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(More customer reviews)(4.5 stars) When Joe DeMarco, "fixer" for Speaker of the House John Fitzpatrick Mahoney is called into the Speaker's office to help him "help a friend," whose reporter-son has drowned, he has no idea that his private investigation into the reporter's death will mushroom into a case which will ultimately affect his party's choice of a Presidential candidate. As he pursues what seems at first to be the simple confirmation of an accidental death, DeMarco must soon deal with present and past employees from the Defense Intelligence Agency, the CIA, the DC police, the Capitol police, the House, the Senate, the Washington press, and even the mob. He is followed, warned, and ultimately threatened by representatives of almost all of these institutions.
DeMarco's investigation takes him into the netherworld of political secrets, most of them surrounding charismatic Senator Paul Morelli, the most likely Democratic candidate for President in a future election. Morelli has won both of his previous elections after his opponents have been publicly discredited, but Morelli has a few indiscretions and problems of his own, along with a less than loving, alcoholic wife. Like some other politicians, however, he has a "big bird" looking out for him, a secret supporter who may be willing to do just about anything to keep him "clean" until he can reach the White House. Before long, the peripheral characters in the action begin to have accidents, and as the body count begins to rise, DeMarco finds himself without the support of people he has counted on.
Author Mike Lawson writes in an efficient, straightforward style, and despite his large cast of characters and numerous subplots, which overlap and intersect, he ensures that his readers will not get confused by having the characters provide helpful summings-up of the action at key points throughout the novel. The characters, though not fully developed, are individualized enough that the reader can easily imagine the novel as a film, filled with character actors engaging in dramatic and often emotional scenes.
Lawson is obviously having fun with this novel: everything about it is over-the-top. The characters, plot, political milieu, and imagined context all contain elements of truth, but Lawson cranks things up and then gives one extra turn, creating situations which, though often violent, verge on absurd, keeping the reader entertained and even amused, rather than shocked. The Washington-based characters are almost caricatures, created with a tongue-in-cheek energy which prevents the novel from being cynical, and the conclusion will bring a smile to the face of even the most jaded reader. And should anyone wonder about political bias here, the author creates Republicans who are every bit as loathsome as his Democrats. Lawson walks a fine line between thriller and satire in this wry and entertaining novel about Washington politics. n Mary Whipple
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