When Jack Swytech's former girlfriend asks him to defend her in a case brought by investors who advance payment on insurance policies when their beneficiaries have been diagnosed with a terminal condition, it looks like an easy win; Jessie Merrill wasn't dying after all, but since Viatical Settlements accepted her doctor's somewhat equivocal diagnosis, they don't stand a chance of getting their money back. Still celebrating his victory, Jack learns that Jessie has lied to him; like the shady, possibly Mob-connected company that advanced Jessie the money, he's been scammed. Then Jessie is murdered in a bizarre scenario that not only sets Jack up as the prime suspect but also threatens his marriage to the woman who is still traumatized by a vicious attack perpetrated by another of his erstwhile clients. Enlisting the aid of his best friend, an ex-con who will do anything to protect the man who saved him from death row, Jack attempts to clear his name by finding the real murderer, who turns out to have a secret worth killing for. The serpentine plot manages to hold the reader's attention despite characters who seem drawn from central casting and a meandering pace that doesn't exactly compel one to keep turning pages to unravel the mystery. --Jane Adams


From Publishers Weekly
Grippando might not be the most lapidary of legal thriller writers, but he certainly has the imagination and research skills to plot up a storm. Readers of his seventh book (after A King's Ransom) will find themselves riveted as Miami criminal lawyer Jack Swyteck the hero of Grippando's first thriller, The Pardon returns to discover himself and his family under attack from several corners. Jessie Merrill, a particularly hot old flame of Jack's who's now dying of ALS, has hired him in an unusual civil case involving a "viatical settlement," in which she sells an insurance policy in return for an immediate cash payment. But the doctors were wrong: Jessie isn't dying, and the shadowy consortium of Russian mobsters who bought her policy are now suing to get their money back. Jack and Jessie win the case; Jack realizes that he and the Russians have been scammed; and when a principal character turns up dead in the Swyteck bathtub, Jack's unstable wife soon joined by a vengeful prosecutor thinks Jack did the dirty deed. There's also a tough and dangerous young Cuban woman with reasons of her own for wanting the Russians brought down, a likable roughneck whom Jack once rescued from death row, and enough mean-spirited federal agents and prosecutors to settle a career's worth of scores for a lawyer-turned-writer like Grippando, who was a partner in Janet Reno's firm before he took up the quill.Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.


From Library Journal
All Jack wants is a simple law practice away from the tensions of being the son of Florida's former governor. But when a client tricks him and then ends up dead, Jack has to act. Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From AudioFile
High-profile lawyer Jack Swyteck returns in this follow-up to the author's bestselling title, THE PARDON. Unfortunately, this offering is not equal to its predecessor. Though it begins with a clever twist and a lot of promise, it soon sputters into predictability. L.J. Ganser seems to sense this because his reading lacks the creative sparkle he's often shown before. When a client and former girlfriend is found dead--in the lawyer's bathtub, no less--Swyteck sets out to clear his name before he's charged with murder. The only real surprise in this plot comes with the climax, when, appropriately, Ganser ratchets up his performance. A.L.H. © AudioFile 2003, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine


From Booklist
*Starred Review* After the relatively weak King's Ransom [BKL Mr 15 01], Grippando has put himself right back on track. This sequel to his first published novel, The Pardon (1994), finds Miami lawyer Jack Swytek defending a former girlfriend against a charge of fraud (she's accused of bilking some investors out of a $1.5 million). She is acquitted, and Jack is feeling good about his work--until she tells him that she really did commit the fraud and is afraid that the people she conned are after her. Not long after her confession, she turns up dead--in Jack's bathtub. Now he has become the prime suspect in a homicide. Like such earlier Grippando thrillers as The Informant (1996), The Abduction (1998), and especially Found Money (1999), this is a top-notch adventure with plenty of supercharged excitement. And, even better, it promises to be the first installment of a new series featuring the tough, straight-talking Swytek. Although it is technically a sequel, readers don't need to know the first book to appreciate this one; the author reintroduces Swytek as though he were a brand-new character. The novel is chock-full of legal-thriller atmosphere and local color (Grippando was a trial attorney in Florida for more than a decade), and it's easily a match for anything written by big names such as Grisham or Margolin or Lescroart. If further Swytek adventures are anything like this one, keep 'em comin'. David Pitt
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved


Book Description

For smart, tough Miami criminal lawyer Jack Swyteck, it was a golden opportunity to help out his beautiful ex-girlfriend Jessie Merrill, who sold her life insurance for a cash payment when she wrongly believed she was dying. Now, thanks to Jack's courtroom prowess, Jessie can keep the $1.5 million she received. But it turns out that Swyteck and the insurance company are both victims of a gorgeous scam artist. And when Jessie's lifeless corpse is discovered in his bathtub, the attorney is suddenly wanted for murder. Framed and desperate -- on the run from the police and a powerful criminal consortium willing to go to any lengths to retrieve the money -- Jack must exhume the dark secrets of a buried past to save his freedom, his career, and his life. But even his unique legal skills cannot keep him out of the murderous sights of a cold killer -- one who wants Jack Swyteck's blood . . . and is beyond suspicion.


Download Description
"E-book exclusive extra: "Dirty Blood and the Russian Mafiya: The Red Trail to Beyond Suspicion," an essay by James Grippando. Miami lawyer Jack Swyteck is smart and tough and up to his neck in trouble. With more than a decade of experience in the criminal courts, Jack doesn't handle many civil cases. But this one is different. His client is a gorgeous ex-girlfriend who's being sued because she thought she was going to die. When Jessie Merrill was diagnosed with a deadly disease and given just two years to live, she worked a deal with an insurance company to get cash fast. In exchange, a group of wealthy investors were supposed to collect on the policy at her death. But Jessie was misdiagnosed. She isn't going to die anytime soon, and the investors want their money back. Now. At the trial, Jack pulls off a brilliant victory and Jessie gets to keep the $1.5 million from the investors. Two days later, Jessie's body turns up in Jack's bathtub. Though it has the markings of suicide, Jessie's death quickly begins to look more like murder -- with Jack the prime suspect. As the evidence mounts against him, Jack finds himself on a collision course with dark secrets from the past and a possible killer who is beyond suspicion."

FROM THE PUBLISHER

"Miami lawyer Jack Swyteck is smart and tough and up to his neck in trouble. With more than a decade of experience in the criminal courts, Jack doesn't handle many civil cases. But this one is different. His client is a gorgeous ex-girlfriend who's being sued because she thought she was going to die." "When Jessie Merrill was diagnosed with a deadly disease and given just two years to live, she worked a deal with an insurance company to get cash fast. In exchange, a group of wealthy investors were supposed to collect on the policy at her death. But Jessie was misdiagnosed. She isn't going to die anytime soon, and the investors want their money back. Now." At the trial, Jack pulls off a brilliant victory and Jessie gets to keep the $1.5 million from the investors. Two days later, Jessie's body turns up in Jack's bathtub. Though it has the markings of suicide, Jessie's death quickly begins to look more like murder. As the evidence mounts against him, Jack finds himself on a collision course with dark secrets from the past and a possible killer who is beyond suspicion.

SYNOPSIS

E-book exclusive extra: "Dirty Blood and the Russian Mafiya: The Red Trail to Beyond Suspicion," an essay by James Grippando.

Miami lawyer Jack Swyteck is smart and tough and up to his neck in trouble. With more than a decade of experience in the criminal courts, Jack doesn't handle many civil cases. But this one is different.

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly

Grippando might not be the most lapidary of legal thriller writers, but he certainly has the imagination and research skills to plot up a storm. Readers of his seventh book (after A King's Ransom) will find themselves riveted as Miami criminal lawyer Jack Swyteck the hero of Grippando's first thriller, The Pardon returns to discover himself and his family under attack from several corners. Jessie Merrill, a particularly hot old flame of Jack's who's now dying of ALS, has hired him in an unusual civil case involving a "viatical settlement," in which she sells an insurance policy in return for an immediate cash payment. But the doctors were wrong: Jessie isn't dying, and the shadowy consortium of Russian mobsters who bought her policy are now suing to get their money back. Jack and Jessie win the case; Jack realizes that he and the Russians have been scammed; and when a principal character turns up dead in the Swyteck bathtub, Jack's unstable wife soon joined by a vengeful prosecutor thinks Jack did the dirty deed. There's also a tough and dangerous young Cuban woman with reasons of her own for wanting the Russians brought down, a likable roughneck whom Jack once rescued from death row, and enough mean-spirited federal agents and prosecutors to settle a career's worth of scores for a lawyer-turned-writer like Grippando, who was a partner in Janet Reno's firm before he took up the quill. (Sept.) Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.

Library Journal

In his seventh book, Florida lawyer Grippando revives characters from his debut, The Pardon. After successfully defending a former girlfriend in an insurance case, Miami attorney Jack Swyteck becomes convinced that his client scammed everyone. The situation worsens when she is found dead in his bathtub. Swyteck is, of course, suspected of murdering her, and evidence making him look like a willing participant in her scam appears. Further incriminating information strains his marriage and leads him into a dangerous confrontation with the people who might be behind the killing. Grippando writes in compact prose, quickly moving from one situation to the next. The legal situations are clearly written and understandable, and the characters are well rounded-though Grippando never addresses Swyteck's alleged involvement in a different murder in the earlier book. Still, fans of legal thrillers will particularly enjoy this latest novel, which recounts important aspects from its predecessor. For most popular fiction collections. [Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 5/15/02.]-Joel W. Tscherne, Cleveland P.L. Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews