Publisher: Harper Audio (Audiobook – 9 January 2024)

Series: Jack Swyteck – Book 18

Length: 12 hours and 2 minutes

My Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

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In the mood for a complex, gripping and endlessly entertaining legal thriller?  Look no further than the exciting and compelling read, Goodbye Girl by acclaimed author James Grippando.

I am still relatively new to the thriller genre, and I have been trying to catch up on all the different and compelling thriller authors out there I have yet to experience.  One new-to-me author I just came across was James Grippando, who has been writing intriguing thrillers since 1994.  A former lawyer, Grippando has produced a raft of awesome sounding books over the years, including several great standalone novels and his iconic and long-running Jack Swyteck series, which focuses on a titular defence attorney who gets caught up in a range of deadly and intense cases.  I personally became interested in Grippando earlier this year when I came across the synopsis for his new Jack Swyteck book, Goodbye Girl, which really appealed to me.  The 18^th book in the series, Goodbye Girl, sounded like so much fun and I ended up having an outstanding time reading it.

Jack Swyteck, Miami’s top criminal defence attorney, has defended many infamous and notorious people throughout his career, but none had the star power of his new client, beloved popstar Imani Nichols.  A Grammy-winning star with worldwide fame, Imani is every definition of successful, except when it comes to the money she makes.  Signed to a controlling contract as a teenager, the rights to Imani’s original songs are now firmly owned by her ex-husband and manager, Shaky Nichols, who receives all the royalties for her music.

Determined to get back at her ex-husband, Imani has begun a controversial campaign, encouraging her fans to “go pirate” and download her early music illegally, ensuring that no-one, especially Shaky, makes any money from her songs.  In response, Shaky has engaged in ruinous litigation against Imani, who in desperate need of counsel, hires Jack to defend her.  The case swiftly turns into a salacious media circus, where allegations of infidelity, manipulation and abuse fly from both sides of the courtroom.  However, this scandalous trial is only the beginning, and soon Jack is forced to defend his client against far more serious charges.

Years earlier, a young man was found brutally murdered by asphyxiation and his body displayed in Biscayne Bay, chained to a piling with the words “goodbye girl” written on his chest.  When connections between the victim, Tyler McCormick, and Imani and Shaky are discovered, the police believe that they are responsible for his death, and suddenly Jack must now defend the estranged spouses in a complex murder trial.  Caught in the sensational trial of the century, Jack and those closest to him are forced to contend with the chaotic consequences of this case, including enraged Russian oligarchs, deadly hitman, and a deranged serial killer who bears a murderous grudge against online pirates.

Goodbye Girl was an incredible novel from Grippando that had me absolutely hooked from the very beginning.  A powerful and exciting thrill-ride filled with intense legal cases, complex investigations and fantastic characters, Goodbye Girl was a truly awesome read that proved very, very hard to put down.

I really got drawn into the awesome story that Grippando came up with for Goodbye Girl, as this book features a thrilling tale of murder, broken relationships, and betrayal, all centred around a series of intense legal cases.  The primary story initially sees Jack defend the famous singer Imani from a complex civil case from her ex-husband, which turns into a highly entertaining and salacious legal affair in the courtroom.  This initial trial is quite fun, especially as it bears some similarity to the infamous Johnny Depp/Amber Heard case, and it proves to be a compelling initial occurrence.  However, things get far more complicated as the protagonist’s client, and her former husband, are drawn into other cases, including federal charges of piracy, and the gruesome murder of a young man, Tyler McCormick, who has a past connection with the singer.

While Jack is caught up in these various complex, but highly entertaining, trials, the narrative splits to follow several other protagonists on parallel adventures.  Jack’s best friend, Theo Knight, becomes embroiled in related trouble in London, as he manages to annoy a Russian oligarch involved in the piracy business.  At the same time, Jack’s wife, Andie, begins investigating a series of murders that mirror the death of Tyler McCormick, and she soon finds herself hunting a deadly serial killer with a very specific motivation and methodology.  These intriguing storylines combine nicely with the main legal-thriller elements of the plot, resulting in a complex, multi-directional narrative which expertly keeps the reader’s attention.  Grippando loads up the story with some clever misdirection, over-the-top moments, and a few big twists, all of which increases the intensity and attractiveness of the plot.  I honestly was surprised at some of the directions that the author took the story, and I loved how crazy parts of the book got, especially when it came to why victims of the serial killer where being targeted.  The author keeps the tension going right to the end, and I loved the clever resolution to the various storylines, especially as the reader comes away extremely satisfied.

I really enjoyed how Goodbye Girl was written, especially as Grippando has an entertaining and fast-paced style that really drew me in.  The extremely strong story was well enhanced by the author’s ability to quickly jump between his protagonists, as well as a few antagonists.  The multitude of unique perspectives added a lot to the impact of the story, especially as the three main protagonists each experienced their own intense hurdles, including thrilling action in London, and an intense hunt for a serial killer in America.  While Theo and Andie’s storylines are a lot of fun and add a lot to the overall plot, the highlight of this book is the intensely compelling legal-thriller elements, which centre around main protagonist Jack Swyteck.  Throughout the course of Goodbye Girl, the protagonist becomes involved in a raft of different cases and trials, all of which are extremely compelling, and tie into the main story in some very interesting ways.  Grippando really utilised his experiences as a lawyer to create a series of realistic courtroom sequences, and I loved seeing the fantastic and fun back and forth that occurred in the court.  These trial scenes were really well written, and the reader gets effortlessly drawn into proceedings, especially as the protagonist is forced to engage in a range of tricky and entertaining legal manoeuvres in the various complex cases.  These court sequences were some of the best parts of the book, and the other story threads played off them extremely well, ensuring a complex and twisty narrative.  Throw in some fascinating and highly relevant discussions about online piracy, which becomes a key part of the plot, and Goodbye Girl really had something for all thriller and crime fiction fans.

I must admit that when I started reading Goodbye Girl, I did initially worry that it would be hard to come into the Jack Swyteck series at the 18^th entry.  However, this proved not to be the case, as Goodbye Girl proved to be a very easy novel to enjoy without any prior knowledge of the other books in the series.  Most of the story contained within Goodbye Girl is insular, and readers can dive right into the plot without having read any of the other books.  While there are references to prior cases and the character history, none of it is especially relevant to the current plot, and Grippando’s explanations allow the reader to easily follow what is going on.  The author also does a great job of once again showcasing the relationships between the existing characters, so all readers get the full emotional experience of the story.  The author did feature some complex character interactions amongst the recurring protagonists. which seems likely to continue in future, however, nothing was exclusive to fans of the prior books.  There is also a range of cool new characters, especially the big personalities associated with the main case, and I enjoyed their entertaining interactions with the main characters, even if Grippando did lean too heavily into deliberately featuring “pick-me girl” characters.  As such, Goodbye Girl can easily be enjoyed by new and existing readers without any difficulty, and indeed anyone interested in a fantastic and compelling legal thriller will be spoiled by this book.

I ended up grabbing Goodbye Girl on audiobook, which is often my favourite way to enjoy a good novel.  This proved to be a great idea in the case of Goodbye Girl as the audiobook version was very fun to listen to and really brought the awesome story to life.  Coming in with a run time of 12 hours, this was a relatively quick audiobook to get through, and I had a blast listening to the complex story.  It helped that Goodbye Girl featured the vocal talents of one of my favourite audiobook narrators, Jonathan Davis.  Davis, who I best known for his work on some epic Star Wars audiobooks (including Master & Apprentice, Lords of the Sith, Maul: Lockdown and Kenobi), is an exceptional narrator with a variety of cool voices and accents at his disposal.  I really liked how Davis read out Goodbye Girl, and the fun characters and over-the-top scenes that emerged were highly entertaining when narrated by this amazing talent.  The various characters are each giving fitting and fun voices that I really enjoyed, and Davis brings a range of serviceable accents to the fore in the various international settings.  I also appreciated how he helped to enhance the magic of the author’s various court sequences, and the fantastic back and forth between the various character in the trial really came across in a clear and effective manner through Davis’ narration.  Due to this amazing narration, as well as how thrilling it was to listen to this great story be read out, I strongly recommend Goodbye Girl on audiobook.

My first experience with James Grippando’s amazing writing proved to be a lot of fun as the new Jack Swyteck novel, Goodbye Girl, ended up being quite extraordinary.  Featuring an outstanding narrative that blended a complex array of legal cases and trials, with some exciting thriller elements, Goodbye Girl was an exceptional read from start to finish and I got so drawn into this novel as a result.  This was such an incredible book, and I now fully intend to read all the new Jack Swyteck books from Grippando in the future.

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