Joe innocently accepts responsibility to arrange for the funeral of his second cousin Paul Russo. From that point on, Joe is caught in the middle of the FBI (Agent Hopper will initially not release the body, then tells Joe his cousin was cremated and is under suspicion for dealing drugs), the NSA (Claire Whiting and her boss Dillon Crane have been eavesdropping on American citizens to prevent another 9/11 and intercept a call about two people meeting in DC one of whom is Russo and the other an investigative reporter from the Washington Post) and General Charles Bradford, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs (Bradford controls a group of people who influence American politics by killing off whomever they think represents a threat to the country).  

As Joe tries to expedite the funeral process and discover if Russo has a will, he goes to Russo's house and learns from his neighbor that Paul was a gay hospice nurse. At the hospice, Joe is advised what a kind and compassionate human being his cousin was and that it was impossible he was involved in drug dealing. This is corroborated by Russo's priest.

When DeMarco also learns that Russo's last patient was General Martin Breed who commanded The Old Guard – the soldiers who guard the Tomb of The Unknown Soldier – DeMarco wonders if the General could have divulged some secret to his cousin which resulted in his death.  

For me, House Divided was a book divided and was not Lawson's best. The first two thirds of the book had very little action and there was little mention of Mahoney who was in a coma after gall bladder surgery.  Nor was Joe's love-interest Angela DeCapria, who was in Afghanistan on assignment for the CIA, featured prominently. For readers new to the series, this may not be as significant as it is to those who have followed DeMarco and friends since The Inside Ring. When the action finally picks up, the pages started turning more quickly and the Mike Lawson we have come to expect reappeared. Hopefully, number 7 will be another fast paced, action-packed thriller.

--Jerry Solot