New book news (author Mike Lawson)



Michael Lawson
(photo from website)

Over the years I've been picked up as a contact for a few writers as far as receiving emails about upcoming book releases and Mike Lawson, author of the "Joe DeMarco" series passed on an email about the next in his series of the private assistant to the speaker of the House of Representatives.  DeMarco is a lawyer by trade but works these days as a genuine troubleshooter (or moreso a "bagman) for Speaker John Mahoney. 

Our book club read the third book in the series House Rules for its monthly selection in 2009.  I thought the book was a reasonably good one--I liked the characters and the Washington setting storyline--but my interest was grew as one participant said the follow-up book was quite better.

With the newest book in the series, Lawson shared this: "...I have a new book available in stores now and from the usual ebook sellers. It's the seventh book in the DeMarco series and is called House Blood. Booklist gave it a starred review and Library Journal said: "Lawson’s seventh novel (after House Divided) in his Joe DeMarco thriller series is another page-turner brimming with authentic Washington, DC, detail and distinctive, engaging characters. Even the bad guys are interesting. Adventure-seeking readers will love."

Writer's messages for interested fans--

It is very nice to get a message from a writer you've been in contact with that person at some point. That occurred just last week when I heard from Mike Lawson, creator of the Joe DeMarco series.

He wrote the following to several and included me:

Although I know I've told many people recently that my new book, House Justice, is coming out June 1, I wanted to spread the word to everyone that's emailed me in the past. House Justice is about a press leak that gets a CIA agent killed and was sorta inspired by the real life Valerie Plame case. Library Journal called House Justice "a perfect political thriller" and Booklist said it was "a superb example of the post–cold war espionage novel." Personally, I doubt it's perfect - but those are great quotes. At any rate, House Justice will be stores on June 1 and the mass-market version of my fourth book, House Secrets, will be out the same day. House Secrets, by the way, was listed as one of the top thrillers of 2009 by three different publications. Also, I'll be signing my books in a lot of stores this summer. Usually I only sign in the Northwest but this year I'll be in Portland, Phoenix, Houston, and San Francisco as well. My website has the dates and places. Anyway, hope you'll consider getting the new book and telling your friends about it if you like it.

Thanks, Mike

(And thanks for writing Mike.)

Author responses to post

The recent blog post about Michael Lawson's House Rules marks the first time the blog has received a direct author response to a blog post. He wrote and replied to the post message about the book club's discussion about his book from December (the photo included here comes from his website).

This is a nice treat as I did not attempt to contact him until after he wrote and I emailed his website to ask how he found the blog. He soon replied and--as one would expect--he said he periodically googles his name and books to get reaction to his work and found the blog that way. Cool.

Book club discusses "House Rules" [December]

In December the book club ended the year with a book discussion of a topical thriller set largely in Washington, D.C. with fictional character Joe DeMarco. A lawyer by profession, DeMarco works secretly for the Speaker of the House as a troubleshooter--or "bag man" depending on how one would explain his work--and gets involved in some hair-raising adventures.

House Rules by Mike Lawson was the book club's selection with DeMarco running down the possible reasons for a certain family's involvement in a Muslim-based terrorist attack in the United States. Here's a photo of Lawson from his website.

Speaker of the House John Mahoney has long-time ties to that Muslim family and he dispatches DeMarco to investigate their connection to the incident. And his work also coincides with an ambitious senator pushing for legislation to have extensive background checks on all Muslims in the United States.

DeMarco's legwork stretches to cover a series of attempted Muslim terrorist attacks. Along the way, DeMarco begins a new long distance relationship and enlists the aid of one very resourceful ally while also getting the services of a unlikely (and much undesired) ally .

Some observations included:

• rounding up all Muslims would be a logistical nightmare when attempting to determine if each person actually is a Muslim
• the novel had some nice touches with the set-up with a hidden meth lab and surprising murders
• another nice touch--tough women characters on both sides of the law
• the novel ends with a satisfying resolution for a long running subplot throughout the book
• one attendee enjoyed this book more than the past three previous novels
• some attendees expected more suspense in the story
• one attendee who read all books in the series said the newest book House Secrets is the best of the series.