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Lawson Vampire #4
The Syndicate
The Council believes vampires can coexist with humans. Some vamps disagree. That's where Lawson comes in. He's a Fixer. When a nosferatu gets ideas about taking over the world, it's his job to take them out. Lawson is ordered to track Cosgrove, whose victims' blood gives him strength and agility Lawson can't combat--unless he resorts to Cosgrove's methods.
Paperback
First published October 1, 2003
18 people are currently reading
111 people want to read
About the author
Jon F. Merz
115 books486 followersAs a writer, Jon has published over 40 novels with major publishers like Kensington's Pinnacle Books, St. Martin's Press, and many more. He is also the author of eleven installments in the internationally bestselling adventure series Rogue Angel (2006-present) with Harlequin's Gold Eagle line. His short fiction story "Prisoner 392" (appeared alongside Stephen King in FROM THE BORDERLANDS, 2004, Warner Books) earned him an Honorable Mention in 2004's Year's Best Fantasy & Horror edited by Ellen Datlow. Jon has also co-authored two non-fiction books: LEARNING LATER, LIVING GREATER with Nancy Merz Nordstrom (2006, Sentient Publications) and THE COMPLETE IDIOT'S GUIDE TO ULTIMATE FIGHTING with Rich "Ace" Franklin (2007, Alpha Books/Penguin/Putnam).
Jon is perhaps most famous for his Lawson Vampire series of supernatural action novels starring the Fixer Lawson, a jaded anti-hero charged with protecting a race of living vampires from exposure. There are currently six novels (The Fixer, The Invoker, The Destructor, The Syndicate, The Kensei, The Enchanter) two novellas (Slave to Love, The Courier) and five short stories (The Price of a Good Drink, Interlude, Red Tide, Rudolf the Red Nosed Rogue, Enemy Mine) in the series with many more adventures yet to come.
Jon's latest novel is the new Shadow Warrior series debuting in September from Baen Books. Book 1, UNDEAD HORDES OF KAN-GUL is due out September 3rd in stores everywhere.
Jon also publishes his backlist independently. You can find his ebooks on Amazon: http://bit.ly/jonfmerz Barnes & Noble's Nook store: http://bit.ly/bnjonfmerz and on Kobo: http://bit.ly/kjonfmerz
As a producer, Jon has formed New Ronin Entertainment with longtime friend Jaime Hassett to create television and feature film projects in the New England area. Their first project is THE FIXER, a new supernatural action series based on Jon's Lawson Vampire novels. Filming of the pilot begins in 2013.
Jon has studied authentic Bujinkan Budo Taijutsu/Ninjutsu for over twenty years under Mark Davis of the Boston Martial Arts Center. He has also trained with senior Bujinkan instructors both in the United States and Japan. During a trip to Japan in February 2003, Jon earned his 5th degree black belt directly from the 34th Grandmaster of Togakure-ryu Ninjutsu, Masaaki Hatsumi. In addition to traditional training, Jon has also taught defensive tactics to a wide range of clients, including civilian crime watch groups, police and EMS first responders, military units, and federal organizations including the US Department of State, the Department of Justice, and the Bureau of Prisons.
In his past, Jon served with the United States Air Force, worked for the US government, and handled executive protection for a variety of Fortune 500 clients.
Jon is perhaps most famous for his Lawson Vampire series of supernatural action novels starring the Fixer Lawson, a jaded anti-hero charged with protecting a race of living vampires from exposure. There are currently six novels (The Fixer, The Invoker, The Destructor, The Syndicate, The Kensei, The Enchanter) two novellas (Slave to Love, The Courier) and five short stories (The Price of a Good Drink, Interlude, Red Tide, Rudolf the Red Nosed Rogue, Enemy Mine) in the series with many more adventures yet to come.
Jon's latest novel is the new Shadow Warrior series debuting in September from Baen Books. Book 1, UNDEAD HORDES OF KAN-GUL is due out September 3rd in stores everywhere.
Jon also publishes his backlist independently. You can find his ebooks on Amazon: http://bit.ly/jonfmerz Barnes & Noble's Nook store: http://bit.ly/bnjonfmerz and on Kobo: http://bit.ly/kjonfmerz
As a producer, Jon has formed New Ronin Entertainment with longtime friend Jaime Hassett to create television and feature film projects in the New England area. Their first project is THE FIXER, a new supernatural action series based on Jon's Lawson Vampire novels. Filming of the pilot begins in 2013.
Jon has studied authentic Bujinkan Budo Taijutsu/Ninjutsu for over twenty years under Mark Davis of the Boston Martial Arts Center. He has also trained with senior Bujinkan instructors both in the United States and Japan. During a trip to Japan in February 2003, Jon earned his 5th degree black belt directly from the 34th Grandmaster of Togakure-ryu Ninjutsu, Masaaki Hatsumi. In addition to traditional training, Jon has also taught defensive tactics to a wide range of clients, including civilian crime watch groups, police and EMS first responders, military units, and federal organizations including the US Department of State, the Department of Justice, and the Bureau of Prisons.
In his past, Jon served with the United States Air Force, worked for the US government, and handled executive protection for a variety of Fortune 500 clients.
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
May 5, 2011
I liked it, but the books seem to be getting shorter as we go along...
February 13, 2019
Vampire Lone wolf against the Mob
Lawson gets pulled into a battle to save his vampire world from designer drugs. An unexpected call from his uncle that his cousin is missing. He ends up taking time off to investigate because she is family and he has very little left. Lawson is down in New York and finds his cousin has been trying to make it as a professional dancer. She has been missing for at least a week according to her roommate. Next thing he is interviewing dancers, managers and others in the entertainment industry. He starts suspecting the syndicate may be involved. He has to notify the local fixer he is in town and finds things to be out of order in a suspicious way. He is attacked while visiting a young friend to get insight into the missing New York fixer. He has a job offer from the Syndicate. He pulls together his tactical team of fixers to rescue his cousin and learns there is a traitor. He manages to save his cousin's roommate and defeat part of the Syndicate but realizes someone else is behind the group.
It is a good Lawson story. Lots of action, fair character development and the cool righteousness of Lawson. The text had alot of typos. The story seemed hurried toward the end. I would recommend this book but it wasn't as well written as previous stories.
Lawson gets pulled into a battle to save his vampire world from designer drugs. An unexpected call from his uncle that his cousin is missing. He ends up taking time off to investigate because she is family and he has very little left. Lawson is down in New York and finds his cousin has been trying to make it as a professional dancer. She has been missing for at least a week according to her roommate. Next thing he is interviewing dancers, managers and others in the entertainment industry. He starts suspecting the syndicate may be involved. He has to notify the local fixer he is in town and finds things to be out of order in a suspicious way. He is attacked while visiting a young friend to get insight into the missing New York fixer. He has a job offer from the Syndicate. He pulls together his tactical team of fixers to rescue his cousin and learns there is a traitor. He manages to save his cousin's roommate and defeat part of the Syndicate but realizes someone else is behind the group.
It is a good Lawson story. Lots of action, fair character development and the cool righteousness of Lawson. The text had alot of typos. The story seemed hurried toward the end. I would recommend this book but it wasn't as well written as previous stories.
March 13, 2019
The Syndicate: A Lawson Vampire Novel #4
Lawson is in New York to help rescue his cousin. A crime boss name Chi has her and he want Lawson to betray the vampire consult. To free his cousin will he do it? Ok story.
Lawson is in New York to help rescue his cousin. A crime boss name Chi has her and he want Lawson to betray the vampire consult. To free his cousin will he do it? Ok story.
March 15, 2018
Okay
While the storyline is good, the abundance of missing words and misspellings prompted me to lower the rating. Hopefully the next book will be better.
While the storyline is good, the abundance of missing words and misspellings prompted me to lower the rating. Hopefully the next book will be better.
April 5, 2014
If you’ve read the Dresden File novels by Jim Butcher, you’ll find the vampire who is the main character in this series a good bit different than Harry Dresden, and I would say in a good way. Whereas as Dresden is an overly flawed character, Lawson is not. He has more panache, and a better skill set combining military and spy tactics. In The Syndicate, the vampire organized crime faction has kidnapped one of Lawson’s relatives in order to lure him into working for them. Meanwhile, they are also trying to unleash a new, devastating synthetic drug on the population. Now Lawson has to stop the syndicate and rescue his relative.
Although I liked the Lawson character, the plot is simply weak. There is very little believability to the story, even with completely accepting a vampire mafia, and a vampire council living in the shadows. Most of the action is fairly ridiculous, and had me groaning. The writing is also a bit subpar. It’s a less than mediocre novel. If you’re not tied into this series, it’s one you’ll want to avoid.
Carl Alves – author of Blood Street
Although I liked the Lawson character, the plot is simply weak. There is very little believability to the story, even with completely accepting a vampire mafia, and a vampire council living in the shadows. Most of the action is fairly ridiculous, and had me groaning. The writing is also a bit subpar. It’s a less than mediocre novel. If you’re not tied into this series, it’s one you’ll want to avoid.
Carl Alves – author of Blood Street
April 10, 2011
Yay! Now we're talking. This, book 4, is the best in the series so far. I just finished the third book a short while ago and felt it wasn't as good as the others.
However, still intrigued by the fantastic Lawson character, I moved on to book 4--and its stellar! Everything that's great about this series--wit and humor, adventurous tough guy facing a conspiracy plot, fighting and martial arts, supernatural urban fantasy, romance--and lets not forget the fantastic plot twists--its all here and its the best so far.
The humor in this book was the best its ever been. Lawson is like this vampire version of Jason Bourne and Bruce Willis in Die Hard. A mixture of toughness, nobility, humour, sexiness, and, yes, underneath it all, tenderness. Wonderful!
If you haven't read this series, I highly highly recommend.
However, still intrigued by the fantastic Lawson character, I moved on to book 4--and its stellar! Everything that's great about this series--wit and humor, adventurous tough guy facing a conspiracy plot, fighting and martial arts, supernatural urban fantasy, romance--and lets not forget the fantastic plot twists--its all here and its the best so far.
The humor in this book was the best its ever been. Lawson is like this vampire version of Jason Bourne and Bruce Willis in Die Hard. A mixture of toughness, nobility, humour, sexiness, and, yes, underneath it all, tenderness. Wonderful!
If you haven't read this series, I highly highly recommend.
May 10, 2012
I think that I'm inclined to agree with the reader below who said this was the best in the series so far. This is book four so don't jump in here.
I love the character development that has gone into Lawson. Merz has done an amazing job of building up his personality, quirks and all.
I'm a little disappointed to see that the next story is a novella of 25,000 words for the same price as lots of full length novels. Just gives me heartburn.
Okay, so who wouldn't like a storyline that combines Vampire swat teams, ninja midget Vampires, good fight scenes, and more? Vampires usually aren't my thing but Merz has come up with one if the more plausible back stories to justify their existence. Basically, they aren't supernatural, they're a fork in evolution from homo sapiens that has evolved independently and alongside us. Love it.
I love the character development that has gone into Lawson. Merz has done an amazing job of building up his personality, quirks and all.
I'm a little disappointed to see that the next story is a novella of 25,000 words for the same price as lots of full length novels. Just gives me heartburn.
Okay, so who wouldn't like a storyline that combines Vampire swat teams, ninja midget Vampires, good fight scenes, and more? Vampires usually aren't my thing but Merz has come up with one if the more plausible back stories to justify their existence. Basically, they aren't supernatural, they're a fork in evolution from homo sapiens that has evolved independently and alongside us. Love it.
October 8, 2011
Jon Merz has so quickly and easily become one of my favorite authors. His writing style is so much like that of Robert Parker that I suddenly feel the need to go back and finish reading all the Spenser books. However, at the rate Mr. Merz is churning out prose these days I may not have the time. Honestly, if I'd had the time, I probably could have read The Syndicate in one sitting. This one is not my favorite in the series, but still a great read and definitely worth picking up. My only frustration here is that I can't really tell you a whole lot without giving everything away, so just read it. You won't be sorry.
May 28, 2012
In this vampire book in which almost nothing vampiric occurs, it seems as if the characters were made vampires so they would be more interesting. The story was fair, the writing fair at best--sometimes poor, particularly some of the dialogue, and the characters poorly done.
Perhaps making the main characters in a book into vampires, with the powers and problems this entails. makes them and the story more interesting for some readers but this alone is insufficient. There are some vampire books which explore a new aspect, or are written well or with fresh characters. I did not feel this book was one of them.
Perhaps making the main characters in a book into vampires, with the powers and problems this entails. makes them and the story more interesting for some readers but this alone is insufficient. There are some vampire books which explore a new aspect, or are written well or with fresh characters. I did not feel this book was one of them.
February 9, 2012
Oh yes! Mr. Merz has quite a way with the words, or rather he has the power to give this to his character. Each book I read in this series gives me more appreciation for this author's skill level.
November 6, 2012
Really like Jon's writing style. His characters are interesting to follow. You feel like you know each one of them personally. The action is fast paced. I think this is the best book in the Vampire Lawson series. Planning to read #5 next.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews