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Joe DeMarco is a Washington lawyer who unofficially works for former Speaker of the House and current Congressman John Mahoney. Mostly, Mahoney wants him to do the kind of thing that he wouldn't really want anyone to know about. In this case, Mahoney's wife is giving him a lot of grief about a lobbyist named Brian Kincaid who has been convicted of the murder of his partner, Phil Downing. Mahoney asks Joe to see if he can find anything that will prove Kincaid was framed; but truthfully, there's not much hope that will happen because the evidence against him is so convincing. What's not evident is that Kincaid saw something that he shouldn't have. Orson Mulray is the CEO of Mulray Pharma and has discovered a drug that will cure a widespread disease, with the result being profits in the billions. He has a lawyer, Fiona West, who is implementing the strategy for getting this drug to market quickly by setting up test sites in foreign countries instead of conducting clinical trials in the US, a process that takes a very long time. West is a ruthless woman who has latched on to a legitimate philanthropic enterprise called the Warwick Foundation. Using their spotless reputation as a cover, West has a team in place who set third-world disaster victims up in clinics and participate in the drug experiments. It all seems legitimate and the testing goes well, but there are still quite a few deaths that don't make sense. It doesn't help that Fiona is all too ready to have her security team permanently remove anyone that gets in her way. And as Joe DeMarco and his friend, Emma, formerly an intelligence operative, pursue the Kincaid investigation, they find connections to Mulray that could bring down the whole house of cards. The DeMarco books are one of my favorite series, and HOUSE BLOOD does not disappoint. The plot is quite a bit more complicated than usual, which I found at times to be confusing, especially since it involved a large cast of characters on the bad guy side. However, I think Lawson made a good choice in expanding the stage of DeMarco's operations beyond the inner workings of Washington, DC. DeMarco is a great character, and he's what keeps me coming back to this series. He's cranky, a little bit lazy, but unstoppable once he sinks his teeth into something. Other characters who step off the page include Emma, who tolerates no baloney, and Fiona West, a world-class witch and manipulator. Although HOUSE BLOOD is a political thriller, it's not burdened with a lot of ideology and it is sprinkled with humor throughout. Even though it's the seventh book in the series, it easily stands on its own. § Formerly a training development manager for a large company, Maddy is now retired and continues to enable the addiction of crime fiction fans as owner of the online discussion group, 4 Mystery Addicts(4MA), while avidly reading in every possible free moment herself.
Reviewed by Maddy Van Hertbruggen, September 2012
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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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