House Divided

By Mike Lawson

When the National Security Agency was caught wiretapping U.S. citizens without warrants, a political scandal erupted and the secret program came to a screeching halt. But the senior man at the NSA who spearheaded the most sophisticated eavesdropping operation in history wasn't about to sit by while spineless politicians sleepwalked his country into another 9/11. Instead, he moved the program into the shadows. But being in the shadows can cause complications.
When the NSA illegally records a rogue military group murdering two American civilians, they can't exactly walk over to the Pentagon and demand to know what's going on. That doesn't mean the NSA's hands are tied, however. As the largest intelligence service in the country, both in money and manpower, they have plenty of options - mostly illegitimate.
DeMarco learns all too well just what the NSA is capable of. They bug him, threaten him, and use him to draw out their opponent. But DeMarco doesn't like being used. A strong addition to this celebrated series, House Divided continues Mike Lawson's impressive run of inspired, compelling thrillers.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Grove Press UK
• Release date: Sep 6, 2018
• ISBN: 9781611859294

Mike Lawson

Mike Lawson is a former nuclear engineer who turned to full-time writing in May 2003. He lives with his family in the United States.

Reviews for House Divided

[bohemiangirl35 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A rogue division of the NSA illegally records a trained group with military equipment killing two U.S. citizens in D.C. in the middle of the night and flubbing the clean-up. Because the monitoring and recording was illegal, they can't openly investigate to find out what happened. Meanwhile, powers at the Pentagon who orchestrated the murders are trying to misdirect anyone who might investigate, including the police and FBI.In House Justice, Joe DeMarco is pretty much a pawn for the story to demonstrate just how much "big brother" can spy on anyone and how little power the government has to regulate its agencies. In both the Pentagon and the NSA good people are duped into committing crimes from spying to murder and are non the wiser afterwards. Military personnel believe they are eliminating threats to national security when they are really killing regular people who know too much. Office personnel monitor communications between U.S. citizens, even after FISA laws are enacted to prevent it.The book skims the surface of what could be happening right now with tremendous technical power in the wrong hands. Everyone believes they are doing what's right for the country, so they are willing to make morally ambiguous or morally wrong choices "for the greater good." The book is not super compelling. The characters don't have real depth. If somebody demonstrated time and again that they could see and hear what I was doing, I would be seriously paranoid. But DeMarco seems to take it in stride and keep coming up with plans for escape. If he was part of the "spy" world, that would have been more believable. But he is a "fixer" for a government official and has nothing to do with high-tech satellite surveillance.

[neddludd · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is an effervescent tale, featuring the author's recurrent hero, Joe DeMarco. It is a totally cynical story that capitalizes on the rightful paranoia over government intrusions into citizens' privacy. The National Security Council contains a rogue group that monitors domestic communications. Through a series of plot developments, this hidden module becomes involved in a power struggle with a similarly rogue element at the Pentagon. DeMarco is inadvertantly caught inbetween. As a catalogue of potential spying toys and the story of two powerful government agencies jousting, it is quite enjoyable...almost like a game. People die, but the violence is not viscerally communicated: it's all part of the contest. There are no heroes; everyone is extremely competent, intelligent, and corrupt. The major flaw is a lack of depth. The author creates a fizzy "Spy v. Spy" game, but doesn't probe beneath the surface as to what these rogue agencies really represent. DeMarco, the putative hero, is the "fixer" for the Speaker of the House, and this element is also passed over with no comment or context.

[readinggeek451 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

An extra-legal NSA division overhears men with military equipment in the process of killing two people. Joe DeMarco, temporarily at leisure because his boss is in the hospital, is drawn in because one of the victims is his cousin. Soon a vast game of cat-and-mouse is playing out in and around Washington, as DeMarco learns just how closely the NSA can surveil the American public.