Book #12 in the DeMarco series. This time DeMarco is hunting down a “jury consultant” who makes it her business to interfere with witnesses so that they either cannot testify or change their testimony. When the son of DeMarco’s boss is murdered in a bar one night with 5 witnesses, the suspect is immediately caught, and the case seems open and shut. But the suspect’s father is super-rich and has his lawyer hire the jury consultant to ensure that his son is acquitted.

I found the plot of this story to be very creative and not a routine legal thriller at all. This is the first book I have read from this series and I had a little trouble warming up to DeMarco. I think it may have been because the first half of the book focuses primarily on the consultant and setting up the drama. Once DeMarco reluctantly decides to pursue this person though I really started to like him. In this installment he borrows a law intern from the District Attorney on the case and I really liked her. She’s a little quirky, but very efficient and plays off of DeMarco well. The twists and turns along the way for engaging and kept the story moving at a good pace. I found this to be a good story, but didn’t really wow me.

What a great legal thriller, I had no idea that this was the 12th book in the Joe DeMarco Series.
DeMarco's the fix-it man for the Minority Leader of the House, John Mahoney. When he gets a call late one night about a murder in a Manhatten bar, he's a little confused as to why this should be of any issue regarding Mahoney, he quickly learns that there are some personal issues at stake here. Not only regarding Mahoney but himself as well he grew up with the victim of this senseless crime. DeMarco is told that this man has to fry for what he did, he has to be convicted of murder no matter what. They had no idea exactly what forces they were up against.
The man who committed the murder is the rich son of a very high profile corporate attorney who is spoiled and has been on a bender since his girlfriend dumped him a few days ago. Naturally, he runs to Daddy to help him out of this crisis, he shot the man in cold blood in a crowded bar with several witnesses. It's a disaster, but when DeMarco is summons to work with the prosecutor he discovers a very odd trend regarding very rich murder defendants getting off when they should have been convicted.
This is a fast-paced read with plenty of action and suspense that kept it from lagging. A lot of legal thrillers get bogged down in all the legalities the trial that you find yourself nodding off, I can assure you that won't happen here.

Disclosure: I was provided an e-galley of this book by the publisher and NetGalley in exchange for my honest opinion.
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Joe DeMarco gets a call from his boss, former Speaker of the House and now Minority Leader John Mahoney. Mahoney needs DeMarco to travel to New York and find out who killed his son, Dominic DiNunzio. No one knows DiNunzio is Mahoney's son; he was illegitimate and Mahoney never acknowledged him, but nevertheless, Mahoney wants to killer fried, but, of course, no one can know his secret. When DeMarco arrives, it appears the ADA Justine Porter has the case well in hand; she has five eye witnesses to the crime. It seems that one Tobias Rosenthal was drunk and high when he took exception to his treatment at the hands of DiNunzio and got his gun and shot him at point-blank range in a bar in Brooklyn. And then things begin to go wrong; all those witnesses suddenly develop amnesia and one of them even disappears. DeMarco is stunned and begins to figure out someone doesn't want Toby Rosenthal to go to jail. But DeMarco knows he does not want an unhappy John Mahoney on his hands, so DeMarco has to ferret out who is protecting Rosenthal and why. Another enjoyable entry in this long-running series.

The latest in the Joe DeMarco series has intrigue and suspense. DeMarco is helping a NYC assistant district attorney to keep her witnesses from disappearing or being persuaded to change their testimony. Behind those attempts is someone with a lot of experience in making witnesses disappear. The book tells the story from both DeMarco's and the elusive "witness fixer's" points of view. While the main story line is rather simple, the book kept my interest throughout, to see who wins this battle for the witnesses! An interesting read!

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for this opportunity. This is the first book I have read in the Joe Di Marco series and loved it. An interesting read, great characters which I enjoyed getting to know. Legal thriller about witness tampering and how money can buy anything even your freedom for a crime you committed. I recommend this book and will read more books in this series.

Thanks to the publisher and netgalley for an eARC of this book.
Hard to believe that I have missed out on 11 Joe DeMarco books. This is the first I have read and even jumping in at this late date, I didn't feel that I had missed a thing. I did not want to put the book down. The characters were interesting and the plot was imaginative and twisty. Highly recommend.

Mike Lawson comes up with a great idea for a story as witnesses die, disappear, or change their minds allowing murderers to escape prosecution. Is it a coincidence or a carefully orchestrated plan? When Joe DeMarco is called in to make sure the killer of his godmother’s son is brought to justice, he notices the pattern, but finding the architect of the scheme proves difficult.

Somehow I don't think I have read any of the Joe DeMarco series by Mike Lawson of which this is book 12. Too bad for me.

Joe DeMarco gets a call in the middle of the night that Dominic DiNunzio, his godmother's son and a man he has known all his life, has been killed in a bar in New York. It isn't Connie DiNunzio who phones, it is John Mahoney, the most prominent Democrat in the US House of Representatives who phones. Connie phoned him first because he is Dominic's biological father, a fact that neither Joe DeMarco or John's wife Mary Pat, or anyone else for that matter, knows.

In a few short paragraphs Mr. Lawson sets up this excellent thriller that stands alone quite well. As a matter of fact, if the negative comments from Amazon reviewers is to be believed, it stands alone better than as part of the series. Quite a few of them said that there isn't enough "Joe DeMarco" in the story. That's an interesting idea, don't you think?

For a tyro like me, the story works fine. Joe works closely with a prosecutor and her intern up in Manhattan to uncover a massive witness tampering case. Very competent and exciting writing and I enjoyed it quite a bit.

I received a review copy of "House Witness" by Mike Lawson (Grove Atlantic) through NetGalley.com.

My husband has been a fan of Mike Lawson’s Joe DeMarco series from the first book, but I had never read any of them until NetGallery allowed me an ARC of the latest in the series. I expected this to be more of a political thriller than it was – it was more a legal thriller, and was very John Grisham-esque. While I like John Grisham, that wasn’t what I thought I’d be reading, so I’m a bit disappointed. Not having the backstory from the previous novels, Joe DeMarco did not overly impress me and I never felt I “knew” him. However, it was well written, the story kept pushing forward and was overall a good read.

My husband’s subsequently read this and says it wasn’t as good as the earlier ones – missing some of the intrigue and interactions with the Speaker of the House that made earlier books so enjoyable for him. Not sure if I will read more, but he will. So that’s a wash in our household.

Thanks to NetGallery, the publisher and author for giving me a copy of this book in exchange for my review.

If like me you love crime and law stories then this one is a must read. The murder of a stranger by a rich man's son leaves the victims mother desperate for justice for her son or past secrets will be exposed. The offenders family however will use whatever means possible to ensure their son is not found guilty. A story so well written with such a clever storyline it had me gripped throughout. Will justice be served or will the manipulating of the system by a scheming woman being paid $ millions see the killer walk free? Only one way to find out!

Mike Lawson's popular series hero Joe de Marco is up to his new old tricks in this twelfth outing for the chief fixer to the Speaker of the House. Which is why he takes a proprietary interest in tracking down another fixer - a couple of engaging grifters who've been "disappearing" witnesses in high profile murder cases, especially when the defendant or his family is rich enough to buy them off. The Speaker never tells Joe why it's so important to him that the man who shot and killed a stranger in a seedy Manhattan bar be prosecuted to the full extent of the law, but as more and more witnesses go missing, rumors of a shady lawyer in Texas who earns his high referral fees for putting the right people in the right place at the right time begin to surface. Joe races against the judge's clock to stop a beautiful con woman in her tracks; as usual, he tells his story with excellent pacing, a cast of colorfully drawn characters, a lively narratgive and an engaging hero. In this twelfth outing, Lawson delivers his usual solidly told tale, and his extensive back list is sure to attract even more converts to his tales of political and legal chicanery.

This is the 12th book in Mike Lawson’s Joe DeMarco series. The son of a very wealthy attorney in New York City walks into a restaurant and shoots a man to death. The dead man, Dominic DiNunzio, was the son of Connie who has some sway over John Mahoney, member of the House of Representatives and Joe DeMarco’s boss. Mahoney dispatches Joe to New York to assist the DA in any way necessary to make sure that the shooter is convicted and sent to prison. When witnesses to the crime start to change their story, or even disappear, DeMarco smells something amiss. The attorney for the accused has reached out to someone who can help him acquit the shooter - Ella Fields, who has learned to help wealthy clients get off from her late husband. But she hasn’t had to deal with Joe DeMarco before. I really enjoyed this book finding it hard to put down as the story went back and forth between Ella and Joe. This is the third book in the series that I have read - obviously not in order. So far, it has not been necessary to read them in order (unlike my normal way of doing things!).

I'd not read this series before but I was wowed by Joe DeMarco, a fixer for a politician who has now wandered inadvertently, it seems, into a nationwide game of cat and mouse with a really rotten villain. Ella Fields is subverting justice- for a price. The concept is not alien but her reach is quite impressive. I didn't have the back story on DeMarco but Lawson parceled out enough info to help me understand him and his fury at this (although I do hope everyone else feels the same way). Ella is well fleshed out. The other players-prosecutors, defendants, defense attorneys- all feel very real. Thanks to the publisher for the ARC. The plot is not all that surprising but it's well executed and worth a read for fans of legal dramas.

Mike Lawson's series about Joe DeMarco, behind-the-scenes fixer on Capitol Hill, is a really fun and interesting read. It is also a quite unusual way to use a main protagonist as DeMarco because in the first half of this - the eleventh - book, DeMarco is hardly mentioned at all; instead, Lawson introduces the other main characters quite thoroughly, which is not boring at all, but I caught myself missing DeMarco now and again.
Lawson has a very methodical approach to developing his plot, and it is super interesting to follow DeMarco's search for the bad guys who try to influence the jury in a murder trial. I wasn't blown away at all times, so I only have 4 stars for Lawson this time, but it is still a very good book that will entertain both Lawson's regular fans and newcomers who can easily jump into the series here without missing a whole lot (I know because I read the first 4 books of the series before getting back into the series in book 10 and now 11).

It you have money you can do anything. You can change almost everyone’s life by using your wealth and you can buy your freedom by bribing others. Tony commits murder and the tale of how money can change the facts is interesting. There seems to be a norm where money can overcome justice. But in the end good does prevail and the world is right

First and foremost, a large thank you to NetGalley, Mike Lawson, Grove Atlantic and Atlantic Monthly Press for providing me with a copy of this publication, which allows me to provide you with an unbiased review.

As a long-time fan of Mike Lawson’s work, I was pleased to get my hands on an advance copy of his latest Joe DeMarco novel. After House Minority Leader John Mahoney receives word that someone close to him has been murdered, his first call is to Joe DeMarco, his fixer of sorts. Understanding the nuances of the Manhattan D.A.’s Office, Mahoney insists that DeMarco offer his services to assist in any way possible. The case looks fairly cut and dry, but those are the ones that tend to be the most problematic if they reach trial. The killer comes from family money that will stop at nothing to erase events in any way possible. When the defence attorney places a call, seeking some assistance in the matter of trying to turn an easy conviction into something far less straightforward, there is hesitation. However, for the right price, things may turn their way. Enter Ella Fields, who has made it her business to work alongside her husband to help dissuade or disappear key witnesses from what they saw, thereby toppling the proverbial apple cart. As things begin to get a little shaky in Manhattan, DeMarco learns of the possibility that someone like Fields could be out destroying easy cases. He vows to track her down, travelling across the United States to learn more about a number of cases, always two steps behind. However, with the trial about ready to begin, DeMarco may have stumbled upon something, though even he is not sure if it will be enough. Lawson continues paving the way for DeMarco to remain at the top if his game, while pulling readers into the middle of this quick-paced series. Fans of Joe DeMarco and those who like crime thrillers that do not slow down will surely enjoy this piece and the entire collection.

It is hard to believe that this is the twelfth instalment of the Joe Demarco series, though Mike Lawson has a wonderful handle on things. What began as a strong political thriller has turned more into something criminal and loosely legal in nature, but the reader is not forced to compromise too much. DeMarco’s backstory is well known to series vets, but is not lost here in the crumbs left for new readers. His past comes full circle as he is forced to come to terms with the murder of his cousin, though there are even larger shocks for the attentive reader. DeMarco has grit and determination, as well as charm and some rough exterior that usually garners him the results he needs. It is some of the other characters, particularly Ella Fields, that steal the show in this novel, offering up both a thorough backstory and a wonderful collection of traits as the story’s narrative heats up. The reader is left little time to ponder what’s been read, too busy are they with trying to see where the next part of the cat and mouse game will go. The story itself is well crafted in a legal thriller genre that I felt worked more effectively as a one of the crime variety. DeMarco rushes to fill the gaps while Fields will not go down without a fight, eluding capture throughout. Newer fans of the series, or first timers in general, will not be aware of the transformation of the series. If I had to offer up one area that I disliked, it is that political intrigue and centrality are gone, as though Lawson feels that he has lost that avenue. As I read, I could not help but ask myself, ‘Will DeMarco play more than a passing role in this story?’ for much of the early narrative, though Lawson did bring things back before too long. I yearn for a political thriller, if there is someone that Lawson has left in him, though I will not complain too much, as this story was written in a masterful style and one sure to pull the reader in from the early chapters.

Kudos, Mr. Lawson, for another success. I always look forward to what you have to offer and hope that you’ll keep writing.

House Witness is a fast-paced legal thriller that opens with Washington D.C. power broker intrigue and a Bar room murder and an initial police investigation right out of a Law and Order episode. But, that’s all a preview for the heart of the matter which is to turn the entire concept of a legal thriller on its head by positing what could happen if a crew of underhanded manipulators were out there offering their services to rich defendants in the way of Witness tampering. Making eyewitnesses disappear or change their testimony was a speciality of this crew until Fixer Joe DeMarco gets involved. It’s an engrossing read with a fairly blistering pace, although it strained believability the extent of the misdeeds committed and the speed with which some threw away their ethics.

I have read all the Joe DeMarco books written by Mike Lawson. I have enjoyed them all. Joe is a lawyer who works for the former Speaker of the House. John Mahoney. He is his “fixer” Joe is the son of a former Mob enforcer which caused him to have very little job prospects. This one is more personal for John – his son – who is a secret – is killed and he is out to make sure the guy pays. Joe knows the son and is eager to make sure the guy pays.
The murder is a rich and entitled man. There is witness tampering and all sorts of shenanigans. Joe is right in the middle of everything. In his stumbling and naïve way, he goes after the person who killed his friend.
If you have not read any of the other books in the series, you will enjoy it. But if you have read any or all the them, you will enjoy this installment very much.

Thank you, Net Galley, for allowing me to read this book in advance, I did not have to wait to see what Joe is up to and gets into!!

Really outstanding mystery with a lot of detailed twists and turns! One book I had to keep reading once I started it. It seemed very possibly a true story!

Wow. Thanks to Netgalley I now have a new series to explore, even though this is the 12th book in the series. The premise of this book is the super rich can pay for their problems go away. The man who does this is a disbarred lawyer with a taste for a very expensive lifestyle. Joe DeMarco is the investigator. A very satisfying read. I will enjoy exploring this series by a well developed author.