MARCH 2021 - AudioFile
The Jack Swyteck series continues as the defense attorney finds himself representing a student accused of a school shooting. Complicating the case is his wife, Andie, an FBI agent who becomes caught up in the case. Narrator Jonathan Davis does a nice job varying voices and tempo as the story unfolds. A father’s temper surfaces with a brewing anger that Davis captures well. A young woman important to the case sounds annoyed and curt; her backstory will show why. Theo, an associate of Swyteck’s, has a deep, deliberate tone, while Lilly, Andie’s friend, goes through a series of emotions, all shaped deftly by Davis. This is a thriller, and Davis keeps listeners close to the action and emotions. M.B. © AudioFile 2021, Portland, Maine
Publishers Weekly
11/09/2020
Bestseller Grippando’s subpar 17th thriller featuring Florida defense attorney Jack Swyteck (after 2020’s The Big Lie) opens with a harrowing scene. Swyteck’s daughter, Righley, goes to kindergarten at Riverside Day School, and his FBI agent wife, Andie, is attending a parents’ event there when a gunman kills more than a dozen people. Righley and Andie, who rushed to Righley’s classroom, are traumatized but uninjured. Andie is later stunned when 18-year-old Xavier Khoury, the son of a close friend, confesses to the shooting. Swyteck reluctantly accepts Xavier as a client, in the hopes of getting him multiple life sentences instead of the death penalty, at the behest of a parent who lost a child but wants to avoid drawn-out court battles. Meanwhile, Andie is put on the hot seat when Riverside seeks to avoid liability for the incident. Despite Xavier’s confession, Swyteck pursues the possibility that it was false. The characters are paper-thin, and an over-the-top reveal undermines any suspension of disbelief. Grippando has done better. Agent: Richard Pine, InkWell Management. (Jan.)
From the Publisher
Twenty is an excellent legal thriller by an experienced hand at storytelling . . . It’s still only January, but it looks as though James Grippando may have offered us one of the best thrillers of 2021.” — New York Journal of Books
“Chilling . . . Grippando leads Twenty through a complex plot that maintains its sense of realism until the surprising finale.” — South Florida Sun Sentinel
"There’s a reason that James Grippando is a New York Times bestselling author and the recipient of the Harper Lee Prize for Legal Fiction. . . . Twenty certainly works well as a stand-alone title, but it also will inspire readers to delve into Grippando’s backlist, so be prepared." — Book Reporter
"What begins as a thriller and then moves into a legal novel, devolves into a full-blown espionage story that calls to mind the work of Brad Thor, among others . . . When the significance of the number twenty is finally revealed it will send chills down your spine and you will soon realize that this is unlike any other Jack Swyteck novel to date." — CriminalElement.com
“James Grippando's taut and briskly paced story grips the reader from the opening chapter and then keeps them close as Jack Swyteck and his associates race to uncover the forces bent on keeping the truth of the tragedy hidden. Twenty is a highly addictive novel and it is impossible to put down." — Mystery Scene
“The Swyteck novels have always incorporated complex, sometimes controversial, subjects and this one tackles a tragically hot topic. . . . Grippando doesn’t sensationalize the issue. He presents an evenhanded, intelligent discussion structured, of course, around a smartly plotted mystery.” — Booklist
“The action heats up to inferno proportions. Hold on to your seats. . . . Fans of Grippando and of legal thrillers will not be disappointed.” — Library Journal
CriminalElement.com
"What begins as a thriller and then moves into a legal novel, devolves into a full-blown espionage story that calls to mind the work of Brad Thor, among others . . . When the significance of the number twenty is finally revealed it will send chills down your spine and you will soon realize that this is unlike any other Jack Swyteck novel to date."
Book Reporter
"There’s a reason that James Grippando is a New York Times bestselling author and the recipient of the Harper Lee Prize for Legal Fiction. . . . Twenty certainly works well as a stand-alone title, but it also will inspire readers to delve into Grippando’s backlist, so be prepared."
South Florida Sun Sentinel
Chilling . . . Grippando leads Twenty through a complex plot that maintains its sense of realism until the surprising finale.
Mystery Scene
James Grippando's taut and briskly paced story grips the reader from the opening chapter and then keeps them close as Jack Swyteck and his associates race to uncover the forces bent on keeping the truth of the tragedy hidden. Twenty is a highly addictive novel and it is impossible to put down."
New York Journal of Books
Twenty is an excellent legal thriller by an experienced hand at storytelling . . . It’s still only January, but it looks as though James Grippando may have offered us one of the best thrillers of 2021.
Library Journal
12/11/2020
Eighteen-year-old Xavier Khoury confesses to killing 14 people in a shooting spree at his school and the district attorney is confident of a death penalty verdict based on the anti-Muslim sentiment in the community. Xavier's mother asks Miami attorney Jack Swyteck, whose daughter is a kindergartener at the school, to represent Xavier in proceedings to reduce the sentence to 14 consecutive life sentences in prison, which is a speedier process and also less onerous for the victims' families. When Al-Qaeda claims responsibility for the mass shooting, the crime intersects with federal terrorism departments and jurisdictional arguments ensue. Jack tries to withdraw as counsel for family reasons but the request is denied by the district judge. His investigation is hampered by governmental interference as well as his uncommunicative client. Either Xavier was groomed for the shooting by extremist factions or he is being set up and is actually innocent. VERDICT This 17th book in the "Jack Swyteck" series (after The Big Lie) is a low-key legal thriller for the first two-thirds of the book, after which the action heats up to inferno proportions. Hold on to your seats after that. Fans of Grippando and of legal thrillers will not be disappointed.—Edward Goldberg, Syosset P.L., NY
