I’ve reviewed two of James Grippando’s books before here: GOT THE LOOK and WHEN DARKNESS FALLS, the fifth and sixth books in the Jack Swyteck series, respectively. And now with the first four novels – THE PARDON, BEYOND SUSPICION, LAST TO DIE and HEAR NO EVIL – reissued, I sat down to read the first on an early Saturday morning, and never stopped until I reached the end of the book late afternoon. That’s how much of a hold Grippando has on his reader.

Part of it are these elaborate, but somehow believable, setups he creates for each one. Plotting is a strong suit. THE PARDON features Jack’s father Harry, currently serving as governor of Florida, and about to sign the death warrant for one Raul Fernandez. His lawyer is Swyteck, who firmly believes in the innocence Fernandez declares.

But Jack is unable to convince his father to stay the execution, and Fernandez is put to death. Years later, both father and son are embroiled in a different murder investigation. Someone is framing them, blackmailing them and killing innocent people in an effort to take revenge for Fernandez’s death.

BEYOND SUSPICION starts out with an amazing scam: An old flame of Swyteck’s was initially diagnosed with Lou Gehrig’s disease (ALS), so she sells her $3 million insurance policy to viatical investors. Basically, they give her $1.5 million upfront and become the beneficiaries of her policy. When she dies, they get the $3 million, making money on her early death.

It turns out she doesn’t have ALS, but lead poisoning, the early symptoms of which mimic the disease. The viatical investors sue her, claiming the misdiagnosis should absolve them of their pledge. Swyteck represents the woman and wins the case.

But he discovers that she was in cahoots with her doctor, and they faked the whole thing. And then, much worse, he discovers her deceased body in his own bathtub, making him the main suspect. This book introduces Swyteck’s crazy Cuban but very lovable abuela (grandmother) and his best friend through all the rest of the series, Theo Knight.

In LAST TO DIE, a wealthy and beautiful young woman hires Theo’s brother Tatum, an ex-hitman, to kill her. Two weeks later, she is shot to death at an intersection. But Tatum swears he didn’t do it because he’s given up the calling. And then Tatum is invited to a probate hearing because apparently, the woman has left him some money. This scares Tatum enough to get Swyteck involved.

Finally, in HEAR NO EVIL, a woman’s husband is murdered on the Guantánamo base in Cuba. She becomes the prime suspect, but claims her innocence and turns to Swyteck for one reason: because he is the biological father of her 10-year-old adopted son.

The boy is the product of Swteck and the aforementioned flame from BEYOND SUSPICION, who became pregnant just as the two of them were breaking up, and she gave the baby up for adoption without telling him. Now Swyteck must defend the woman in order to save some semblance of family life for his own biological child.

Well, now, those are plots! And Grippando is almost as good at characterization. Swyteck is a likable enough guy who gets involved in the most intricate situations, and usually ends up having a group of people very angry with him. His best friend, Theo, is a hardscrabble tough guy who’s managing to work his way up from nothing and a death sentence to an entrepreneurial businessman. And Swyteck’s father is just the right mix of elderly irascibility and savvy experience.

Throughout the series, Swyteck’s character grows and develops. Heck, he repairs his relationship with his father, gains and loses a wife, finds out about a biological child he never knew he had, and plenty more – in just the first four books.

After reading these in a lump, I’ve come to the realization that Grippando probably is my favorite contemporary thriller author. He is absolutely so entirely smooth with his completely outrageous plots setting up his little victim in these Hitchcockian schemes that seem so inescapable, and then he finds just the right outlet via a method that the reader would have never expected. So many other mystery writers depend on gore, shock value or arcane gimmicks, and it’s nice to see someone simply offer a very well-told and interesting story with characters that you care about.

Since Harper has reissued the series in the affordable mass-market paperback format, I can’t think of a better time to go out and start the series from the beginning. You’ll enjoy them. –Mark Rose

Buy it at Amazon.

OTHER BOOKGASM REVIEWS OF THIS AUTHOR:
• GOT THE LOOK by James Grippando
• WHEN DARKNESS FALLS by James Grippando