I don’t think I’d like to know Jack Swyteck and his friend Theo Knight in person. They seem to get into a heck of a lot of trouble, often featuring gunplay. In James Grippando’s LAST CALL, the story revolves around Theo and his violent past. An old gang “friend” has escaped from prison and confronts Theo in his bar, robbing him at gunpoint. The man intimates he knows who killed Theo’s mother in a grisly throat-slitting so many years ago.
Knight is confused and angry, and then he becomes the prime suspect when the escapee is killed in a pro-style hit. Continuing in the vein of Grippando’s often wildly improbable plots, the FBI gets involved, and Theo is sent back to prison in a convoluted undercover operation to attempt to find out how the dead gang member was able to escape prison. This opens wide a dirty, cracked window into Theo’s past and his soul.
All of Grippando’s Jack Swyteck books have an instant accessibility, a friendly style that endears the reader to the main characters, and a swiftly paced flow encouraging you to read to the end. This one is no exception, and the concentration on Knight, a charming combination of bluster and sentiment, is a welcome entry in the series. —Mark Rose
OTHER BOOKGASM REVIEWS OF THIS AUTHOR:
• BEYOND SUSPICION by James Grippando
• GOT THE LOOK by James Grippando
• HEAR NO EVIL by James Grippando
• LAST TO DIE by James Grippando
• LYING WITH STRANGERS by James Grippando
• THE PARDON by James Grippando
• WHEN DARKNESS FALLS by James Grippando
