Miami criminal defense lawyer Jack Swyteck doesn’t exactly have it all, but life’s good. If it weren’t for his best friend, bar owner Theo Knight, Jack would have nothing to worry about. Theo grew up in Miami’s roughest neighborhood. His Uncle Cy tried his best to raise him right, but Theo ended up a teenager on Florida’s death row for a murder he didn’t commit. Jack was the lawyer who proved him innocent. A phone call at 3 a.m. reminds Jack that the past is never that far away. Theo has been ambushed by a punk from the old neighborhood. Up until two hours before, Isaac Reems had been in prison. He’s now a fugitive, and promises that if Theo will help him elude the manhunt, he will name the guy who killed Theo’s momma. Theo’s mother died when he was a boy-brutally murdered. The crime was never solved. It’s clear from the get-go that it wasn’t a lowlife from the old ’hood who slit his mother’s throat. Someone has a very dark secret, one that he will stop at nothing to protect. Jack and Theo’s search will take them right up to the doors of Miami’s elite, but for Theo the danger is personal. Jack’s friend doesn’t want justice. He needs revenge. As the two men draw closer to the truth, the twists and turns along a twenty-year-old trail of evidence seem to point in a direction that chills even Theo.
--This text refers to the
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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.
