Jack Swyteck Mysteries

Today I’m doing a two for the price of one review: the two latest Jack Swyteck novels by James Grippando, Twenty, to be published in January 2021 and The Big Lie, published in February 2020.

I read my first Jack Swyteck novel, The Big Lie, at the beginning of 2020 as a reviewer for a literary journal. They sent me the second one, Twenty, a few weeks ago.

Here’s a little about the author. Grippando graduated from the University of Florida both for his bachelor’s degree and his law degree. He spent 12 years in practice but now he writes full time. He is an adjunct professor at the University of Miami School of Law teaching The Law and Lawyers in Modern Literature. His book Gone Again won the 2017 Harper Lee Prize for legal fiction. He has written 17 Jack Swyteck novels and a myriad of other fiction and non-fiction books which have been translated into 28 different languages.

So, let’s get into the books.

Twenty

Eighteen-year-old Xavier Khoury is accused of killing fourteen people in a shooting spree at his school and the District Attorney is confident of a death penalty verdict based on Xavier’s Muslim upbringing and the misconception that all Muslims are terrorists. Xavier’s mother asks Jack Swyteck, whose daughter is a kindergartener at the school, to represent Xavier in proceedings to reduce the proposed sentence to fourteen consecutive lives in prison, which is a speedier process and also less onerous to the victims’ families since death penalty trials can be lengthy with many appeals. When Al-Qaeda claims responsibility for the mass shooting, the crime intersects with federal terrorism departments and jurisdictional arguments ensue. Swyteck’s investigation is hampered by governmental interference as well as his uncommunicative client. Yet, circumstances point to either Xavier being groomed for the shooting by extremist factions or that he is being set up and is actually innocent.

This 17^th book in the Jack Swyteck series 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. Grippando and legal thriller fans will not be disappointed.

Big Lies

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 publicly 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’ 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 that much higher…since she is also a gun lobbyist. Throughout, MacLeod pressures the prosecuting attorney to get Holmes declared unfit by any means necessary and tweets up a storm.

This tense Swyteck legal and political thriller parallels the current political climate with a tweet-happy President and a system where a majority popular vote no longer means a win. There is an uncanny resemblance between MacLeod and Trump, both immoral, self- centered, mysogynistic and tweet happy. Engrossing and scary.

In an interview, Grippando said “I like to spark people’s interest and make them think about important issues when they read…” which he has certainly done in these two books. I found both books to be easy reads with good characters and good, timely plots.