Customer Reviews

Got the Look CD (Grippando, James)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
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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

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.

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.

I have never been disappointed in a book by James Grippando. His writing is excellent. When I finish reading, I donate the book to the library and they are always thrilled to get a book authored by him.

Gifted with a strong, hard to ignore voice, performer Jonathan Davis breathes life into uber attorney Jack Swyteck as his narration bounces from humor to dead-on earnest with ease. Swyteck's buddy, Theo, also benefits from the interpretation by Davis as Theo tweaks his pal for being crazy in love or comes face to face with the danger they're in.

In this, the fifth Jack Swyteck novel, we find ourselves once again in South Florida.where Andie Henning, an FBI agent, is desperately trying to reel in a vicious kidnapper. The grabber is bold enough to kidnap the wife of a wealthy horse breeder - little sense in coming up with ransom as the woman is soon dead.

Time for Swyteck to be on the scene. Tracking a serial kidnapper isn't his prime concern at the moment - that position is reserved for Mia Salazar, who has captured his heart and mind. But, when Mia is kidnaped the heat is on.

Unfortunately, Swyteck is in for a bit of a jolt when he finds out that his one-and-only isn't. She's married to a very rich man who is not interested in ponying up for a wife who has been playing around with Swyteck. Nonetheless, trick or not Swyteck doesn't want to see Mia dead so he teams with Andie to track the crazy kidnaper.

The scenes that take place while Mia is being held captive are especially chilling, and Grippando paints them well.

- Gail Cooke