In this 20th book in the Joe DeMarco series, the political fixer has a delicate assignment. The book works fine as a standalone.
*****
Background: Democratic Congressman John Mahoney is the minority leader of the House of Representatives, and like many politicians, he has questionable ethics.
Joe DeMarco is Mahoney's fixer and bagman - the person Mahoney sends to collect campaign contributions that many people might consider bribes.
As the story opens, Congressman Mahoney is on a mission to destroy Congresswoman Maggie Bower, a Republican from Kentucky. Bower is a regular on talk shows, podcasts, and social media sites, where she espouses mind-boggling conspiracy theories. Bower's current favorite is that extraterrestrials live among us, and the reason they haven't been exposed is because the people running NASA are extraterrestrials.
Bower publicly insults members of her own party who disagree with her, and is even trying to topple the current Republican leadership in the House. Bower's favorite target, however, is Congressman Mahoney. She disparages Mahoney to the media at every opportunity, hurls obscenities at him, interrupts his speeches, and follows him back to his office shouting curses.
Recently, Mahoney learned Bower DID SOMETHING that would turn the voters against her - something observed by a Kentucky pig butcher called Mookie.
Mahoney sends DeMarco to Kentucky, to get a statement from Mookie......
......but the pig butcher travels around to pig farms for work, and he's hard to track down.
While DeMarco is perambulating around Kentucky, Congressman Mahoney is approached by a former CIA agent called Diane Lake. Lake now works for Vicount Analytics, a research firm that politicians use to dig up dirt on their opponents.
Lake tells Mahoney she saw Lydia Chang - a businesswoman married to powerful Republican Senator Dutch McMillian - doing something suspicious.
According to Lake, she was jogging in a park in Arlington, and observed Lydia Chang speaking with a Chinese intelligence agent called Zhou Enlai.
Lake believes Lydia Chang is spying for Zhou, and she thinks Mahoney should inform the FBI.
Congressman Mahoney and Senator McMillian are long-time political enemies, and Mahoney could use a thing like this to ruin McMillian's career.
However, Mahoney wants to CONFIRM Lake's suspicions before he approaches the authorities. So the congressman calls Joe DeMarco back from Kentucky to look into the matter.
DeMarco uses his usual private detectives, Sergio and Javier - a couple of military trained killers originally from South America - to spy on Lydia Chang.
To cut to the chase, Demarco learns Lydia is being blackmailed by Zhou Enlai. It seems Zhou has video evidence of wrongdoing by Lydia's daughter Jenny, who's a college sophomore.
DeMarco informs Congressman Mahoney, and the two of them 'take steps', but to say more would be a spoiler.
There are 20 books in the Joe DeMarco series, but this is the first one I've read, and I enjoyed it. The story is a thriller, but it's also very funny, with interesting characters.
As an example, Congressman Mahoney is self-absorbed, adulterous, and stingy. DeMarco observes, 'For more than forty years Mahoney's wife Mary Pat tolerated her husband's drinking, his many affairs, and his self-centered nature.'
And when the congressman and his bagman meet in a restaurant bar, Mahoney has DeMarco buy shot after shot of bourbon for him ($12 each), but Mahoney never pays the fixer back.
On the other hand, Mahoney can be a 'mensch' on occasion, as you'll see if you read the book.
As for DeMarco, he knows how to get the job done, and he can get out of dangerous scrapes. DeMarco's also a golf nut, and when his car is stolen, DeMarco's biggest concern is getting back his golf clubs in the trunk.
I'm glad I stumbled on the Joe DeMarco series, and recommend it to readers who like humorous crime novels.
Thanks to Netgalley, Mike Lawson, and Grove Atlantic for an ARC of the book.
Rating: 4 stars
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