Waiting on Wednesday – Goodbye Girl by James Grippando

Welcome to my weekly segment, Waiting on Wednesday, where I look at upcoming books that I am planning to order and review in the next few months and which I think I will really enjoy. I run this segment in conjunction with the Can’t-Wait Wednesday meme that is currently running at Wishful Endings. Stay tuned to see reviews of these books when I get a copy of them. For this week’s Waiting on Wednesday, I check out a fantastic and fun upcoming legal thriller that has a great story behind it with Goodbye Girl by James Grippando.

Goodbye Girl Cover

Amazon

James Grippando is an author who I haven’t previously read before, although 2024 might be the year that this changes. Grippando, who has a background as a lawyer, specialises in legal thrillers and has written a ton of books since his debut back in 1994. His body of works includes his Andie Henning series, several intriguing standalone reads, and his long-running Jack Swyteck series. All these novels sound very cool, although I will probably dive into his next upcoming book first with the early 2024 release, Goodbye Girl.

Goodbye Girl, which will be the 18^th book in Grippando’s Jack Swyteck series, has an amazing sound plot to it that has really grabbed my attention. Set around a contentious music piracy case between two former spouses, Goodbye Girl, looks to be a fantastic legal thriller filled with twists, murder, and entertaining characters. Based on the sound of this amazing plot alone I’m already sure I will absolutely love Goodbye Girl and I cannot wait to check it out in early 2024.

Plot Synopsis:

A contentious intellectual piracy case leads to an unsolved murder, and Jack Swyteck’s client—a pop music icon—is the accused killer.

Piracy costs the movie and music industry billions. No one has been able to stop it. But that won’t stop Miami criminal defense lawyer Jack Swyteck. His latest client, Imani Nichols, is a Grammy-winning popstar whose career has skyrocketed. Despite her success, she’s the most underpaid superstar on the planet because of an onerous record contract she signed as a teenager with her now ex-husband Shaky Nichols, who has made himself rich off her royalties.

Preferring to see thieves profit from her music than let her ex-husband pocket one more dime, Imani takes to social media and tells her millions of fans to “go pirate” and download her music illegally. Her hardball tactic leads to scorched-earth litigation, and now she needs Jack’s help.

The case takes a deadly turn when salacious allegations of infidelity send Imani and Shaky down a path of mutual assured destruction, each implicating the other in the unsolved murder of Imani’s extra-marital lover twelve years ago. Tyler McCormick died of asphyxiation, and his body was found in Biscayne Bay, chained to a piling with the words “goodbye girl” impressed on his chest. Despite their fierce denials, Imani and Shakey are both indicted for murder, leading to a sensational trial that exposes shocking secrets about their failed marriage, their cut-throat business partnership, and Imani’s astonishing success.

Yet as Jack discovers, uncovering the truth about the killing and the cryptic “goodbye girl” won’t just exonerate or convict his client, her ex, and their music empire. It may shape the future of the entire recording industry.