With his series of thrillers featuring Joe DeMarco, fixer for the Speaker of the House, Mike Lawson has won a following among thriller fans and abundant critical praise. Originally published in 2006, The Second Perimeter is the second book in this excellent series.

When the secretary of the navy’s nephew tells him that two colleagues at a U.S. Naval base are committing fraud, he is skeptical. Reluctant to launch an official investigation based on a relative’s vague suspicions, the secretary asks Speaker Mahoney to send his guy DeMarco to check out the story. As DeMarco and his friend Emma, a retired intelligence agent, begin to investigate what they thought was a low-stakes government swindle, they come to the terrifying realization that an espionage ring has infiltrated the naval base.

The leader of the ring is a woman with whom Emma has a history dating back to the Cold War. Their encounter destroyed the woman’s once promising career and turned her into a ruthless operative who cares about only one thing: destroying Emma. DeMarco has never been near a spy in his life—at least not that he ever knew of—but now he’s mixed up in a deadly conflict with a foreign agent more lethal than anyone he’s ever encountered. Not only is Emma’s life in danger, but Mahoney’s as well.