Review: A Death in Live Oak by James Grippando

Title: A Death in Live Oak by James Grippando
Jack Swyteck Series Book 14
Publisher: Harper
Genre: Contemporary, Mystery, Suspense
Length: 384 pages
Book Rating: B+

Complimentary Review Copy Provided by Publisher Through Edelweiss

Summary:

From the 2017 winner of the Harper Lee Prize for legal fiction comes a powerful and timely story of race, politics, injustice, and murder as shocking and incendiary as today’s headlines.

When the body of Jamal Cousin, president of the pre-eminent black fraternity at the Florida’s flagship university, is discovered hogtied in the Stygian water swamps of the Suwanee River Valley, the death sets off a firestorm that threatens to rage out of control when a fellow student, Mark Towson, the president of a prominent white fraternity, is accused of the crime.

Contending with rising political tensions, racial unrest, and a sensational media, Townson’s defense attorney, Jack Swyteck, knows that the stakes could not be higher—inside or outside the old Suwanee County Couthouse.  The evidence against his client, which includes a threatening text message referencing “strange fruit” on the river, seems overwhelming. Then Jack gets a break that could turn the case. Jamal’s gruesome murder bears disturbing similarities to another lynching that occurred back in the Jim Crow days of 1944. Are the chilling parallels purely coincidental? With a community in chaos and a young man’s life in jeopardy, Jack will use every resource to find out.

As he navigates each twist and turn of the search, Jack becomes increasingly convinced that his client may himself be the victim of a criminal plan more sinister than the case presented by the state attorney. Risking his own reputation, this principled man who has devoted his life to the law plunges headfirst into the darkest recesses of the South’s past, and its murky present, to uncover answers.

For Jack, it’s about the truth. Traversing time, from the days of strict segregation to the present, he’ll find it—no matter what the cost—and bring much-needed justice to Suwanee County.

Review:

The fourteenth installment in the Jack Swyteck series, A Death in Live Oak by James Grippando is a timely mystery about the apparent lynching of an African American student at a Gainesville University.

The shocking discovery of Jamal Cousin’s corpse is eerily reminiscent of the rumored lynching of young teenager Willie James Howard 74 years earlier. One week prior to his death, Jamal, the president of the revered Alpha Fraternity, received racially charged, threatening texts from three members of the Theta Fraternity. Since Jamal only saved the text from Theta president Mark Towson, State Attorney Oliver Boalt and lead detective Josh Proctor quickly zero in on him as their main suspect. Fearing his son will be charged, Mark’s father requests a favor from his old boss, former FL Governor Harry Swyteck to ask his son, Jack, to consider representing Mark.

Tensions run high and the university is forced to quickly act. Mark is expelled from college and the future of the Theta fraternity is uncertain. Mark’s efforts to overturn his expulsion backfire when Jamal’s friend Brandon Wall gives damning testimony that point to racism within the fraternity. Racial tensions on campus turn violent when white supremacists begin attacking African American protesters at demonstrations.

With Boalt under extreme pressure to ensure Jamal receives swift justice, he relies on sworn statements from Mark’s frat brother and friend Baine Robinson to bolster his somewhat thin case. Jack is quite skeptical of Baine’s efforts to cast suspicion on his friend, but Boalt quickly convenes a grand jury and Mark is summarily indicted then arrested for Jamal’s murder. Jack is extremely worried about his client’s safety after he is incarcerated pending trial. Forced into a hearing to procure bail for Mark, will Jack uncover the truth about who murdered Jamal?

At the same time Jack is immersed in the volatile case, his wife, FBI agent Andie Henning’s current assignment rapidly progresses. Working undercover, she is a very capable agent but the people she is investigating are extremely dangerous. Despite her best efforts to remain out of harm’s way, when her path crosses with someone connected to Jamal’s murder investigation, things quickly take a perilous turn.

A brilliant addition to the Jack Swyteck series, A Death in Live Oak is a riveting mystery that is socially relevant. The storyline moves at a brisk pace and readers will have a difficult time figuring out who killed Jamal and why. Loosely based on the real life lynching of Willie James Howard, James Grippando shines a much needed light on the racial injustices of the past and the racism that continues to plague our society today.