Born to Run (Jack Swyteck) [Mass Market Paperback]

James Grippando (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 24, 2009 | Series: Jack Swyteck

When the U.S. Vice President dies un-expectedly during a hunting trip in the Everglades, the President selects his friend, former Florida governor Harry Swyteck, to fill the vacant position. Called to Washington to serve as his father's legal advisor, Jack Swyteck has mixed feelings about working so closely with the parent he's been at odds with in the past. Jack's duty, however, as a son and as an American, takes top priority.

But the vipers are restless in the D.C. snake pit. A fifty-year-old secret is unraveling and a cover-up at the highest levels of government threatens to drag both Swytecks under. When hostages are taken, Jack must get to the root of the evil and quickly—because suddenly no one is safe, and the presidency itself hangs in the balance.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In this newest installment of the Jack Swyteck mysteries, the vice president dies during an alligator hunt in the Everglades, and Jack's father, the former governor of Florida picked by the president to fill the vacant v-p slot, brings Jack to Washington as his legal counsel. But Washington politics prove deadly, and soon Jack is investigating a mystery that has its roots 40 years in the past. Jonathan Davis brings considerable skill to his reading; with clear articulation and a keen sense of timing, he conveys the book's suspenseful plotting and nicely balances numerous characters of diverse ethnicities and genders. It is a fine performance that will keep listeners on the edge of their seats. A HarperCollins hardcover. (Dec.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

Veteran thriller writer Grippando has been known to inject presidential politics into his thrillers before, most notably in The Abduction (1998), which featured a heated contest between a female Democratic nominee and an African American Republican. In this eighth Jack Swyteck novel, the politics turn deadly when the vice president, out hunting crocodiles in the Everglades, ends up dead. Jack’s father, Harry, is asked to take over as the president’s number-two man, but Jack suspects the late vice president might have been murdered and that his father might be next. When Jack receives an e-mail offering to sell information about President Keyes—information that could make Jack’s dad the next president—he starts to dig deeper, gathering information from everyone from the late vice-president’s widow to the sister of a slain tabloid reporter. And as if Jack didn’t have enough trouble, he also must deal with the fact that he’s turning 40. This, of course, is a subject of great humor for Jack’s best friend and all-around wiseacre, ex-con Theo Knight. But Jack’s more visible political profile spells trouble for his relationship with FBI agent Andie Henning, who fears her boyfriend’s newfound status will negatively affect her career. Grippando ratchets up the action to a breakneck pace in the last half of the novel, stopping to liberally sprinkle the proceedings with snarky dialogue, pointed satire, and some touching father-son moments. Everything you expect in a Grippando novel and more. --Joanne Wilkinson --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: Harper; Reprint edition (November 24, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0061556157
• ISBN-13: 978-0061556159
• Product Dimensions: 7 x 4 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #392,223 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

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Topnotch quality you expect from this storyteller, December 1, 2008

By 

Armchair Interviews (Minneapolis, MN) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Born to Run: A Novel of Suspense (Jack Swyteck) (Hardcover)

Gripando has created a page turner that will grip you from the opening line to the final chapter in this legal thriller.

Jack Swyteck, criminal defense attorney, is sucked into his most dangerous, convoluted case yet. A Greek is thrown off a roof in Cyprus, his wife is raped - and thirty years later it leads to the Vice President of the United States dying while hunting alligators in the Florida Everglades.

Overnight Jack's dad, retired Florida Governor Harry Swyteck, is thrust into the limelight as the leading candidate for the VP vacancy. Jack is tapped to be his dad's lead attorney to shepherd him through the confirmation process - only to be fired six hours later. And people keep on dying.

Gripando does a wonderful job of keeping the reader guessing about what's really going on - even as the reader is introduced to a series of legitimate red herrings that could provide reasonable explanations - but don't.

And along the way Jack's investigator, Theo Knight, the convicted murderer who had been on death row that Jack proved was innocent, does his best to cover Jack's back. And FBI agent, Andie Henning, Jack's girlfriend, is constantly faced with challenges about Jack and his involvement in all of this. And all Jack wants to do is go back to his office and handle a simple little criminal case. But if he can't solve this riddle, he'll die from trying. There are forces at work that guarantee it.

Well done, as usual--all and more that we expect from James Grippando. This is his sixteenth book and eighth in the popular series featuring Miami lawyer Jack Swyteck. The author writes legal thrillers learned while he was a trial lawyer. This is where he learned his storytelling gift.

Armchair Interviews says: Grippando is an ingenious storyteller.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A COMPLEX, COMPELLING THRILLER, December 13, 2008

By 

Gail Cooke (TX, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Born to Run: A Novel of Suspense (Jack Swyteck) (Hardcover)

"Run" is indeed the operative word in this intense page-turner by top flight thriller writer James Grippando. Although born in Cyprus a man is called the Greek, and he is running from enemies who would take pleasure in killing him, preferably slowly. The current president of the United States ran for his office, won it, and will do anything to keep it. How the two intersect is sizzling reading.

A former trial lawyer himself Grippando has imbued his stalwart series lead, Jack Swyteck, with all the on-target attributes that make Swyteck one of the most believable protagonists in print. Add some very human characteristics and you have a likable, affecting character with whom readers identify. Those who wait for another Jack Swyteck adventure will be both pleased and surprised with what they find in Born To Run.

Grippando opens with a grabber - the Greek has been married to Sofia for but 11 months when their apartment was broken into by Sicilian thugs. The Greek fled, running through alleys, and to a rooftop six stories up with nowhere else to turn. He was caught and thrown, "He didn't hear himself scream, or the Sicilians laughing, as his body collided with the cobblestone below."

Skip to the Florida Everglades some 46 years later where Vice-President Phil Grayson is hunting alligators. But, he tumbled from his boat, "...headfirst into the marsh." As he sank into the muck, the pain became too much. "His body became stiff and unresponsive. His only choice it seemed, was to respect nature, to become one with black water, to be the third and weakest leg in a bizarre and deadly triangle. One angry gator. Untold pythons."

Harry Swyteck, Jack's father and a two-time Florida governor, is asked to be the new Vice-President. Looking ahead to his confirmation hearings he asks Jack to be his lawyer. Not about to turn his Dad down, Jack accepts only to find that Washington, D.C. is not all like the Miami playing field with which he's so familiar. It's darker and deadlier than he could have ever imagined.

Grippando has pulled out all the stops in Born To Run, and in an election year at that. It's a complex, complete thriller that races to a humdinger of a conclusion.

- Gail Cooke

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars "This story would rock the White House to its political core.",, December 9, 2008

By 

E. Bukowsky "booklover10" (NY United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Born to Run: A Novel of Suspense (Jack Swyteck) (Hardcover)

In James Grippando's "Born to Run," forty-year old Miami attorney Jack Swyteck is a nice guy with a conscience, whose relationship with his father has always been a bit rocky. His personal life is also on shaky ground since he is ambivalent about making a permanent commitment to his girlfriend, FBI agent Andie Henning. Jack's dad, former Florida governor Harry Swytek, finds himself in the hot seat when the President of the United States asks him to step in as vice president after Phil Grayson, who preceded him, dies unexpectedly. When Jack gets wind of the possibility that Grayson's death may not have been an accident or the result of natural causes, he decides to launch his own investigation. Jack, his best friend, Theo Knight, an African-American who teases him unmercifully, and Jack's main squeeze, Andie, all risk their lives in a confrontation with some desperate and sadistic men.

"Born to Run" is a paint-by-numbers thriller in which cartoon characters go through their predictable paces. Several individuals take ridiculous risks--the reader wants to shake them for being so stupid--and unsurprisingly end up dead. What secret is so explosive that divulging it would cause a huge political scandal? Anyone who cannot figure out the answer to this question at the halfway point is either not paying attention or has failed to absorb the conventions of formulaic suspense novels.

The dialogue is stilted and cutesy and the book has not an ounce of realism. Grippando has written a purely escapist tale featuring thuggish, one-dimensional villains with hair-trigger tempers and a penchant for mindless violence. After much turmoil, including the usual chase scenes, shooting sprees, and a hostage situation, the whole mess comes to its inevitable conclusion. All in all, this is not one of Grippando's most accomplished works.