Alligator Alley: A Joe DeMarco Thriller

by Mike Lawson

Overview

Joe DeMarco likes to call himself a troubleshooter. It sounds better than “bagman” or “fixer.” With more than a decade of troubleshooting under his belt on behalf of John Mahoney, the Speaker of the House, DeMarco has seen his fair share of dangerous situations.

When Andie Moore, a 23-year-old working in the DOJ’s Inspector General’s Office, is murdered in cold blood in Florida’s Everglades, it falls on DeMarco to get to the bottom of things. Paired with Emma, an enigmatic, retired ex-spy with seemingly endless connections in the military and intelligence communities, they venture south to the scene of Andie’s murder: Alligator Alley.

DeMarco and Emma waste no time in identifying a two suspects—a pair of crooked, near-retirement FBI agents named McIntyre and McGruder. But as they keep digging, it becomes clear that these FBI agents weren’t acting alone, and that this goes much deeper than just the murder of an innocent 23-yearold

woman.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780802160539
Publisher:	Grove/Atlantic, Inc.
Publication date:	02/07/2023
Series:	A Joe DeMarco Thriller , #16
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Sales rank:	130,506
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

Mike Lawson is a former senior civilian executive for the US Navy. He is the Edgar Award-nominated author of more than fifteen novels starring Joe DeMarco and three novels with his protagonist Kay Hamilton.

Editorial Reviews

Praise for Alligator Alley:

"Alligator Alley is fast-paced, humorous, chilling, and vividly accurate."—Criminal Element

"Lawson’s toolkit includes great pacing, wry humor, a thorough understanding of criminal thinking and engaging characters. All of the above makes Alligator Alley an entertaining read.”—Discover Our Coast

"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."—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"[A]s the plot moves forward, readers may wonder why their palms are sweaty . . . This one sneaks up on you, but it's a really stunning thriller.—Booklist (starred review)

“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 . . . This is an easy entry to the Joe DeMarco series and will win Lawson some new fans.”—Library Journal

From the Publisher

11/01/2022

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

Library Journal

2022-11-16
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.

Kirkus Reviews