Tag: Jack Swyteck Series

Waiting on Wednesday – The Right to Remain by James Grippando

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Thriller, Waiting on WednesdayLeave a comment

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.  Stay tuned to see reviews of these books when I get a copy of them.  For this week’s Waiting on Wednesday, I focus on a cool upcoming legal thriller I recently highlighted as one of the top books I’m looking forward to reading in early 2026 with The Right to Remain by James Grippando.

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Over the last couple of years, I have grown to really enjoy the fantastic legal thrillers of veteran author James Grippando, especially those that form part of his Jack Swyteck series.  Following the titular Jack Swyteck, a Miami based criminal defence attorney who takes on the toughest cases, the series features some outstanding court sequences and legal scenes, especially as Grippando routinely envisions some very clever and unique scenarios and clients for the protagonist to defend.  I had an incredible time with the last two books in the series, Goodbye Girl and Grave Danger, and I am extremely keen to see where the series goes next.

Luckily, I don’t have too much longer until the next Jack Swyteck novel is released with the epic upcoming book, The Right to Remain, coming out in early January 2026.  The 20th entry in the Jack Swyteck series, The Right to Remain features another very interesting plot idea, with the protagonist this time forced to defend a man accused of murder who is literally refusing to speak up in his own defence.  I love the cool idea behind this upcoming book, and I can only imagine just how awesome and unique the resulting trial is going to be.  As such, The Right to Remain is now poised to be one of the first new thrillers I check out in 2026, and I am so damn curious about how this story will unfold.

Plot Synopsis:

In this thrilling novel from bestselling author James Grippando—the twentieth in his revered series—legendary criminal defense attorney Jack Swyteck takes on a twisty, difficult case that becomes one of the most complex in his illustrious career.

Miami criminal defense lawyer Jack Swyteck must contend with a unique problem. His client, Elliott Stafford, indicted for murder, has gone silent. Not just silent in asserting his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination—Elliott refuses to speak. He won’t talk to the judge, his girlfriend, or even the attorney fighting for his life. There seems to be no medical or psychological reason for his silence. He has, as Jack puts it, “chosen to become his own worst enemy.”

To some, it’s an act of protest against a broken criminal justice system. Jack doesn’t buy it. Undeterred by the hoopla and calls to walk away, he keeps his client and tries his best to save Elliott from himself. As he digs for facts, Jack discovers a much more disturbing reason for Elliott’s silence. Virtually everything Elliott told Jack before the indictment is proving false, including Elliot’s criminal history, family turmoil, and secret past. As Jack plunges deeper, he comes to believe that Elliott isn’t trying to hide his own guilt. He may be protecting someone else—and the stakes could not be higher.

With plenty of courtroom action, scenes in which “Grippando’s years of experience shine brightest” (New York Times), The Right to Remain is one of the most thrilling entries yet in this hugely popular series that keeps going strong.

Grave Danger by James Grippando

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Audiobook, Thriller2 Comments

Publisher: Harper Audio (Audiobook – 14 January 2025)

Series: Jack Swyteck – Book 19

Length: 10 hours and 53 minutes

My Rating: 4.5 out 5 stars

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One of the top authors of intense legal thrillers, James Grippando, returns with another outstanding entry in his long-running Jack Swyteck series, Grave Danger, which places the titular protagonist in the middle of a particularly captivating case.

Of the various crime fiction subgenres I have the pleasure of reading, one of my favourites is the legal thriller.  There is just something exciting and addictive about well-written and thrilling books set around the courtroom, especially if they feature complex or life-altering legal cases.  While there are several great authors who specialise in legal thrillers, one of the more intriguing ones I have come across in recent years is veteran author James Grippando, who has been writing compelling novels for over 30 years, with a combination of long-running series, including his main Jack Swyteck series, and other gripping standalone reads.  I personally only started reading Grippando last year when I had the opportunity to read his latest Jack Swyteck novel, Goodbye Girl, a fascinating read that saw the titular Miami lawyer attempt to save a glamorous popstar from several music piracy-related lawsuits.  Goodbye Girl was one of the more entertaining and memorable legal thrillers I read last year, and I was keen to try out the next book in the series, Grave Danger, especially as it had an intriguing plot behind it.

Plot Synopsis:

Bestselling author James Grippando’s legendary criminal defence attorney Jack Swyteck is back to defend a single mother accused of kidnapping her own child in a perilous case involving politics and international diplomacy that will test his legal expertise and his marriage.

Jack Swyteck’s new client fled Iran to Miami with her daughter, and has been accused of kidnapping by her husband. The seasoned attorney must not only plan a winning defence. To stop the father from taking the girl back to Tehran, Jack must build a case under international law and prove that returning the child would put her at risk.

But everything in this case isn’t what it seems, and Jack quickly learns that his client is really the child’s aunt and that the biological mother may have been killed by Iran’s morality police. But what role did the father play in his wife’s death, and why is Jack’s wife, FBI Agent Andie Henning, being pressured by her bosses to persuade Jack to drop the case?

Plunging into an investigation unlike any other, Jack must discover who is behind the legal maneuvering and what their interest is. As politics threatens to derail the case and compromise the best interests of the child, Jack and Andie find themselves on opposite sides—with their marriage hanging in the balance. For their relationship to survive, the couple must navigate a treacherous web of deceit that extends from a Miami courthouse to the highest echelons of Washington DC, and spells grave danger at every turn.

James Grippando continues to impress with this fantastic and exciting new legal thriller.  Cleverly set around some unique legal circumstances and compelling world-politics, Grave Danger had an outstanding plot loaded with a ton of drama that is guaranteed to hook you all the way to the end.

I felt that Grippando pulled together a very interesting and emotionally charged narrative for Grave Danger, which quickly drags you in with its unique and powerful elements.  The main story primarily involves protagonist Jack Swyteck choosing to defend Iranian refugee Ava Bazzi in a custody case around her daughter Yasmin, with the Iranian government backing Yasmin’s father Farid in the case.  However, as the case proceeds, it becomes clear there are more angles to the story, mostly related to whether Jack’s client is Yasmin’s mother, and whether the real Ava Bazzi is alive or has been killed by the Iranian morality police.  At the same time, Jack is dealing with deeper personal issues as his career has put a strain on his marriage with Andie, who once again is facing pressure from her bosses to influence Jack’s case.  As the various trials continue, both Jack and Andie uncover deeper lies and conspiracies from all the participants in the case, including the United States government influencing events from behind the scenes, and Grave Danger’s narrative goes in some very interesting directions.  Grippando wraps the story up with some excellent twists, which includes some tense action and danger, and readers come away satisfied with the conclusion and curious where certain long-running story points in the series will go next.

Grave Danger was another well-written novel from Grippando that provides readers will all the entertaining legal thrills and courtroom drama you could want.  Serving as the 19th entry in the Jack Swyteck series, Grave Danger works well as a continuation of the series, especially when it comes to the personal drama of the protagonists.  At the same time, Grippando has an accessible style which allows new readers to enjoy this novel without any prior knowledge of his previous books.  There are a lot of great elements to this new novel, although I personally enjoyed all the outstanding courtroom sequences, which prove to be a true highlight of the book.  The author clearly puts a lot of care, attention and personal knowledge into all the legal aspects of Grave Danger, and you really get drawn into the complex aspects of the case and the protagonist’s attempts to help his client.

I personally enjoyed how Grippando featured a complex, international custody case in this book, which gave Grave Danger a very distinctive edge, especially as it features some obscure bits of law.  The author’s intriguing dive into US-Iranian relations and how this would potentially impact a case like this was also very fascinating, especially with certain recent real-world events happening around the time I was reading this novel.  Grippando covers all these events in a measured and thoughtful manner, and the underlying political and diplomatic elements of the plot added a lot of fantastic tension to the overall narrative and helped turn Grave Danger into a particularly compelling read.

One of the more interesting elements of Grave Danger are the compelling or relatable characters featured within the plot.  Primarily focused on Jack Swyteck, a lawyer struggling with draining personal battles on top of his own legal case, the book has some interesting sequences with the protagonist, especially as he deals with the lies of his client and the emotional strain of the case on his marriage.  The rest of the cast was quite entertaining or complex, including Jack’s client,  Ava Bazzi, who has escaped from Iran with her daughter/niece, and who seeks to keep custody no matter the cost.  Ava’s various secrets add some deep intrigue to the plot, and Grippando builds some intricate storylines around her, especially with the reveal of who she is and the greater history behind Ava’s treatment by the Iranian morality police. The opposing client, Farid, Ava Bazzi’s husband and the father of Yasmin, proves to be an interesting semi-antagonist in the novel, especially with his alternating motivations and a particularly vindictive lawyer in his corner.

While I enjoyed all these characters, I must say that I had issues with how Grippando utilised Jack’s wife, FBI Agent Andie Henning, in this novel.  Despite being Grave Danger’s secondary protagonist (and the titular protagonist of another series), Grippando somehow manages to make Andie into one of the most annoying figures in the entire novel with her unreasonable requests around her husband’s work, constant combative nature, and sheer determination to get her way.  The author compounds this further by portraying her in this book as being particularly naïve, constantly ignoring several obvious conspiracies and lies actively working against her husband, despite her status as an FBI agent.  I honestly felt that Grippando’s portrayal of Andie was a real weak point of Grave Danger, and I struggled a little bit with her scenes.  Hopefully the author will utilise her a little more effectively going forward, as her appearance here just added way too much unnecessary drama to an otherwise excellent book.

After enjoying Grippando’s previous novel on audiobook, I made sure to get Grave Danger on the same format, primarily because it once again featured the narration of Jonathan Davis.  One of my favourite audiobook narrators, Davis is probably best known for his work voicing various Star Wars audiobook, including Kenobi by John Jackson Miller, Maul: Lockdown by Joe Schreiber, Master and Apprentice by Claudia Gray, Lords of the Sith by Paul S. Kemp and Brotherhood by Mike Chen, just to name a few.  This excellent voice work translates across to the Jack Swyteck series extremely well, and I deeply enjoyed his work on Grave Danger.  Not only does he bring the perfect pace to the court cases and other high-intensity parts of the plot, but he also provides some great voices to the varied characters featured within.  I ended up breezing through Grave Danger’s near 11-hour long runtime because of this great narration, and the audiobook version comes very highly recommended as a result.

Overall, Grave Danger was another excellent novel from James Grippando, who continues his excellent Jack Swyteck series in impressive fashion.  Featuring a particularly compelling legal centre, as well as some great thriller elements, Grave Danger was an amazing read from start to finish, and I fully intend to read more novels in this series going forward.  Indeed, the 20th Jack Swyteck novel, the extremely interesting sounding The Right to Remain, is coming out in early 2026, and I cannot wait to read it.

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Waiting on Wednesday – Grave Danger by James Grippando

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Thriller, Waiting on Wednesday7 Comments

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 look at an awesome legal thriller set for release at the start of 2025, with Grave Danger by James Grippando.

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Earlier this year I had the very great pleasure of diving into the latest book from a long-running series when I read the amazing novel, Goodbye Girl by James Grippando.  The latest entry in Grippando’s Jack Swyteck series, Goodbye Girl was a highly clever legal thriller, loaded with twists, exciting legal manoeuvres and a sinister killer.  Thanks to its great plot and fantastic characters, I ended up having an amazing time with Goodbye Girl, and it was one of the better audiobooks I listened to in the first half of 2024.  As such, I am now keen to check out every new Jack Swyteck novel that comes out, as I know I’m going to have a ton of fun with them.

To that end, I have been keeping an eye on Grippando’s upcoming releases, and I was very excited to see that a new Jack Swyteck book is coming out in January 2025.  This book, Grave Danger, will see Swyteck caught up in another elaborate legal case with deadly implications for himself, his client, and those that he loves.

Plot Synopsis:

Bestselling author James Grippando’s legendary criminal defense attorney Jack Swyteck is back to defend a single mother accused of kidnapping her own child in a perilous case involving politics and international diplomacy that will test his legal expertise and his marriage.

Jack Swyteck’s new client fled Iran to Miami with her daughter, and has been accused of kidnapping by her husband. The seasoned attorney must not only plan a winning defense. To stop the father from taking the girl back to Tehran, Jack must build a case under international law and prove that returning the child would put her at risk.

But everything in this case isn’t what it seems, and Jack quickly learns that his client is really the child’s aunt and that the biological mother may have been killed by Iran’s morality police. But what role did the father play in his wife’s death, and why is Jack’s wife, FBI Agent Andie Henning, being pressured by her bosses to persuade Jack to drop the case?

Plunging into an investigation unlike any other, Jack must discover who is behind the legal maneuvering and what their interest is. As politics threatens to derail the case and compromise the best interests of the child, Jack and Andie find themselves on opposite sides—with their marriage hanging in the balance. For their relationship to survive, the couple must navigate a treacherous web of deceit that extends from a Miami courthouse to the highest echelons of Washington DC, and spells grave danger at every turn.

I have to say that I am very intrigued by this upcoming book, especially as Grippando appears to have pulled together a particularly compelling narrative.  The case at the heart of Grave Danger has some awesome international and political implications behind it, which look set to tie into some contemporary world-events.  I have no doubt that Grippando is going to wrangle together some excellent court sequences, and this sounds like a particularly strong central storyline for a great legal thriller.  It also sounds like Grippando is going to continue diving into the marital issues between the protagonist and his wife, as the strain of a high-profiled defence attorney being married to an FBI agent continues to emerge.  This should result in a particularly intense read, and I am very much looking forward to it.

Honestly, after how much Goodbye Girl impressed me earlier this year, James Grippando and the Jack Swyteck series is now firmly on my annual to-read list, so there was no way that I am going to miss Grave Danger when it comes out.  However, I also really love the sound of the cool story that Grave Danger has, and I am already very intrigued to see how the entire narrative comes together.  This will probably end up being one of the stronger thrillers I read in 2025, and I cannot wait to get my hands on Grave Danger to continue my new adventures with James Grippando and the Jack Swyteck series.

Goodbye Girl by James Grippando

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Audiobook, Thriller11 Comments

Goodbye Girl Cover

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 18th 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 18th 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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