House Revenge

Starred review from May 2, 2016
Originality, intelligence, and humor lift Lawson’s excellent 11th Joe DeMarco thriller (after 2015’s House Rivals). House Minority Leader John Mahoney, formerly the Speaker of the House, is meeting with constituents in his Boston office. Feisty Elinore Dobbs grabs his wandering attention with her story of being harassed out of her apartment so that developer Sean Callahan can erect an elegant new complex catering to the ultra-wealthy. Mahoney sees political hay to be made, besides being genuinely outraged, and assigns the job of saving Dobbs to his number-one fixer, Joe DeMarco. In sorting out Dobbs’s difficulties, DeMarco tangles with two of Callahan’s goons, twin brothers Ray and Roy McNulty; Javier Castro, a former Mexican drug lord who’s gone legit; and Castro’s lovely assassin, Maria Vasquez. As DeMarco outthinks and
outfights the various vicious killers and proves his worth to Mahoney once again, he provides all the fun and action that Lawson’s fans have come to expect. Agent: David Gernert, Gernert Company.

May 1, 2016
Congressional fixer/troubleshooter/bagman Joe DeMarco takes up the cause of a feisty old lady whose landlord wants her out and who's just as determined as he is to get her way. No wonder developer Sean Callahan wants Elinore Dobbs out of her building on Boston's Delaney Street. He stands to make millions by razing it and replacing it with the Delaney Square complex, and his combination of cash payouts, withheld services, and veiled threats has already emptied the place of all but a few tenants. But Elinore doesn't want to move, doesn't want Callahan's money, and doesn't take kindly to the pressure. Her Congressman, House Minority Leader John Mahoney, thinks sticking up for her will give him some good press, and he likes her in the bargain. He's taken aback that Callahan, who's just as stubborn as his tenant and has much more to lose, plans to wait him out and doesn't mind telling him so to his face. So Mahoney takes his campaign against Callahan to the next level, sending all-purpose handyman DeMarco (House Rivals, 2015, etc.) to Boston to turn up the heat. Meanwhile, Callahan, who sees no reason to abate his own pressure on Elinore, sics his own fixers, Ray and Roy McNulty, on his refractory tenant, with results that take her out of the action just as DeMarco, who's also met and liked her, is getting warmed up. Mahoney is perfectly comfortable continuing the battle against Callahan as a matter of principle, but DeMarco feels like a champion without a client, a champion who's venturing into some very deep waters indeed. A sour, effervescent, wholly delicious revenge fantasy so cynical about big money, big politics, and big crime that each new development carries a charge of amused resignation. The perfect chaser for an evening spent watching a presidential debate.

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Starred review from May 1, 2016
Elinore Dobbs, 82 and feisty, is being harassed by a real-estate developer who wants to demolish the apartment building where she lives. Elinore is having none of it, which prompts her to seek help from House Minority Leader John Mahoney, who sees a political opportunity. He also knows the developer, who regularly makes sizable contributions to Mahoney's reelection campaigns, but he thinks he can convince the developer to stop the harassment. Instead, the developer disrespects Mahoney. Enraged, Mahoney dispatches his fixer, Joe DeMarco, to Boston to teach the developer a lesson. But DeMarco is mugged soon after he arrives, and Elinore trips on the stairs and suffers a severe concussion. Both events appear to be the work of two thugs in the employ of the developer. Suddenly DeMarco's seemingly simple assignment has morphed into a crusade that ultimately involves Philadelphia gangsters and Mexican drug cartels. In this fraught political season, America is bruised and angry, and Lawson's DeMarco novels are often shrewdly prescient. Mahoney remains a selfish, corrupt son of a bitch who differs from the Philly mobsters only by belonging to a different gang; and the real-estate developer is positively Trumpian in his arrogance and self-importance. Angry Americans will flock to House Revenge.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)

February 15, 2016

In this 11th Joe DeMarco novel from three-time Barry finalist Lawson, Congressman John Mahoney satisfies his slick wish for some free publicity by sending Joe to Boston to help gray-haired Elinore Dobbs do battle with a real estate developer. Things look bad when Elinore meets with a suspicious accident and Joe discovers that the developer has benefited from some shady financing.

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