Scintillating and seductive . . . The Big Lie is one of those rare political thrillers destined to join the likes of Fletcher Kneble’s Seven Days in May and Allen Drury’s Advise and Consent in becoming a modern-day classic.
12/02/2019
An all-too-timely scenario drives bestseller Grippando’s solid 16th Jack Swyteck novel (after 2019’s The Girl in the Glass Box). President Malcolm MacLeod, whom Democrats had been threatening to impeach since they retook the House in the midterms, has lost the popular vote in his bid for a second term, but he’s ahead in the Electoral College. MacLeod’s opponent, Florida senator Evan Stahl, refuses to concede and hopes “to convince five Republican electors to break ranks” and vote for him. Stahl wants Swyteck to act as attorney for electors considering the possibility, focusing primarily on Charlotte Holmes, a former member of a pro-gun lobbying firm. Charlotte should be pro-MacLeod, but wants to vote her conscience. She’s jeered by MacLeod and his rabid fans, and she’s also stalked, threatened, and kidnapped. Grippando stuffs the story with commentary on such hot-button topics as the polarization of today’s media, Florida’s “stand your ground” law, and the deep state. Readers uneasy in the current political climate won’t feel any easier. Those who prefer escapism in their thrillers should look elsewhere. Agent: Richard Pine, Inkwell Management. (Feb.)
Perhaps a sign of Grippando’s brilliance is that a reader’s thoughts do not necessarily remain within the confines of the plot…a novel that makes your hair stand on end.” — Washington Independent Review of Books
“Expertly spun . . . the gorgeous Electoral College premise marks the beginning of a wild ride.” — Kirkus Reviews
“An all-too-timely scenario drives bestseller Grippando’s solid 16th Jack Swyteck novel.” — Publishers Weekly
“Parallels the current political climate …. A ruthless candidate might use this engrossing and scary book as a how-to manual.” — Library Journal
“Scintillating and seductive . . . The Big Lie is one of those rare political thrillers destined to join the likes of Fletcher Kneble’s Seven Days in May and Allen Drury’s Advise and Consent in becoming a modern-day classic.” — Providence Journal
02/01/2020
When Democratic presidential candidate Evan Stahl wins the popular vote but loses the Electoral College by five votes, he refuses to concede. Since the Electoral College votes six weeks after the popular election, he hopes to persuade five electors to change their vote, their ability to do so open to varying legal interpretations. Florida elector Charlotte Holmes is the first to declare herself a "faithless elector" and switch from Republican incumbent Malcolm MacLeod to Stahl, unleashing a smear campaign from MacLeod as well as a hearing to determine Holmes's fitness as an elector. She hires Jack Swyteck to defend her at the hearing, which is rife with innuendo, supposition, and fake news. When she fatally shoots a belligerent man threatening a friend, the stakes become higher. Throughout, MacLeod pressures the prosecuting attorney to get Holmes declared unfit by any means necessary and tweets up a storm. VERDICT This 16th Swyteck political thriller (after The Girl in the Glass Box) parallels the current political climate with a tweet-happy president and a system in which a majority popular vote no longer means a win. A ruthless candidate might use this engrossing and scary book as a how-to manual. [See Prepub Alert, 7/29/19.]—Edward Goldberg, Syosset P.L., NY
2019-11-24
Want a break from the ruthless 24/7 cycle of political ups and downs? Stay miles away from this latest case for Miami attorney Jack Swyteck (The Girl in the Glass Box, 2019, etc.), ripped not so much from the headlines as from your deepest electoral nightmares.
Despite the manifest character blemishes—blustering, lying, uncontrollable adulteries, and tweetstorms that nearly got him impeached—President Malcolm MacLeod seems headed to a narrow victory over Florida Sen. Evan Stahl Jr., whose ratings took a nose dive when his refusal to identify the party with whom he'd cheated on his now-estranged wife, Gwen, of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, led to widespread speculation, eagerly fed by MacLeod, that his lover was (gasp!) another man. Stahl's only path to the presidency is the hope that five members of the Electoral College will break ranks and cast their votes for Stahl, who won 5 million more votes than MacLeod despite losing the Electoral College. And at least one elector is ready to turn faithless: Charlotte Holmes, the associate and hand-picked successor to gun rights lobbyist Madeline Chisel. Will her principled defection start a groundswell? Not if MacLeod loyalist Paulette Barrow, the Florida attorney general, has anything to say about it. Barrow promptly files a suit against Charlotte as "unfit" so that the Republican governor, Terry Mulvane, can replace her with a reliable loyalist. Seeking Jack's legal representation with the perfect come-on—electoral law expert Matthew Kipner "specifically told me not to hire you"—Charlotte stiffens her spine and prepares for weeks of public abuse. What she doesn't prepare for is the wholly unexpected but obligatory trial for murder that simultaneously deepens her peril, confirms this headlong legal thriller's genre credentials, and ensures that no one will mistake it for real life. The complications that follow are expertly spun, and the courtroom maneuvers on both sides are impressively baroque, but the gorgeous Electoral College premise marks the beginning of a wild ride that runs off the rails long before the fade-out.
The multilayered case gets so crazy that it may provide escapist solace after all.
