Representative John Fitzpatrick Mahoney's wife wants someone to investigate Brian Kincaid's conviction on murder charges. Kincaid's mother is a friend of Mahoney's wife; rather than deal with his wife, the Congressman assigns his chief fixer, Joe DeMarco, to look into the situation. DeMarco is none too thrilled about the assignment but figures it will be a simple case of checking a few details and confirming Kincaid is a murderer. Instead, he stumbles into an elaborate, deadly and illegal scheme concocted by a pharmaceutical mogul in order to fast-track a revolutionary new drug through the testing process and make him the wealthiest man alive.
House Blood, Mike Lawson's seventh novel starring DeMarco, exhibits sharp dialogue, a timely, multi-layered plot and well-crafted characters. Lawson's extensive knowledge of the pharmaceutical drug industry enhances the plausibility of the characters and their actions, whether for good or evil; the one emotion readers are unlikely to experience with Lawson's characters is apathy. The fine line between ethical and legal is often hard to discern, and when one is directly affected, it becomes even more difficult. Lawson carefully illustrates that burden through the various plot layers.
House Blood, while part of a series, easily functions as a stand-alone novel. There are some minor references to previous books, but they aren't so extensive new readers will feel disadvantaged. House Blood is the perfect introduction to (or revisit of) the dangerous world of Joe DeMarco. --Jen Forbus of Jen's Book Thoughts