Category Archives: James Grippando

December 23, 2020 · 11:58 pm

Review: Twenty by James Grippando

Title: Twenty by James Grippando
Jack Swytek Series Book 17
Publisher: Harper
Genre: Contemporary, Legal Thriller, Mystery, Suspense
Length: 384 pages
Book Rating: B+

Complimentary Review Copy Provided by Publisher Through Edelweiss

Summary:

Jack Swyteck and his family are caught in the crossfire after a deadly school shooting claims twenty casualties—Florida’s fifth mass shooting in as many years—in this provocative and timely thriller from Harper Lee Prize–winner James Grippando that touches on some of the most contentious issues roiling America today.

It is the message every parent of a school-age child fears: “Active Shooter on Campus.” 

Jack Swyteck is at his office when he receives the emergency text from Riverside Day School. Both his daughter, Righley, and his wife, FBI agent Andie Henning, are in danger. Andie is in the school’s rec center when she hears the fire alarms, then loud popping noises and screams coming from the hallway. A trained law-enforcement officer, Andie knows she’s supposed to stay locked down inside the room. But Righley is in her kindergarten classroom and Andie must get her to safety.

The tragedy prompts mass hysteria—and dangerous speculation. The police haven’t identified the shooter, but they find a handgun on the school grounds registered to a parent, a Muslim man named Amir Khoury. News of the gun and its owner leaks and quickly goes viral. Within minutes Al Qaeda claims responsibility. Andie is shocked—Amir is married to her friend, Lilly, a WASP whose bloodline goes back to the American Revolution.

When Xavier, Amir and Lilly’s oldest child and an eighteen-year-old senior at Riverside confesses to the crime, the local community’s anti-Muslim fervor explodes to levels unseen since 9/11. Terrified for her son’s life, Lilly asks Jack to step in. A seasoned defense attorney with a passion to see justice done, he’s taken on plenty of complicated cases. Xavier’s, however, is not one he’s inclined to take—until an old friend who lost his daughter in the shooting tells him that he must.

With the public calling for blood and prosecutors confident their case is air tight, Jack must unearth the Khourys’ family secrets in order to expose the shocking truth and save his client from certain death. But he may not be able to save everyone—including himself.

Review:

Twenty by James Grippando is a riveting legal thriller with a socially relevant storyline. Although this latest release is the seventeenth mystery in the Jack Swytek series, it can be read as a standalone.

Before attorney Jack Swytek drops wife Andie Henning and their daughter, Righley, there is nothing different about their day. He walks to work while Andie accompanies Righley to her classroom. Andie then decides to join the other parents for a cup of coffee in the rec room where she chats with her friend Lilly. However, shots soon ring out and while everyone else follows protocol and exits the building, Andie runs to Righley’s classroom. Jack receives an active shooter text and he rushes back to the school. Frantically searching for his wife and daughter, he is relieved to find them unharmed. However, other parents are not as lucky including Jack’s friend Nate Abrams.

Lilly is relieved none of her children are injured but the gun used in the shooting is registered to her husband Amir Khoury. She is shocked when her oldest son Xavier confesses to the horrific crime and he is soon arrested. Jack has no plans to represent the shooter, but he cannot resist Lilly’s pleas for him to become Xavier’s defense attorney. With plenty of evidence, Chief Prosecutor Abe Beckham plans to ask for the death penalty.  Determined to keep Xavier off death row becomes Jack’s main objective but with anti-Muslim sentiment running high, can he convince Beckham to take a deal?

With Xavier refusing to talk to him, Jack turns to his best friend and investigator Theo Knight to help him look into the events leading up the school shooting. They unearth some intriguing information that leads Jack to believe his client might be innocent.  But when his chief witness disappears, Jack becomes more determined than ever to uncover the truth about who besides Xavier might have been the shooter.

Twenty is a captivating mystery with a clever plot and interesting characters.  Not only is Jack fighting for his client’s life, things are tense between him and Andie.  When his case goes in an unexpected direction, Jack is more determined than ever to unearth the truth about the school shooting. With stunning plot twists, James Grippando brings this suspenseful legal thriller to a tension-filled conclusion. Old and new fans of the Jack Swytek series are sure to enjoy this  newest addition to this outstanding series.

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Filed under Contemporary, Harper, Jack Swyteck Series, James Grippando, Legal Thriller, Mystery, Rated B+, Review, Suspense, Twenty

February 24, 2020 · 11:58 pm

Review: The Big Lie by James Grippando

Title: The Big Lie by James Grippando
Jack Swyteck Series Book Sixteen
Publisher: Harper
Genre: Contemporary, Legal Thriller
Length: 368 pages
Book Rating: B+

Complimentary Review Copy Provided by Publisher Through Edelweiss

Summary:

 As the Electoral College battle for the White House lands in a Florida courtroom, Miami attorney Jack Swyteck has never felt farther from the truth, fighting for a “faithless elector,” caught between a corrupt president and his manipulative opponent—with each revelation more explosive than the next.

The country is reeling. For the sixth time in American history, the winner of the popular vote will not occupy the Oval Office. President Malcolm MacLeod, the Machiavellian incumbent, was spared from impeachment only because his political foes were certain they would oust him at the ballot box. Now, he appears to have secured a second term, thanks to a narrow victory in the Electoral College.

His opponent, Florida Senator Evan Stahl, saw his campaign rocked by allegations of an extramarital affair—with another man. Despite the salacious headline-making scandal and the surrounding media frenzy, most Americans chose Stahl to lead the politically polarized nation. But Stahl is refusing to concede. Backed by millions of supporters, he looks to individual members of the Electoral College to cross party lines.

Gun lobbyist Charlotte Holmes is one of Floridas twenty-nine electors who is bound by law and by oath to cast her vote for MacLeod, who won Florida by the thinnest of margins. When Charlotte announces that she intends to vote her conscience and throw the Electoral College to Stahl, the president and his Florida machine haul her into court on felony charges—which, for some, isn’t nearly punishment enough.

Miami attorney Jack Swyteck is going to use every legal maneuver he can to keep his new client free—and alive. MacLeod’s hand-picked prosecutor is determined to prove Charlotte is unfit to cast a vote. Dredging through her past, he’s looking for skeletons to humiliate and discredit her, while others with far deadlier intentions have begun acting on their threats.

As the pressure mounts, Charlotte and Jack must decide how far they’ll go to stand their ground in the stand-your-ground state.

Review:

The Big Lie by James Grippando is a tense legal thriller with an incredibly topical storyline.  Although this sixteenth installment in the Jack Swyteck series can be read as standalone, I HIGHLY recommend the previous novels as well.

Opening on election night with current President Malcolm MacLeod winning the electoral college but not the popular vote, the election soon takes a surprising turn. Democratic candidate, FL Senator Evan Stahl Jr., decides not to concede defeat in hopes of finding enough faithless electors to hand him the victory.   Florida pro-gun lobbyist Charlotte  Holmes is the first elector who goes public with her decision to vote for Stahl. Her decision sets up a legal battle with FL State Attorney General Paulette Barrow trying to prove her an unfit elector. But luckily for Charlotte, she hires lawyer Jack Swyteck to defend her. But with just a few scant weeks until the electors cast their votes, will Jack defeat Barrows’ efforts to replace Charlotte with an elector who will cast their vote for MacLeod?

Despite his father’s political history, Jack stays firmly out of politics. But with his stepmother not feeling up to attending the election night festivities, he and his father Harry are with Stahl as they await the election results. Although Jack manages to escape attempts to embroil him in political maneuvering, he is surprised when Charlotte hires him to prove she can, in fact, legally cast a vote as a faithless elector.

Paulette Barrow wastes no time coordinating her efforts with MacLeod to eject Charlotte and replace her with a loyal alternate. She does not hesitate to resort to dirty tricks and barely legal arguments.  Swyteck thwarts many of her efforts but when a situation turns deadly, does Paulette finally have what she needs to prove her case against Charlotte?

The Big Lie is a riveting legal thriller that has a ripped from the political headline feel that will send chills up voters’ spines.  The storyline is suspenseful and covers a wide range of relevant topics. Jack is determined to protect Charlotte but with a stubborn client who does not always follow his advice, whether or not he will succeed remains to be seen. With a series of breathtaking twists and turns,  James Grippando brings this compelling thriller to an unanticipated shocking conclusion. I absolutely loved and highly recommend this clever addition to the Jack Swyteck series.

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Filed under Contemporary, Harper, Jack Swyteck Series, James Grippando, Legal Thriller, Rated B+, Review, The Big Lie

February 3, 2019 · 11:58 pm

Review: The Girl in the Glass Box by James Grippando

Title: The Girl in the Glass Box by James Grippando
Jack Swytek Series Book Fifteen
Publisher: Harper
Genre: Contemporary, Mystery, Suspense
Length: 368 pages
Book Rating: B+

Complimentary Review Copy Provided by Publisher Through Edelweiss

Summary:

Miami attorney Jack Swyteck lands in the heart of the contentious immigration debate when he takes on the heart-wrenching case of an undocumented immigrant who fled to America to protect her daughter and save herself, in this timely and pulse-pounding thriller that explores the stories behind the headlines from New York Times bestselling author James Grippando, winner of the Harper Lee Prize for Legal Fiction.

Julia Rodriguez and her teenage daughter Beatriz escaped bloodthirsty gangs, random violence and, Julia’s abusive husband back in El Salvador. Arriving in Miami, mother and daughter struggled to carve their own piece of the American dream. While life in the States is hard, it is safer, until Julia’s rejects her boss’s unwanted sexual advances. Suddenly—thanks to an “anonymous” tip to U. S. immigration authorities—she is arrested, locked in detention with criminals, and slated for deportation. Jack’s only viable legal move to save her is asylum—a long shot that’s become nearly impossible in today’s charged political climate.

When Julia and Beatriz made the perilous trek north to freedom, they thought they’d left the danger behind them. But now, even Miami isn’t safe. A ruthless enemy may have tracked them to south Florida and is biding time, patiently waiting to strike.

In a case where the stakes have never been higher, Jack Sywteck may not be able to save his client—even if he wins.

Review:

The Girl in the Glass Box by James Grippando is a poignant mystery which features a timely and socially relevant storyline. Although this newest release is the fifteenth installment in the Jack Swytek series, it can be read as a standalone.

When attorney Jack Swytek’s grandmother asks him for a favor, he cannot refuse her request to help illegal immigrant Julia Rodriguez with her asylum request.  Julia fled El Salvador with her daughter, Beariz, to escape her abusive husband, Jorge. After her employer Duncan McBride gets his revenge by turning her into ICE, Julia is facing immediate deportation. Jack works as hard as he can to prevent this from occurring, but her case is looking grim. With Julia’s past about to catch up with her, will Jack and his trusted friend Theo Knight find a way to help her and Beatriz?

Jack is no expert in immigration law but he is a skilled attorney who works hard to find a legal way to keep Julia in the United States.  When he learns troubling details about Julia that affects her ability to be granted bond, Jack travels to El Salvador to uncover the truth.  He truly believes Julia’ life will be in jeopardy if she returns but will he find the information he needs to convince the judge?

Fourteen year old Beatriz is living with her aunt Cecelia after her mother is captured by ICE. At first optimistic they will soon be reunited, Beatriz soon gives up hope. Her health takes a perilous turn after she receives a threatening visit that terrifies her. Jack is hopeful he can sway the judge into granting Julia a compassionate bond but deportation attorney Simone Jerrell is determined to keep her in custody.

The case takes an ominous turn when someone associated with Julia is murdered. She is also shocked when someone she knew in El Salvador unexpectedly turns up in Miami. Even more frightening is the very real possibility that Jorge might also find her which puts not only life in jeopardy, but it also threatens her asylum. With her court date fast approaching, Jack is in a race against time to win her case.

The Girl in the Glass Box  is an engrossing mystery with a thought-provoking storyline. Julia and Beatriz are extremely sympathetic characters who have endured unimaginable horrors in their homeland. Jack is once again pulling out all the stops to help Julia remain in the US. Theo’s reaction to Julia is unexpected and incredibly sweet. With immigration issues dominating US headlines, James Grippando provides a heartrending glimpse the overwhelming fear undocumented immigrants experience as they fight for a safer, better life for themselves and their families.

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Filed under Contemporary, Harper, Jack Swyteck Series, James Grippando, Mystery, Rated B+, Review, Suspense, The Girl in the Glass Box

January 28, 2018 · 11:58 pm

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.

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Filed under A Death in Live Oak, Contemporary, Harper, Jack Swyteck Series, James Grippando, Mystery, Rated B+, Review, Suspense

February 26, 2017 · 11:58 pm

Review: Most Dangerous Place by James Grippando

Title: Most Dangerous Place by James Grippando
Jack Swyteck Series Book Thirteen
Publisher: Harper
Genre: Contemporary, Mystery
Length: 368 pages
Book Rating: B+

Complimentary Review Copy Provided by Publisher Through Edelweiss

Summary:

Defending a woman accused of murdering the man who sexually assaulted her, Miami lawyer Jack Swyteck must uncover where the truth lies between innocence, vengeance, and justice in this spellbinding tale of suspense—based on shocking true-life events—from the New York Times bestselling author of Gone Again.

According to the FBI, the most dangerous place for a woman between the ages of twenty and thirty is in a relationship with a man. Those statistics become all too personal when Jack Swyteck takes on a new client tied to his past.

It begins at the airport, where Jack is waiting to meet his old high school buddy, Keith Ingraham, a high-powered banker based in Hong Kong, coming to Miami for his young daughter’s surgery. But their long-awaited reunion is abruptly derailed when the police arrest Keith’s wife, Isabelle, in the terminal, accusing her of conspiring to kill the man who raped her in college. Jack quickly agrees to represent Isa, but soon discovers that to see justice done, he must separate truth from lies—an undertaking that proves more complicated than the seasoned attorney expects.

Inspired by an actual case involving a victim of sexual assault sent to prison for the death of her attacker, James Grippando’s twisty thriller brilliantly explores the fine line between victim and perpetrator, innocence and guilt, and cold-blooded revenge and rightful retribution.

Review:

Most Dangerous Place by James Grippando is a gripping legal mystery about a woman arrested for murdering the man who sexually assaulted her.  This latest release is the thirteenth installment in the Jack Swyteck series, but it can easily be read as a standalone.

Jack Swyteck is waiting at the Miami airport to pick up his old high school friend Keith Ingraham, his wife Isabelle “Isa” Bornelli and their 5 year old daughter, Melany, when their reunion ends before it even begins.  No one is more stunned than Isa when the Miami Dade police immediately arrest her for the twelve year old murder of Gabriel Sosa, the man who raped her when she was a college student. Her ex-boyfriend, David Kaval, has scored himself a sweetheart deal that essentially lets him off the hook for the murder since he is willing to testify that Isa convinced him and his friend to kill Gabriel for her. Isa’s long estranged father, former Venezuelan counsel officer Felipe Bornelli, immediately tries to intimidate Jack into giving up his daughter’s case.  When Jack refuses to co-operate with Felipe, slippery lawyer Manuel Espinosa somehow ends up working on Isa’s case as Jack’s co-counsel.  He and Manuel have very different ideas about Isa’s defense but Jack’s greatest concern is whether or not Isa’s being entirely truthful with him about what happened twelve years ago.

Despite Jack’s reservations, he is fully committed to preparing Isa the best defense possible.  David is obviously not the most trustworthy source of information since he has a vested interest in testifying against Isa, so Jack enlists his good friend, Theo Knight, to help him with his investigation. At the same time, Jack and Manuel are still arguing over defense strategy and Jack is quite unhappy when he discovers Isa is still not telling him everything. When the prosecutor makes a shocking arrest, Keith and Isa’s marriage becomes strained.  It is not until Isa’s case goes to trial that Jack uncovers the information he needs to prove her innocence, but will he convince a new witness to testify on Isa’s behalf?

Most Dangerous Place by James Grippando is an absolutely spellbinding mystery that readers of legal thrillers do not want to miss.  The plot is full of unexpected twists and turns that make it impossible to predict whether or not Jack will find the evidence he needs to exonerate his client. The novel comes to an pulse-pounding conclusion and the final revelations are quite shocking.  A fast-paced and compelling addition to the Jack Swyteck series that old and new fans are going to love.

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