the guys who lost their pensions will eat Hamburger Helper for the rest of their lives, and her, she'll get her fuckin' picture on Time as whistle-blower of the year. Jesus."DeMarco shrugged. There was only so much you could do."You need anything else?" he asked Mahoney."Yeah, I want you to . . ." Mahoney stopped speaking, derailed by his addictions. He reignited a half-smoked cigar then reached for a large Stanley thermos on the credenza behind his desk. The thermos was battered and scarred and covered with stick-on labels from labor unions. Mahoney poured from the thermos and the smell of fresh coffee and old bourbon filled the room.As Mahoney sipped his morning toddy DeMarco studied the bundle of contradictions that sat large before him. Mahoney was an alcoholic but a highly functional one; few people accomplished sober what he had managed in his cups. He was a serial adulterer yet deeply in love with his wife of forty years. He stretched soft-money laws like rubber bands and took tribute from lobbyists as his royal due, and yet he was the best friend the common man had on Capitol Hill. John Fitzpatrick Mahoney was Speaker of the House of Representatives and only the vice president stood between him and the Oval Office should the President fall. DeMarco doubted the authors had Mahoney in mind when they penned the Twenty-fifth Amendment.The Speaker was DeMarco's height, almost six feet, but DeMarco always felt small standing next to him. Mahoney had a heavy chest and a heavier gut, and created the impression of a man perfectly balanced, impossible to rush, fluster, or inflame. His hair was white and very full, his complexion ruddy red, and his eyes sky blue, the whites perpetually veined with red. His features were all large and well formed: strong nose, jutting jaw, full lips, broad forehead. It was a face that projected strength, dignity, and intelligence--it was a face that got a man elected to a national office every two years.Mahoney swallowed his laced coffee and said, "I want you to go see Andy Banks.""The Homeland Security guy?""Yeah. He needs help with something.""What?""I dunno. We were at this thing last night and he said he had a problem. Something personal. He says somebody told him I had a guy who could look into things."DeMarco nodded. That was him: a guy who looked into things."Go see him this morning. He's expecting you.""What about that problem in Trenton?""It'll wait. Go see Banks."2Andrew Banks, secretary of Homeland Security, was a retired marine three-star general. He was fifty-nine years old, tall and flat-bellied, and his brown suit and olive-green tie resembled the uniform he had worn for thirty-three years. He had a prominent nose, a gray crew cut, and a mouth that was a slash above a thrusting chin. DeMarco noticed that his eyes, magnified slightly by wire-rimmed glasses, were the color of roofing nails.Behind Banks's desk, framed by two American flags, was a large pre-9/11 photograph of the World Trade Center. The twin towers had been shot looking up from ground level, and they rose, seemingly forever, white and pristine, into a flawless blue sky. The photograph was a vivid, silent reminder of Banks's responsibilities.DeMarco sat in one of three chairs arranged in a semicircle before Banks's desk. The chair was so uncomfortable that DeMarco wondered if it had seen prior duty in an interrogation room at Guantonamo Bay."John Hastings, Congressman Hastings, told me about you," Banks said. "He said he was being flexed by someone to influence his vote. He wouldn't tell me who or how, but he said he went to Mahoney for help and the next thing he knows, there you are, prying things off his back. He said you're some sorta troubleshooter."Banks stopped as if expecting a response from DeMarco, but DeMarco, like a good witness in court, hadn't heard a question so he said nothing."Well I have a problem, maybe a big one, and I don't want a lotta people knowin' about it. I was wondering what to do when I saw Mahoney at this function last night. I asked him what he could tell me about this guy DeMarco I'd heard about. And Mahoney, that prick, you know what he says to me? He says, 'I don't know any DeMarco but he'll be at your office tomorrow morning.' Then he walks away and starts chattin' up some gal half his age."She was probably one-third his age, DeMarco thought."The thing is, I don't know zip about you.""I'm a lawyer," DeMarco said."A lawyer?" Banks said. The D.C. lawyers he knew looked smooth and sophisticated, slick enough to slide under airtight doors. This DeMarco looked like a kneecapper for an Italian bookie."But you're also an investigator, aren't you?" Banks said."Yeah, sometimes," DeMarco said, and shifted his butt in the uncomfortable chair. "General, are you going to get around, anytime soon, to telling me what your problem is so I can tell you whether I can help or not?"Banks smiled. It was a smile that said it'd be a distinct pleasure to take DeMarco out into the parking lot and beat him bloody with his fists and feet."Mister, I'm trying to decide if I want to hire you and you're not helping yourself, sittin' there saying nothing.""General, I'm not here for a job interview and you're not hiring me. The federal government pays my salary. I'm here because the Speaker told me to come see you."Banks opened his mouth to give DeMarco an old-fashioned, Parris Island tongue-lashing, then remembered he wasn't addressing a buck private. He shook his head and muttered, "This fucking town."DeMarco could sympathize with the man's frustration. He didn't like D.C. himself most days.Banks rose from his seat and walked over to a window. He turned his back to DeMarco, shoved his hands into his pockets, and stared down at the traffic on Nebraska Avenue. He pondered his options less than thirty seconds--officers are trained to make decisions--and turned back to face DeMarco."Hell, I have to get on with this," he said. "I have too much on my plate as it is and I can't take the time to find someone else. And Hastings did recommend you. Hastings was in the corp, you know."Semper fi, DeMarco almost said, but controlled his wit. "I didn't know that," he said instead and shifted again in the chair. It felt like the damn thing didn't have a seat cushion, just a thin layer of cloth stretched over the hardest wood on the planet. Or maybe it wasn't wood, maybe it was metal or that stuff that rhino horns are made of."Okay," Banks said, "but you have to promise me something. You have to promise that you'll keep everything I'm about to tell you completely to yourself, that you won't tell another living soul. You promise?""I do," DeMarco said. H... --This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition. From the Inside Flap "The video begins with the President walking toward a marine helicopter . . ." From a bluff overlooking Georgia’s untamed Chattooga River, an assassin fires three shots. The President of the United States is wounded; his best friend and a Secret Service agent are killed. Two days later, a man in Landover, Maryland, commits suicide and in the man’s home is overwhelming evidence that he was responsible for the assassination attempt. General Andy Banks, the Secretary of Homeland Security, is nursing a guilty conscience. Only days before the assassination attempt on the President, Banks had received a note with a dire warning: "Eagle One is in danger. Cancel Chattooga River. The inside ring has been compromised. This is not a joke." The message—on Secret Service stationery—was signed "An agent in the wrong place." Banks immediately passed the note on to Secret Service Director Patrick Donnelly, who proceeded to ignore it. Even after the assassin is found dead, Banks is determined to dig a little deeper. He turns to Speaker of the House John Fitzgerald Mahoney. The Speaker has a guy—an under-the-radar, go-to guy he uses for things like this—things he can’t afford to have connected to his office. The guy is Joe DeMarco, an honest lawyer with a sordid family history. After one meeting with Banks, DeMarco realizes he’s in way over his head. But Mahoney finds the prospect of taking down Donnelly irresistible and sets DeMarco on a trail that twists through the Secret Service, the FBI, and the Department of Homeland Security and snakes all the way back to one of the more enduring mysteries of the twentieth century. Brimming with suspense, authenticity, and wit, The Inside Ring marks the debut of a major new talent and introduces a cast of intriguing characters with many more cases ahead. --This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition. From AudioFile An assassin's bullets ring out in rural Georgia, and the president is wounded. Was someone from the "Inside Ring" of the Secret Service involved? Writer Michael Lawson peoples his work with some truly vile characters, brought to life by Peter Bradbury. Bradbury's Michael DeMarco, the unofficial investigator employed by a powerful Congressman, is a credible good guy, not a superhero. With the perfect inflection, Bradbury makes us feel DeMarco's pain as he confronts a Georgia despot with a stranglehold on his home county. Bradbury slips effortlessly from Southern drawl to a New York wiseguy accent as the investigation leads all over the country, even back to a certain incident in Dallas, 1963. M.S. © AudioFile 2006, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine --This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition. From Booklist This exciting, danger-filled novel begins with an attempt on the life of the U.S. president; he survives, but there are two other fatalities. Days before the assassination attempt, Andy Banks, secretary of Homeland Security, received a note threatening the president's life. He passed the note on to the Secret Service, whose director ignored it. Now, Banks is wracked with guilt over the note and his failure to make anyone pay attention to it. He turns to the Speaker of the House, who knows a guy who solves problems without going through the usual political channels. That guy is Joe DeMarco, a fix-it man who's never dealt with something of quite this magnitude. When the Speaker sets him loose on the Secret Service director, DeMarco soon discovers that the world of politics is a heck of a lot more complex than he had ever suspected. The author, who was an "independent contractor" for the U.S. Navy, seems to know what he's talking about; and clearly DeMarco is being positioned as a series lead. So far so good. David Pitt Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition. 'Smart, original, crafted with true insider knowledge, brimming with vivid characters and with a forward drive that just won't quite!I couldn't put it down' Vince Flynn, author of Memorial Day 'Fresh and entertaining!sharp writing and dialogue that's good to the last line' Kirkus Reviews 'This is high-level entertainment from a writer who could soon rise to the top of the thriller heap' Publisher's Weekly 'Lawson's tale offers the elements of a solid screenplay: vivid characters, sharp dialogue, solid action scenes and a haunting fadeout.' Hollywood Reporter' --This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition. Read more