Grippando, James

Last Call: A Novel of Suspense (Jack Swyteck)

Many years ago, Jack Swyteck saved Theo Knight's life.

Theo grew up on the streets of Miami's roughest neighborhood and lost his mother to a violent crime. Although his uncle Cy tried his best to raise him right, by the time he was a teenager, Theo was on death row for a murder he didn't commit. Jack was the lawyer who proved him innocent.

Now a successful bar owner, Theo has turned things around. But he needs Jack's help again, this time more than ever.

An escaped convict from the old neighborhood shows up at Theo's back door, asking for help. In return, he'll finger the man who murdered Theo's mother. But the answers aren't so simple, and soon Theo's own life is in danger.

Jack and Theo must piece together a twenty-year-old conspiracy of greed and corruption that leads to the very top of Miami's elite, while revisiting a past that Theo has tried hard to forget. But Theo also has the opportunity to seek the revenge that has fueled him since the day he found his mother dead in the street on a hot Miami night.

Last Call is a brilliant and bullet-fast thriller, complete with revelations that no reader will ever forget.

When Darkness Falls (Swyteck)

From the moment Miami criminal defense attorney Jack Swyteck is called upon to defend a new client—a homeless man jailed for threatening to jump off a bridge—it's obvious something is amiss. For one thing, the man called Falcon manages to come up with the $10,000 bail . . . in cash. Then the body of a brutally murdered woman is found in the trunk of the abandoned car he's living in.

But it isn't until a panicked Falcon takes a group of innocent people hostage, including Jack's best friend, and barricades himself and his prisoners in a motel room that Swyteck realizes how much is truly at stake. For Falcon has a bigger agenda than suicide, and Jack Swyteck must get to the root of a dark history and bitter secrets before Falcon decides he has nothing to lose by killing them all.

The Informant

A ruthless serial killer is running rampant across the country, terrorizing towns and tearing the tongues out of his hapless victims. Even more disturbing are the notes received by a young Miami crime reporter seemingly foretelling the atrocious deeds. Whether the sender is the killer or a psychic remains unresolved for a time until the crime spree escalates to include violent deaths by shark attack and an encounter with a hungry python. The drama intensifies when all the key players are led to a cruise ship and held hostage by a surprising hijacker.

By the author of the bestselling The Pardon, this fast-paced novel teams a resourceful FBI agent and an embattled journalist in a hunt for two men -- a serial killer and his elusive informant.

When an informer chooses Miami Tribune crime reporter Michael Posten as his conduit, giving him information about murders that haven't yet taken place, investigators speculate on whether the killer and informer are the same person. As the newspaper continues to deposit larger sums into the killer's account, FBI agent Victoria Santos and the reluctant journalist join forces to prevent the next gruesome murder. But then dues stop and the murders continue... until a psychopath makes one mistake too many. This gripping, unpredictable story of revenge will not be soon forgotten.

"James Grippando writes with the authenticity of an insider....The Informant is a thoroughly convincing, edge-of-your seat thriller, clearly on a par with The Silence of the Lambs."

-- John Douglas, former chief of the FBI's Investigative Support Unit

Thriller: Stories To Keep You Up All Night: James Penney's New Identity\Operation Northwoods\Epitaph\The Face In The Window\Empathy

Featuring North America's foremost thriller authors, Thriller is the first collection of pure thriller stories ever published. Offering up heart-pumping tales of suspense in all its guises are thirty-two of the most critically acclaimed and award-winning names in the business. From the signature characters that made such authors as David Morrell and John Lescroart famous, to four of the hottest new voices in the genre, this blockbuster will tantalize and terrify.

Lock the doors, draw the shades, pull up the covers and be prepared for Thriller to keep you up all night.

Beyond Suspicion

When Jack Swytech's former girlfriend asks him to defend her in a case brought by investors who advance payment on insurance policies when their beneficiaries have been diagnosed with a terminal condition, it looks like an easy win; Jessie Merrill wasn't dying after all, but since Viatical Settlements accepted her doctor's somewhat equivocal diagnosis, they don't stand a chance of getting their money back. Still celebrating his victory, Jack learns that Jessie has lied to him; like the shady, possibly Mob-connected company that advanced Jessie the money, he's been scammed. Then Jessie is murdered in a bizarre scenario that not only sets Jack up as the prime suspect but also threatens his marriage to the woman who is still traumatized by a vicious attack perpetrated by another of his erstwhile clients. Enlisting the aid of his best friend, an ex-con who will do anything to protect the man who saved him from death row, Jack attempts to clear his name by finding the real murderer, who turns out to have a secret worth killing for. The serpentine plot manages to hold the reader's attention despite characters who seem drawn from central casting and a meandering pace that doesn't exactly compel one to keep turning pages to unravel the mystery. --Jane Adams

For smart, tough Miami criminal lawyer Jack Swyteck, it was a golden opportunity to help out his beautiful ex-girlfriend Jessie Merrill, who sold her life insurance for a cash payment when she wrongly believed she was dying. Now, thanks to Jack's courtroom prowess, Jessie can keep the $1.5 million she received. But it turns out that Swyteck and the insurance company are both victims of a gorgeous scam artist. And when Jessie's lifeless corpse is discovered in his bathtub, the attorney is suddenly wanted for murder. Framed and desperate -- on the run from the police and a powerful criminal consortium willing to go to any lengths to retrieve the money -- Jack must exhume the dark secrets of a buried past to save his freedom, his career, and his life. But even his unique legal skills cannot keep him out of the murderous sights of a cold killer -- one who wants Jack Swyteck's blood . . . and is beyond suspicion.

"E-book exclusive extra: "Dirty Blood and the Russian Mafiya: The Red Trail to Beyond Suspicion," an essay by James Grippando. Miami lawyer Jack Swyteck is smart and tough and up to his neck in trouble. With more than a decade of experience in the criminal courts, Jack doesn't handle many civil cases. But this one is different. His client is a gorgeous ex-girlfriend who's being sued because she thought she was going to die. When Jessie Merrill was diagnosed with a deadly disease and given just two years to live, she worked a deal with an insurance company to get cash fast. In exchange, a group of wealthy investors were supposed to collect on the policy at her death. But Jessie was misdiagnosed. She isn't going to die anytime soon, and the investors want their money back. Now. At the trial, Jack pulls off a brilliant victory and Jessie gets to keep the $1.5 million from the investors. Two days later, Jessie's body turns up in Jack's bathtub. Though it has the markings of suicide, Jessie's death quickly begins to look more like murder -- with Jack the prime suspect. As the evidence mounts against him, Jack finds himself on a collision course with dark secrets from the past and a possible killer who is beyond suspicion."

Under Cover of Darkness

The youngest lawyer ever to grab the helm of Seattle's most prominent law firm, Gus Wheatley has found success–as well at money, power, and prestige. He thinks nothing can interfere with his meteoric rise to the top. Until his wife, Beth, vanishes.

Beth's disappearance coincides with a series of brutal murders the FBI dubs the "bookend killings." They think Beth isthe killer's latest victim... or his willing accomplice. But Gus knows his wife would never ally herself with a cold–blooded killer. The further he searches, however, the more he discovers that Beth isn't the woman he thought he knew.

Beth may be alive. She may or may not be innocent. She may have come up against evil far more reaching than a serial killer. And for Gus and his family, that evil is much too close to home.

The Abduction

U.S. Attorney General Allison Leahy is the nation's top law enforcement officer and the Democrtas' best chance for holding on to the Oval Office. But she has powerful competition in Republican Lincoln Howe, a retired fourstar general and bona finde Africa-American hero. They are running neck and neck, and seemingly nothing can break the deadlock.

Then, just days before the election, disaster strikes. Twelve-year-old Kristen Howe, the general's granddaughter, is kidnapped. As attorney general, Allison launched a nationwide manhunt, but her motives come under fire from her opponent. For Allison, though, finding Kristen isn't about politics. Here is a personal crusade that taps into terrifying secrets buried deep within the past--secrets that can shatter all Allison's hopes, twisting them into a nightmare of lies and the ultimate betrayal.

Last to Die (Swyteck)

In an exciting new series that critics have called "John Grisham meets Robert Ludlum," Miami criminal defense lawyer Jack Swyteck faces his biggest challenge yet.

Tatum Knight is a former contract killer. Ruthless. Conniving. And he's Jack's newest client. Tatum is the older brother of Jack's best friend, Theo. Theo himself spent time on death row until Jack found the evidence to prove him innocent. Jack isn't so sure about Tatum.

A gorgeous young woman has been shot dead in her Mercedes on a Miami street. Tatum denies that he had anything to do with it, but he admits to Jack that he did meet with her in Theo's bar, where she tried to hire him.

Sally Fenning was worth forty-eight million dollars when she died. Money had never made her happy, so she left it all to her enemies—left it for them to fight over, that is. She named six heirs in her will, but there's a catch: No one gets a penny until all but one of the heirs are dead. It's survival of the greediest.

Quickly the lawyers gear up for a bitter legal battle, but Jack braces himself for much worse. He alone knows that heir number six—Tatum Knight—is a professional killer. As the heirs begin to fall, Jack and his unforgettable sidekick, Theo, are in a race against time to discover if Tatum is behind all the killing. Or is someone even more frightening, more dangerous, the odds-on favorite to be the last to die?

From the harrowing first scene through its shocking climax, Last to Die delivers nonstop action and chilling suspense that fans around the world have come to expect from bestselling author James Grippando.

Miami criminal attorney Jack Swyteck is back (The Pardon; Beyond Suspicion). His best friend's brother, ex-thug Tatum Knight, stands to inherit a fortune - $48 million - if four other people die. Now Jack has to find out if his client is an innocent man or a killer.

Found Money

A young woman finds $200,000 in cash in a cardboard box delivered to her door. A man inherits a fortune from a father who died "penniless." Amy Parkens and Ryan Duffy have never met, but they are about to, as each discovers that found money can be a godsend––or a nightmare.

Amy Parkens is a struggling single mother forced to abandon a career in astronomy for a practical computer job. She feels condemned to long hours, low pay, and no time to spend with her daughter. Then an unmarked package arrives. There's no card, no note, no return address. Someone has simply sent her a small fortune. Amy has no idea who––or why. She only knows her dead–end life has changed forever.

Though she longs to keep the cash, Amy fears a mistake, a setup, or even a possible connection to her mother's mysterious suicide twenty years earlier. She has to find the source. But when she tries to look her gift horse in the mouth, someone snatches the money away––quickly, violently.

Ryan Duffy is a decent, responsible man, a small–town physician from the plains of southeastern Colorado. Like Amy, Ryan has recently found unexpected wealth. His father's estate is worth more than Ryan could ever have imagined––millions more. Truth is, Dad was a hardworking electrician for forty–years. But in his attic, he hid a fortune. The Duffy family has been guarding this secret. Was it extortion, burglary, or some other shocking crime? And now that Ryan has the money, what should he do?

Painful as it is, Ryan is drawn to his father's dark past. Amy, on the same desperate quest for answers, soon crosses Ryan's path. Their search takes them through a labyrinth of deception and blackmail, leading to a man of unfathomable power.

Yet the past is not what it appears. Heinous crimes touched their families years ago. Amy and Ryan must solve a treacherous puzzle to learn why the true victims never came forward, why the real wrongdoers went unpunished, and why certain people would kill to keep their secrets.

Intent to Kill (hardcover) Book Club

Ryan James, a minor league baseball star, was poised for the major leagues until the hit-and-run death of his beloved wife Chelsea destroyed his dream. Now hes a popular shock jock at a Boston radio station trying to raise his six-year-old daughter on his own. His life is somewhat coming back to normal when prosecuting attorney Emma Carlisle contacts him about an anonymous note sent to her on this third anniversary of Chelseas death, claiming the hit and run driver, whos never been found, intended to kill her. Ryan cant help wondering whether Chelseas brother Babes, who suffers from Aspergers Syndrome, sent the note and may know something about what really happened at the scene of the crime.