The Inside Ring

Joe Demarco is a fixer who works for the speaker of the house, after the President almost assassinated Demarco is called into action to find who was behind it. After carefully digging<br />He learns that it was a member of the secret Serive. This was a great thriller audiobook!!!

The first book of a now 14-volume series about Washington DC political fixer, Joe DeMarco. This is my first read of the author and as political thrillers go I really enjoyed it. DeMarco works for the Speaker of the House and after the President of the United States is almost assassinated DeMarco is called upon to figure out who was behind this and was a member of the President’s Secret Service detail involved in the attempt. Really good first novel, good dialogue, action moves but not at unbelievable pace. Good plot, very realistic characters and great villains! I now have all of this series on my Kindle and look forward to the continuing exploits of Joe DeMarco. Top Notch effort!

The Inside Ring about congressional fixer Joe DeMarco by Mike Lawson is the first book in this series. Sadly I started with the two latest and now feel the need to catch up. Someone made an attempt tpo assassinate the president but who is behind the attempt? Joe is tasked with digging into this sordid story, but he feels like a fish out of water and I must sadly agree. I will read one or two more in this series before I decide what I think but this first one was a little lacking. I find the concept for the series good and I really liked books 14 and 15. I will recommend this series anyway because it has something new.

Joe Demarco is the son of a well known gangster. An attorney, he works for the Speaker of the House as a fixer. DeMarco thinks his ancestry keeps him from decent work. Guess he never heard of the Kennedys.<br /><br />Someone tries to assassinate the President. The Speaker sends Joe to investigate. Not because he's worried about the president, but to get something on the head of the secret service. <br /><br />Of course, it all goes back to 1963.

Много добър роман, начало на серия свързани с американската политика трилъри!<br /><br />Запознайте се с Джо Демарко - момче за всичко на влиятелна личност във Вашингтон, политическото и финансово сърце на САЩ. Няма мърсотия, в която да не е бил принуден да зарови нос.<br /><br />Та когато някой опитва да убие президента, точно Джо трябва в последствие да се рови из кирливите ризи на агентите от Сикрет сървиз. И никак не му допадат нещата, които открива...<br /><br />Препоръчвам, чудесно се забавлявах!

This novel begins earnestly but loses steam through tortuous actions inflicted upon the supposed hero. The ending was clipped and left this listener feeling short-changed. 5 of 10 stars

Calling this book a thriller isn't quite right. It starts off with a bang. That's for sure. The President is shot. The man next to him is killed. Did someone on the 'inside ring' of his protection detail set him up? Will there be another attempt? There are plenty of questions. The problem is that for a long time all we have are questions. What is in short supply are thrills and suspense.<br /><br />We meet some interesting characters. We're treated to a tour of some Washington D.C. sites and offices. We get some hints at some odd connections. Leads turn into dead ends with more unanswered questions. We get some threats, but they seem vague and toothless. We get a lot of background on Joe Demarco, our protagonist. But for a long time it felt like the story was adrift. There was no ticking clock. I didn't feel any suspense or imminent threat. Where were the thrills? I almost gave up.<br /><br />It didn't help that some of the prose feels a little wooden. Chapters start with a seemingly obligatory description of the scene. Characters are introduced with a full description of clothing, hair color, and facial features. But after that, there is a good flow of narrative and dialog. I stuck with the book because it's an easy read and the mysteries are oddly interesting.<br /><br />The last third of the book finally earns the thriller designation. Demarco starts getting some answers, starts getting his butt kicked, and starts fighting back. The reader gets their thrills. I look forward to reading more about the adventures of Joe Demarco, but I hope they are a bit more uniformly thrilling.

**2.5 stars**<br /><br />I had several problems with this book but my main issue was that I couldn't suspend disbelief. So the head of Homeland Security gets a note warning that something will happen to the President and he lets himself be convinced to do nothing? Worse, nobody takes the note seriously even after an assassination attempt? Please!<br /><br />I liked DeMarco very much but I didn't like that he couldn't take care of business. Unlike Jack Reacher, John Rain or Jason Bourne, kicking ass wasn't his superpower so when he was confronted with really bad guys, he was horribly outmatched. When I read thrillers, I like to know the bad guys will be getting their comeuppance and the hero will be the one delivering it, not that he will be constantly praying, hoping to get out of their clutches.<br /><br />I figured out early on the reason for the assassination attempt (classic Agatha Christie...look at what really happened not what it seemed it happened) so it was TOTALLY CRAZY for the villains to go that extent. There were probably like a million easier ways for them to get the same result.<br /><br />The villain was so villainous that he was a caricature. Whatever evil deeds you can imagine, the evil guy did them. Am I to believe that after subjugating a community for 30 years and committing all sorts of attrocities, nobody thought to plug him in the back of the head? C'mon!<br /><br />This is my first time listening to Scott Brick and he did a great job with the narration. DeMarco's New York accent was subtle but there, so that I knew after a few minutes of hearing him, where he came from.<br /><br />Not continuing the series but I definitely hope to listen to another book by Scott Brick again.<br /><br /><i>Audiobook narrated by Scott Brick.</i>

"A Conspiracy Thriller With Corruption At The Highest Level"<br /><br />This is one of those books where the US and UK covers are completely different and although the US cover probably divulges more of the plot than its UK counterpart, the UK cover is probably the more dramatic of the two.<br /><br />I quite often find that political thrillers, whether English or American in origin, can be a very difficult, consuming struggle to read and it can almost be a relief when the end is in sight. Not 'The Inside Ring' however, I think that Mike Lawson got this one almost spot-on, with just the right mix of political jargon and departmental detail, traded off well with some great violent action and personal dialogue chapters.<br /><br />Lawson has brought together a fictional political event and expertly interwoven the story around that of one of the world's most infamous political tragedies of modern times, into a seamless and continuous, well plotted storyline.<br /><br />Joe DeMarco, is a nondescript lawyer, trying hard to shake off his father's reputation, which has kept him side-lined for much of his career. Suddenly he is charged with digging into the past to come up with some answers of national importance, but his search finds him way in over his head and potentially in great danger, as he uncovers political corruption and abuse of government power at the highest level, which leaves the two main National Security agencies, trying to bring each other to their knees.<br /><br />The resulting cover-up, with the incident being very much packaged into a tidy parcel and dealt with in-house, leaves a trail of destruction, which leads all the way back to a battered and bruised DeMarco, who once again finds himself left on the outside of 'The Ring', looking in!!<br /><br />De Marco's character, although quite well developed, for this, his first mission, could nonetheless be built upon even more, to expand his personality for future stories, but for plot twists, action and political treachery, this is a great first novel.

After an attempt to assassin ate the president which ends up killing a famous author as well as a Secret Service agent, Joe DeMarco, a fixer unofficially working for the Speaker of the House, is asked to look into the possibility that someone on the president's protective detail may have been involved in the attack. DeMarco quickly realizes he is in way over his head, but his boss insists he continue to dig deeper into what is looking more and more like wide-reaching conspiracy.<br /><br />Unrealistic but entertaining, despite the fact that one-dimensional villains and the protagonist being surrounded by assholes he lets walk all over him make this an occasionally fairly frustrating read.