Got the Look CD (Grippando, James) [Abridged, Audiobook] [Audio CD]

James Grippando (Author), Jonathan Davis (Reader)

Editorial Reviews

From AudioFile

The best audio performances are the ones that make you forget you're listening to a recording--the ones that take you there. Jonathan Davis is that smooth in this murder mystery, whether he's depicting males or females . . . whites, blacks, Latinos, Southerners, Yankees . . . or the dark villain who forces loved ones to attach a monetary value to the lives of his kidnapped and tortured victims. When Davis reads hero Theo Knight's lines, you feel the presence of a burly, jovial black man. When he depicts white detective Jack Swyteck, you feel the leading man's pain at losing his lover to a perverted madman. Grippando and Davis, stick together. You're a great dramatic team. D.J.M. © AudioFile 2006, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine

Product Details

• Audio CD
• Publisher: HarperAudio; Abridged edition (January 3, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060852836
• ISBN-13: 978-0060852832
• Product Dimensions: 5.8 x 5.2 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 0.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,340,393 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

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Worth a Listen!, May 15, 2007

By 

Jessica Teel (Hawaii) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Got the Look CD (Grippando, James) (Audio CD)

Got the Look is the fifth installment in the Jack Swyteck series by thriller/mystery author James Grippando. This book delivers suspense and thrills as Swyteck hunts down a kidnapper who stashes his victims alive in underwater caves throughout Southern Florida.

Swyteck's girlfriend Mia becomes the latest victim of the story's villain. It is only through her disappearance that Jack learns that Mia is married - to a millionaire, and that like the other kidnappings this one is motivated by money. Having learned of the affair, Mia's husband refuses to pay the ransom and Jack is forced to find the killer, or lose the woman he has conflicted affections for. While this romance plays a central part in the novel, it isn't distracting. So many affairs seem forced, and thrown into thrillers and mysteries just for the sake of including a bit of romance. But Jack's relationship with Mia works - a testimony to Grippando's ability to weave an entirely engaging story without resorting to stock plots or disconnected sex scenes.

Got the Look is an audiobook that you won't want to turn off. Reader Jonathon Davis does a great job portraying the book's diverse characters.

-J. Monthony

3.0 out of 5 stars Tense thriller, November 17, 2009

By 

BermudaOnion (South Carolina) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Got the Look CD (Grippando, James) (Audio CD)

Andie Henning is the FBI agent in charge of investigating a string of strange kidnappings. The kidnapper's ransom notes always instruct the husbands not to contact the police and to "pay what she's worth." If the kidnapper deems that the amount paid isn't what she's worth, the victim is killed.

In the meantime, things seem to be going Jack Swyteck 's way - he's an up-and-coming lawyer and he's got a gorgeous new girlfriend, Mia. Mia goes missing and Jack finds out that not only is she married but that her husband has gotten a ransom note from the kidnapper.

When Andie and Mia's husband get Jack involved in getting Mia back, he discovers that Mia's life is full of secrets he could never have imagined.

I listened to the audio version of GOT THE LOOK by James Grippando. It's read by Jonathan Davis and he does a great job, using different voices and accents for different characters in the book. As I started the audio book, the story seemed very familiar to me, but I could never figure out why. I thought maybe it had been made into a movie. I decided to do a little research before I wrote this and I discovered that this is the fifth book in the Jack Swyteck series. (As far as I can tell it's never been a movie, though.) I haven't read any of the previous books but that didn't hamper my enjoyment of this one at all. Got the Look is full of twists, turns and tension that kept me engrossed from the beginning to the end. There is some language and a little bit of sexual situations, but I think readers who enjoy thrillers will like this one.

2.0 out of 5 stars Subpar Offering, February 6, 2009

By 

B. Hughes "The Narrator" (Las Cruces, NM) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Got the Look CD (Grippando, James) (Audio CD)

I just have a different take on this I guess. I generally like the other books by this author that I've read. This one was really bogged down by what I thought were some ridiculous, cliched descriptions. The author's prose was more overheated than chicken noodle soup left in the microwave for an hour (if you see the point I'm trying to make). Descriptions of characters' interior life were often arbitrary and I didn't feel there was a basis for their actions at times. When the identity of the kidnapper was revealed, I thought it made no sense and the foundation was not there; again arbitrary and a bit of a narrative cheat.

I wouldn't want to try to do all the varied characters voices, that having been said, I thought the reading did the author no favors. Too many of the voices were rather "over the top" in terms of accents.

Overall, a frustrating experience. I managed to hang on because I wanted to see what ultimately happened.