Grave Danger by James Grippando

On November 24, 2025 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

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 19^th 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 20^th 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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Goodbye Girl by James Grippando

On July 14, 2024 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 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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Blood Sugar by Sascha Rothchild

On June 27, 2022August 20, 2022 By The Unseen LibraryIn Thriller2 Comments

Blood Sugar Cover

Publisher: Trapeze (Trade Paperback – 26 April 2022)

Series: Standalone

Length: 328 pages

My Rating: 4.75 out of 5 stars

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Outstanding screenwriter Sascha Rothchild presents her debut novel with the utterly addictive Blood Sugar, an awesome and clever thriller with a sweet twist.

Ruby Simon has been a killer since she was five years old. On a sunny day, young Ruby took an opportunity to rid herself and her sister of the school bully by helping him drown at the local Miami beach. After managing to get away with her crime, Ruby expected to feel guilty for the life she took, but instead all she felt was relief that the boy would never hurt her sister again. This action led to Ruby having a realisation that sometimes killing a terrible person is not necessarily a bad thing.

Twenty-five years later, Ruby appears to have it all. A successful and driven psychologist in Miami, Ruby has killed several times over the intervening years and has never felt guilt for her actions. However, everything she has built is about to come crumbling down when she finds herself in an interrogation room under suspicion of murder. In front of her lie four photographs of people who she once knew and who are all now dead.

As the interrogation continues, Ruby soon discovers a significant problem: of the four victims she is accused of murdering, she has only killed three of them, and it is the death she is not responsible for that the police are most determined to bring her down for. Can Ruby prove she is innocent of this one murder? And even if she can, does she even deserve to be set free?

This was an impressive and compelling debut from Sascha Rothchild that I was really quite happy to get a copy of. Not only did it have an awesome-sounding plot but I was also very intrigued by the author, as Rothchild already had some major writing creds after her work on several television shows, including GLOW, which I was a big fan of. I ended up really loving Blood Sugar and I swiftly got drawn into its witty, humorous and powerful story set around an unlikely and extremely likeable murderer.

Blood Sugar has a distinctive and fun narrative that really grabs your attention from the beginning, starting as it does with child-on-child murder. Told exclusively from the perspective of central character Ruby Simon, the book is an impressive, deep and occasionally humorous character study of a very unique fictional killer. The initial narrative is split between events in the character’s present, where she is being interrogated by the police, and an extended look back at her past, as you see all the major events in her life. These flashback sequences take up the majority of the first two thirds of the book, and they present some powerful and intriguing examinations of the protagonist and all the moments that led to her present. In particular, they look at her key relationships, her schooling, the events that made her into the successful person she is today, as well as the moments where she decided to take a life. These two separate narrative threads play off each other extremely well, with the character history providing some intriguing context to the character’s background and mindset, while the present-day interrogation does a good job at hinting at events that are still to be revealed in the flashbacks. Rothchild’s excellent writing style and ability to forge interesting and compelling characters are on full display during this part of the novel, and she is effortlessly able to construct a powerful and natural life story around the very relatable protagonist, with her occasional murders cleverly worked in. The blend of character history and justified killings really works well to keep your attention, while also making you really start to care about the protagonist and her future. Both separate linear threads bind together perfectly as the novel progresses and leads the reader towards Blood Sugar’s awesome third and final act.

The final third of Blood Sugar takes on a completely new format as the first-person examination of the protagonist’s past is wrapped up and the book turns into an intense legal thriller. This fantastic and powerful change of pace is quite jarring and sees the protagonist encounter all manner of personal setbacks and attacks as the police close in on her. Thanks to all the awesome work that the author did in the first part of the novel, the reader is now incredibly invested in Ruby’s life story, and you feel incredibly sympathetic for her. As such, it hurts a little to see her so terribly attacked, even though many of the things that they are accusing her of are true and a key part of her life. This final part of the novel is incredibly intense, and Rothchild brings out all manner of intriguing twists and turns to shake the reader, especially as you still a little uncertain about who is responsible for one of the key events. The author comes up with an intriguing and entertaining conclusion for the novel that really makes one of the supporting characters shine. I really liked how everything wrapped up here, and it really did the rest of the book justice. An overall impressive and highly addictive narrative that I powered through in very short order.

I deeply enjoyed some of the unique elements that Rothchild sprinkled throughout her novel. While there is a natural focus on the morality of murder and the mindset of her protagonist, the author also takes the time to examine other interesting elements in her own entertaining way. Many of these elements revolve around relationships, with the protagonist finding herself connected to multiple interesting people in a variety of complex ways, from a very close platonic friendship that experiences major highs and severe lows, to a loving relationship that tries to overcome mistrust and traumatic pasts. The author also presents one of the most honest and powerful examinations of the relationships people have with their pets, as the protagonist becomes extremely close with several animals that she adopts. While one of these ends quite tragically (I was legitimately heartbroken when this happened), it transitions into a very moving and accurate examination of the strong grief that people often feel for their pets, and it is one that every animal lover will understand and appreciate. The various relationships featured in Blood Sugar form a key part of the story, and it was fascinating to see them unfold around the protagonist, especially as they brought out some unique family dynamics, and I really appreciated the clever ways that the author worked them into the wider plot.

There is also an outstanding look at the media circus that surrounds big crimes, especially once the protagonist finds their previous crimes under investigation. Watching Ruby’s entire carefully constructed life come unravelled in the public eye is one of the more intense parts of Blood Sugar, and Rothchild pulls no punches when it comes to the savagery of the media and the isolation that accused people find themselves in. I also appreciated the intense dive into the world of the personal psychology, as the protagonist uses her training to explore her mind as well as issues surrounding several of her clients. This was a very intriguing part of the book’s plot, and I liked how Rothchild praised therapy, showing that it can be very beneficial to people, even trained psychologists and serial killers. However, the most impressive story element that Rothchild worked into the novel was the in-depth examination of diabetes and the impacts it can have. Due to a key plot point, quite a lot of the book revolves around a character’s diabetes, with their low blood sugar (yep, that is what the book is named after), become a major factor in the case against Ruby. Rothchild has clearly done her research when it comes to the intricacies of diabetes, and I really appreciated how she was able to imagine a potential murder based around this disease. All these distinctive elements and more are expertly utilised in the wider plot and become a key part of the protagonist’s unique and complex life.

Finally, I really must touch on Blood Sugar’s awesome protagonist of Ruby Simon, who stands out as one of the most original and surprisingly likeable literary characters of 2022. Ruby is a very distinctive figure; she first killed at a very young age and has gone on to murder again several times through her life. Even though she feels no guilt for these killings, Ruby is not portrayed as a psychopath or a serial killer; she is simply someone able to justify the actions she took in a very logical way. Due to the way that the novel is set out, you see most of Ruby’s life through her eyes and you swiftly come to appreciate her point of view, especially as she appears as a mostly normal person who finds herself in some unique situations. Each of her killings is laid out to the reader in a very logical and natural way, and you honestly have a hard time understanding and even supporting her reasons or justifications for the killings. Due to this, as well as the extremely relatable way that Rothchild portrays her, you become strongly connected to the character, and you quickly start rooting for her to avoid being capture or prosecuted for her crimes. I honestly cannot remember becoming as attached to a killer character as did with Ruby in Blood Sugar, and Rothchild really went out of her way to ensure that you liked her protagonist. An excellent and memorable bit of character work.

Overall, Blood Sugar was one of the more unique and entertaining releases of 2022 so far, and I was really impressed with Sascha Rothchild’s first novel. Featuring an extremely clever, hilarious, thrilling and addictive story, Blood Sugar was a very fun novel to dive into, especially once you become attached to the amazing main character. Powerful, intense and very distinctive, Blood Sugar is easily one of the best debut novels of 2022 and it comes very highly recommended by the Unseen Library.

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Lost by James Patterson and James O. Born

On January 19, 2020February 2, 2023 By The Unseen LibraryIn Thriller8 Comments

Lost Cover

Publisher: Century (Trade Paperback – 7 January 2020)

Series: Stand Alone/Book One

Length: 328 pages

My Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

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From the excellent crime fiction team of James Patterson and James O. Born comes Lost, an enjoyable and thrilling novel that sets a fun new protagonist against the scourge of international human trafficking.

Detective Tom Moon is a Miami man, born and bred, who loves to protect his city. Assigned to lead a new FBI joint task force that’s been set up in the city, his new job is to tackle international crime. However, their job gets very complicated when they receive a tip about a man coming in through Miami International Airport from Amsterdam. Upon arresting their suspect, they find that he was attempting to smuggle in several children from Europe and that he is part of a notorious human trafficking ring.

Working closely with Dutch Detective Marie Meijer, Moon and his team work to uncover the full extent of the trafficking ring in both Amsterdam and Miami. However, the traffickers are being led by a ruthless pair of Dutch siblings who are desperate to succeed and even willing to target the police hunting them. Worse, the traffickers are working with a powerful syndicate of Russian gangsters who have a strong foothold in both Europe and Miami. When Moon and his team receive news that a massive shipment of people is being smuggled into Miami, they know that this is the break they need to bring down the entire operation. But with money and family on the line, both the Russians and the traffickers are desperate to claim their cargo and will go to any lengths to secure it, even if that means killing Moon and everyone he cares about.

Lost is the latest novel from co-writers James Patterson and James O. Born. Patterson is an author who needs very little introduction, having contributed to well over 100 crime fiction novels since his debut in 1976, including his bestselling Alex Cross series. Patterson has a longstanding tradition of collaborating with other crime fiction authors to create some intriguing reads, including the Detective Harriet Blue series with Candice Fox, the Women’s Murder Club series with Andrew Gross and Maxine Paetro, the Michael Bennett series which he has mostly done with Michael Ledwidge, the NYPD Red series with Marshall Karp and the Private series co-written with several different authors. James O. Born has been writing since 2004, when he debuted with the intriguing-sounding Walking Money. Born has written several novels in his career so far and has been collaborating with Patterson since 2016. Patterson and Born have already written several together, including the Mitchum series (the third book of which, The River Murders, was released only a few days ago) and the latest two entries in the Michael Bennett series. The two writers are also releasing a third Michael Bennett novel, Blindside, in the next week, which actually sounds pretty interesting and I might have to try and check out.

Lost is a standalone novel that features a brand-new protagonist, Tom Moone. Lost is a fantastic piece of crime fiction with a massively enjoyable story that was a lot of fun to check out. This was an exceedingly accessible novel from this writing pair, which requires no prior knowledge of any of the books in Patterson’s extensive library of works. Patterson and Born have produced an entertaining and very fast-paced story that I was to power through in a very short period of time. The story is told in a series of extremely short chapters, which helps to move the plot along at a quick clip, which I really appreciated. The authors also cleverly utilise multiple character perspectives to create a richer and more compelling overall novel. Around half the novel is told from the first-person perspective of the book’s protagonist, Tom Moon, while the rest of the novel is told from the third-person perspective of several other characters. The most prominent of these characters are the smuggler team of Hanna and Albert Greete, who serve as some of the book’s main antagonists. This great use of perspective has some real advantages for the story, as it allows a deeper look at this new exciting protagonist whilst also providing the reader with an enticing view of the dark underbelly that is the world of human trafficking.

The authors’ decision to focus this book on human trafficking was an interesting choice and one which I felt really payed off for this book. This whole criminal enterprise is both fascinating and despicable, and results in a number of fantastic sequences throughout Lost. The two authors do an excellent job of covering all the angles surrounding the human trafficking and their inclusion of multiple character perspectives is really useful here. Not only do we get to see the viewpoints of the police who are trying to stop these crimes but we also get to see the perspective of the traffickers and some of the people they are smuggling. This allows the authors to show some of the tricks and techniques that human traffickers use to smuggle people into the United States, and we also get to see the eventual fates of several people who are successfully trafficked (it doesn’t go well for them). We also see what has driven several smuggled people into the arms of the traffickers; whether they are there by choice or whether they have been forced their against their will, their story is generally a bleak one, and I liked that the authors tried to examine the victims of this crime in some detail. The use of international human trafficking as the central crime also allows this novel to have more of a multinational fair to it, as police from two separate countries, in this case agents of a United States FBI taskforce and the Dutch police, work together to solve the crime. I liked the various scenes set in Amsterdam, and it was really interesting to see the author’s interpretation of the city and how it has been impacted by international crime. It was also fun to see the two main police characters in the book, Miami cop Moon and Amsterdam police officer Meijer, spend time learning more about the cultures of their international counterpart, as both characters get tours of the other’s respective cities. I personally really enjoyed this captivating aspect of the book, and it really helped make this cool crime fiction novel even more enjoyable.

Patterson has a fantastic habit of coming up with a number of memorable protagonists for his works. The bestselling author and his co-writers have created some truly compelling protagonists to help helm their books, many of whom are then utilised as the central character of long-running series. In Lost, Patterson and Born have come up with another interesting main character in the form of Detective Tom Moon, who was an excellent protagonist for this new novel. Moon is a pretty distinctive police officer, whose large physical appearance clashes with a number of character traits featured within this book, such as his calm, philosophical nature, his soft spot for children and his dedication to his family. Moon is a truly nice guy who has earned the trust of the Miami street community and even some criminals thanks to his status as a local, his well-known past as a poor college athlete and his sense of fair play. I really enjoyed the whole man-of-the-streets vibe that the authors came up with for Moon, and it was fun seeing several examples of local people helping him out with his enquires, even the criminals. While we mainly see Moon being nice and helpful, he is not always such a laid-back guy, especially when his family is being threatened. He can actually get quite vicious at times, especially in one club scene when his sister is around, and he really doesn’t get intimidated, choosing to go after several dangerous people, often in fairly tactless ways (there is one entertaining scene where he calls out a criminal in a very public way). All of this adds up to another distinctive and enjoyable protagonist, and I quite enjoyed the combination of charm, humour and street smarts that made up Detective Moon. That being said, I think that the book would have survived without the continued stream of philosophically meaningful quotes he was spouting, and it really wasn’t my favourite thing in Lost.

Overall, Lost by James Patterson and James O. Born is another great piece of crime fiction that is bound to keep a lot of readers entertained. These two authors have come up with another intriguing story, which dives deep into the world of international human trafficking to produce an excellent read. I very much enjoyed this new novel, and I would love to see more of Tom Moon in the future, especially if the authors come up with some other fascinating examples of international crime to investigate. Lost is worth checking out, especially if you are in the mood for a compelling, fast-paced crime fiction novel with a fantastic protagonist.

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