Status
Available
Series
Genres
Description
After six exciting thrillers in seven years, bestselling author James Grippando is at last bringing back the main character from his blockbuster debut novel, The Pardon. Criminal lawyer Jack Swyteck doesn't handle many civil cases. But this one is different. His client, Jessie Merrill, is a gorgeous ex-girlfriend who's being sued. At the trial, Jack pulls off a brilliant victory and Jessie gets a hefty settlement. But then Jack finds out it was all a scam. Two days later, Jessie's body turns up floating in Jack's bathtub. As the evidence mounts against him, Jack finds himself on a collision course with dark secrets from the past and a possible killer is beyond suspicion.
User reviews
LibraryThing member karriethelibrarian
Jack Swyteck returns with a puzzling case that involves his old girlfriend, who hires him to get her out of a sticky insurance situation. First she was dying, then she isn't. It's a tough one to figure out, and it won't disappoint you.
I anxiously await James Grippando's new books because they
I anxiously await James Grippando's new books because they
Show More
never disappoint. I always listen to them because they are wonderfully suspenseful and fun to listen to. Show Less
LibraryThing member KarriesKorner
Jack Swyteck returns with a puzzling case that involves his old girlfriend, who hires him to get her out of a sticky insurance situation. First she was dying, then she isn't. It's a tough one to figure out, and it won't disappoint you.
I anxiously await James Grippando's new books because they
I anxiously await James Grippando's new books because they
Show More
never disappoint. I always listen to them because they are wonderfully suspenseful and fun to listen to. Show Less
LibraryThing member Bookmarque
Jack figures out it is a scam just after they win the case, they’re in the elevator and the doctor who was also in on it sidles up to the client and squeezes her hand. Jack sees this in the mirror and they don’t know. When he confronts Jessie about it, she is a horrid bitch and basically says
Later she is threatened and begs Jack for help. He tries to but she leaves. The next we see her she is dead of an apparent suicide in the bathtub. A joint Swiss bank account is found in both their names. Her will is read and the main beneficiary is a child she gave up for adoption many years ago – Jack’s son. If the kid can’t be found, the money she scammed from the life insurance investors will go to Jack.
Jack’s idiot wife Cindy is pissed off. She has some neurosis and lingering fear from being attacked by one of Jack’s clients in a fit of psychosis. Of course she (and her bitchy mother) think this is all Jack’s fault. She is cold and whiny and illogical and emotionally backward. I hated her. When an audio tape of Jessie and Jack having sex shows up, she goes off the deep end.
In the end, it turns out that her mother started the murder of Jessie just because she wanted Jack out of her daughter’s life, then when Cindy found Jessie still alive, she finished her off. Jack didn’t know this last bit until the mother was already tried, convicted and serving her sentence in jail for the crime. Cindy was content to let this happen. I was so glad when they decided to go their separate ways.
This book was formulaic in some other ways, too. Jack had a big-bruiser ex-con for a buddy. Someone he stalled the system long enough for DNA tests to exonerate his client. There was an undercover snitch who hooked up with his bruiser buddy.
Show More
go ahead, try to prove it, if you do, I’ll implicate you, too.Later she is threatened and begs Jack for help. He tries to but she leaves. The next we see her she is dead of an apparent suicide in the bathtub. A joint Swiss bank account is found in both their names. Her will is read and the main beneficiary is a child she gave up for adoption many years ago – Jack’s son. If the kid can’t be found, the money she scammed from the life insurance investors will go to Jack.
Jack’s idiot wife Cindy is pissed off. She has some neurosis and lingering fear from being attacked by one of Jack’s clients in a fit of psychosis. Of course she (and her bitchy mother) think this is all Jack’s fault. She is cold and whiny and illogical and emotionally backward. I hated her. When an audio tape of Jessie and Jack having sex shows up, she goes off the deep end.
In the end, it turns out that her mother started the murder of Jessie just because she wanted Jack out of her daughter’s life, then when Cindy found Jessie still alive, she finished her off. Jack didn’t know this last bit until the mother was already tried, convicted and serving her sentence in jail for the crime. Cindy was content to let this happen. I was so glad when they decided to go their separate ways.
This book was formulaic in some other ways, too. Jack had a big-bruiser ex-con for a buddy. Someone he stalled the system long enough for DNA tests to exonerate his client. There was an undercover snitch who hooked up with his bruiser buddy.
Show Less
LibraryThing member debavp
It's been a while since I read the first Swyteck but I vaguely remember not like the character Cindy. While this didn't feel lie a smooth transition from book one to book two, it did cover some background at the start to bridge the time gap. And giving glimpses of Cindy's past here and there
Show More
definitely did nothing to improve my opinion of her. I also think Grippando did a great bit if self-editing by not letting Katrina's character get too in-depth with remembering her past--just enough to keep it interesting, still mysterious and not give a whole lot away while doing so. Surprise, surprise!--Look with who she ends up with--didn't see that coming at all. I think the story could have been a bit smoother, but it was an interesting twist on the tale of revenge. There are come conspiracy buffs out there who would love to spins me tales off this one. Show Less
LibraryThing member SmithfieldJones
My contention is that the first line of almost any book will tell you whether the read will be joyous or a dismal failure and this book said it on on page 1, with 15 words, and substantially proved the contention: "Outside her bedroom window, the blanket of fallen leaves moved--one footstep at a
Show More
time." Simple words conveyed a whole lot more than one might expect even as one reads them for the first time, and the slight shiver they convey, sets the tone for this terrific thriller, populated with people you like, and people you don't without a wasted phrase and with a plot that keeps you up nights. Show Less
LibraryThing member dara85
There was a lot going on in this book, but I felt the author did a good job of pulling it together and making it believable.