Review by Booklist Review
At first, this comes off as a polished crime tale, smooth if a tad routine. It's nighttime in the Everglades, and two bad men take the life of a female government worker who has been tailing them. Back in DC, the woman's boss asks for help in tracking her killers. That's the cue that brings Lawson's series hero, Joe DeMarco, onstage for his sixteenth adventure. We're still on familiar ground, but the pattern starts to fragment when we meet Lawson's associate, the hard-edged Emma. She's a former secret agent who specialized in wet work; she doesn't sleep until a job is done and doesn't think anyone else should, either. No banter here. This compelling Nora is far deadlier than Nick. The author's style is completely unadorned, not a metaphor in sight, but as the plot moves forward, readers may wonder why their palms are sweaty. The narrative is that seductive. The heart of the matter is a plot by bent FBI agents to rob Medicare thieves, and Lawson's detail-rich exposition of the topic delivers a fascinating how-to-do-it brief, complete with tips on money laundering. This one sneaks up on you, but it's a really stunning thriller.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
The murder of 23-year-old Andie Moore, a Department of Justice employee, propels Edgar finalist Lawson's outstanding 16th thriller featuring Joe DeMarco, bagman and fixer for Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives John Mahoney (after 2021's House Standoff). Andie's boss at the DOJ, Henry Cantor, asks Mahoney for DeMarco and retired DIA agent Emma, the "most enigmatic, secretive person Mahoney had ever known," to investigate, because he thinks Andie was killed by an FBI agent, thus making an FBI investigation questionable. Cantor is almost right, except it was two FBI agents who were the culprits, as revealed in an early chapter in which Andie is shot to death in her car while parked on the Everglades Parkway (aka Alligator Alley). DeMarco and Emma travel to the Everglades, where they follow a long and twisting trail to the truth. Along the way, the tension rises as the path to justice is almost derailed several times. Assured prose matches the two capable protagonists: the crafty DeMarco and the relentless, brilliant Emma. This is perhaps Lawson's best in the series to date. Agent: David Gernert, Gernert Company. (Feb.)
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Review by Library Journal Review
Lawson returns with this latest thriller (following House Standoff) that sends Washington, DC, "fixer" Joe DeMarco down to Florida to investigate the murder of a young Department of Justice employee. At the request of the DOJ Inspector General, Andie Moore had been looking into how a couple of FBI agents mishandled a money-laundering investigation. She suspects it was done purposefully, but before she can prove it, she is murdered. Joe picks up the trail with Emma, another well-connected back-door DC operative, and together they try to figure out who killed Andie and why. That's the easy part, though, because they also have to find a way to prove it. These veteran FBI agents seem to have someone else working with them, and this someone is helping them cover their tracks. The twists and turns keep the pages flying by, with a few moments of levity sprinkled in to break the tension. The conclusion will leave readers both shocked and satisfied. VERDICT This is an easy entry to the Joe DeMarco series and will win Lawson some new fans.--Sarah Sullivan
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
A much-respected Department of Justice administrator's reservations about the apparently random shooting of a colleague sends D.C. fixer Joe DeMarco on a journey to identify the real killers (not hard) and bring them to justice (much harder). Andie Moore, found shot dead behind the wheel of her car, seems to have been the victim of an impatient thief. But her boss, Congressional Medal of Honor winner Henry Cantor, who runs the DOJ's Oversight and Review Division, is convinced that her murder is connected to her investigation of Lenny and Estelle Berman, who used the assisted living facility they owned to bilk Medicare of $15 million--which, Henry reminds House Speaker John Mahoney, is not all that much money. He's right, of course: Andie had snapped a damning photo of McIntyre and McGruder, a pair of FBI agents investigating the case, executing the Bermans in an Everglades swamp so that they could pocket the proceeds themselves, and when they realized they'd been followed to the rendezvous, they tied up the unexpected loose end. It doesn't take long for DeMarco and Emma, the Defense Department op he teams up with, to identify McIntyre and McGruder, but the killers have an accomplice who's even more coldblooded than they are and even more intent on tying up loose ends. The quest to identify the murderers morphs into a quest to bring them to justice before they can tie up enough loose ends to sink Lawson's consistently absorbing franchise. The denouement, well planned on every side, goes abruptly off the rails due to some unwelcome coincidences and a remarkably heroic gesture by one of the leading players. Storytelling that's as brisk, efficient, and unsentimental as the killers. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
