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Summary
Summary
A kid from Miami's meanest streets, Theo Knight lost his mother to a violent crime. He was on Death Row for a murder he didn't commit when lawyer Jack Swyteck proved him innocent. Now they are best friends. Theo is a semi-respectable and successful bar owner, but the past, with its risks and its terrors, has come knocking on his back door. An escaped convict from the old neighborhood wants sanctuary, and in return he is offering information: the identity of the killer who left Theo's mom lying dead in the street on a hot South Florida evening.
Theo wants justice, but the answers are not simple. He and Jack must now piece together a twenty-year-old conspiracy of greed and corruption that's pointing toward the city's most elite and powerful. And digging through a history that Theo has struggled his whole life to forget could awaken some very desperate, very deadly sleeping dogs.
Author Notes
Author James Grippando was born in Antioch, Illinois in 1958. He spent one year at the University of Illinois before transferring to the University of Florida in Gainesville, where he received his B.A. with high honors and his law degree with honors. While in law school, he was executive editor of the University of Florida Law Review. He was practicing commercial litigation with the law firm of Steel Hector & Davis for 12 years before becoming a full-time writer. He wrote his first two novels while he was still working as a trial lawyer. His novels include the Jack Swyteck series.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (3)
Kirkus Review
Miami criminal-defense lawyer Jack Swyteck is back in action, defending an old friend and rekindling an old flame in this fast-paced thriller. After another standalone, Grippando (Lying with Strangers, 2007, etc.) brings back the likable Swyteck for a seventh wild ride. This time, old crimes are challenging old friends and reawakening the ghosts of South Florida's past. Swyteck's best friend Theo, a former death-row inmate, is implicated when a former gang buddy breaks out of prison. The gangster, Isaac, wants help but Theo knows better than to jeopardize his new life, his relationship with his girlfriend, Trina, or his plans to open a jazz bar in the spirit of Miami's lost African-American heyday. So Isaac uses the murder of Theo's mother, 20 years earlier, as bait, promising information about that unsolved crime, and lays a trail for the cops to Theo's door, to push him into action. Once Isaac makes these moves, Jack has his hands full. Not only does he have to defend Theo from charges of breaking Isaac out, he must restrain his friend from going after Isaac himself for leads about his Momma. And when Isaac is killed, Jack has to fight his growing feelings for FBI agent Andie Henning, a former almost-girlfriend who can't help but believe that Theo is involved. Mysteries pile up within mysteries, as the old murder ties in with current drug crimes and an urban-renewal scam. There's plenty of shoot-'em-up action, including a showdown in a horse barn that thankfully leaves the gorgeous beasts unharmed. But Grippando goes beyond the formula. Touches of humor, particularly between the romancing couples and Theo's Uncle Cy, and a feeling for the history of the city propel this thriller beyond the ordinary. In addition to action, the author gives us people we can root for, both on the street and in their private lives. A surprisingly warm thriller with the flavor of the real Miami. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
After the recent tautly constructed stand-alone thriller Lying with Strangers (2007), veteran lawyer turned author Grippando returns with the seventh entry in his Jack Swyteck series. This time the focus is on Swyteck's longtime friend, jazz-loving ex-con Theo Knight. The illegitimate son of a drug-addicted prostitute, Theo didn't have a lot of choices in life, stuck his hands in the wrong cash register, and was tagged with the brutal murder of a convenience store clerk. At age 15, he was the youngest inmate on Florida's death row. Swyteck is the lawyer who proved his innocence, and Theo has been forever in his debt. Now Theo's old life comes back to haunt him when an escaped inmate demands that Theo give him shelter and money. In return, he will give Theo the name of the man who brutally murdered Theo's mother 20 years ago. The information so inflames Theo that both Jack and Theo's loving uncle Cy start to fear that he will end up back in jail. The trail leads to Miami's booming building business and a rich and powerful man who has connections on both sides of the law. The dependable Grippando delivers a solidly plotted thriller, with plenty of breaks for romance, most notably Jack's renewed interest in FBI agent Andie Henning, and some colorful backstory on the Knight family's longtime interest in Miami's jazz scene.--Wilkinson, Joanne Copyright 2007 Booklist
Library Journal Review
Grippando stalwart Jack Swy-teck agrees to help buddy Theo help an escaped convict willing to reveal who killed Theo's mother. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.