Beyond Suspicion [Hardcover]

James Grippando (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 20, 2002

After six exciting thrillers in seven years, bestselling author James Grippando is at last bringing back the main character from his blockbuster debut novel, The Pardon.

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.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

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.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 336 pages
• Publisher: Harper; 1st edition (August 20, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0066213444
• ISBN-13: 978-0066213446
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.3 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (38 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #995,066 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

After twelve years as a trial lawyer with Miami's most prestigious law firm, James Grippando is now a national best-selling author of thirteen suspenseful thrillers in as many years, including Lying with Strangers, When Darkness Falls, Got the Look, Hear No Evil, Last to Die, Beyond Suspicion, A King's Ransom, Under Cover of Darkness, Found Money, The Abduction, The Informant and The Pardon. His first novel for young adults, Leapholes, was published in 2006, as well as his first short-story, Operation Northwoods, which appeared in the critically acclaimed Thriller anthology. His novels are enjoyed worldwide in twenty-four languages.

James's first job out of law school plunged him headlong into death penalty cases. That experience was an inspiration for his 1994 debut novel, The Pardon, a legal thriller that critics heralded as a "bona fide blockbuster." Beyond Suspicion (2002) was the long-awaited sequel to that first novel, and it launched an exciting new series that features Miami criminal defense attorney Jack Swyteck and that critics have heralded as "John Grisham meets Robert Ludlum."

As a lawyer, James was an avid writer. His numerous scholarly articles appeared in some of nation's top law reviews, and they are frequently cited with approval by the courts. His trial practice ranged from complex corporate litigation to class actions on behalf of chicken farmers. As a frequent volunteer in Florida's guardian ad litem program, he helped provide legal representation to neglected children in family court proceedings. He was a faculty member with the National Institute of Trial Advocacy and an adjunct professor of trial advocacy at Nova Southeast University. He was named by Florida Trend Magazine as one of Florida's emerging leaders, and in 2006 he received the Distinguished Author Award from Scranton University. His alma mater is the University of Florida, where he graduated second in his undergraduate class and earned his law degree with honors. He now serves Of Counsel to David Boies' law firm, Boies Schiller & Flexner, LLP.

James lives and writes in Coral Gables, Florida, and he is married to Tiffany, who has been his unofficial editor since book one.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars OK - you already have an idea what the plot's about -, July 25, 2005

By 

DWD "DWD's Reviews" (Indianapolis, IN) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Beyond Suspicion (Hardcover)

so you may be wondering if this book is worth your time.

'Beyond Suspicion' is a quick-moving book and is a sequel to Grippando's first published novel 'The Pardon'. I read 'The Pardon' many years ago, but reading the first book is not a necessary requirement - Grippando sets the stage very well in this book so it can be a 'stand alone' novel.

I shot through this book very quickly - the plot drags you in pretty well and Grippando's writing style keeps the book moving along at a quick pace. The main character is fairly average and his world is suddenly turned upside down by one case and its connections to the underworld. Murder, mayhem and one family crisis after another keep it interesting. Grippando fills this novel with a multitude on interesting characters, any one of which would be strong enough to be the main character in a book.

A good solid read - a great summertime novel.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A fascinating read!, December 17, 2002

By 

Aaron Olson (Eagan, Minnesota) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Beyond Suspicion (Hardcover)

BEYOND SUSPICION is not your ordinary legal thriller. The fast paced action and interesting characters kept me reading at a feverish pace.

With a lull in my reading last month I was looking for a new author to read. I read the inside flap of the latest James Grippando book, BEYOND SUSPICION, and I was hooked. The second book in the Jack Swyteck series (THE PARDON being the first), BEYOND SUSPICION starts out with Jack defending his ex-girlfriend, Jessie Merrill, in a case worth 1.5 million dollars. He wins the case and soon after Jessie ends up dead, in Jack's own bathroom. Suddenly Jack Swyteck is the prime suspect in her death. Jack teams up with Theo Knight to attempt to uncover the details around the death of Jessie Merrill and the action kicks in.

More than just a legal thriller this book has some great story lines. Jack's wife Cindy Swyteck is having nightmares from her troubled past. She is my favorite character in the whole book. I felt the author did a wonderful job creating the tension around Cindy. She is dealing with the fact that Jack is the suspect in the death of his own ex-girlfriend, her troubled back-story with Esteban, and her past coming to her in dreams. All of which are sewn together seamlessly.

There are some other good characters that play integral parts as well. Yuri, a ruthless thug, and Katrina an insider who has her own demons to deal with, are two of my favorites.

If you're looking for a new book to read I suggest you pick up BEYOND SUSPICION. It brings a diabolical mystery, wonderful side stories, face paced action, and a twist at the end that will leave you wanting more! I recommend it along with THE PARDON.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars So good, it should be illegal!, August 20, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Beyond Suspicion (Hardcover)

"Beyond Suspicion" is a great, great legal thriller. This is the first time in about a year that I stayed up all night reading a book that I quite literally couldn't put down. As far as I'm concerned, James Grippando's recent novels have been far superior to John Grisham's and "Beyond Suspicion" is his best one yet.