Last to Die (Home Repair Is Homicide Mysteries) [MP3 Audio] [Audio CD]

James Grippando (Author), Nick Sullivan (Narrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 2003 | Series: Home Repair Is Homicide Mysteries

In an exciting new series that critics have called "John Grisham meets Robert Ludlum," Miami criminal defense lawyer Jack Swyteck faces his biggest challenge yet.

Tatum Knight is a former contract killer. Ruthless. Conniving. And he's Jack's newest client. Tatum is the older brother of Jack's best friend, Theo. Theo himself spent time on death row until Jack found the evidence to prove him innocent. Jack isn't so sure about Tatum.

A gorgeous young woman has been shot dead in her Mercedes on a Miami street. Tatum denies that he had anything to do with it, but he admits to Jack that he did meet with her in Theo's bar, where she tried to hire him.

Sally Fenning was worth forty-eight million dollars when she died. Money had never made her happy, so she left it all to her enemies—left it for them to fight over, that is. She named six heirs in her will, but there's a catch: No one gets a penny until all but one of the heirs are dead. It's survival of the greediest.

Quickly the lawyers gear up for a bitter legal battle, but Jack braces himself for much worse. He alone knows that heir number six—Tatum Knight—is a professional killer. As the heirs begin to fall, Jack and his unforgettable sidekick, Theo, are in a race against time to discover if Tatum is behind all the killing. Or is someone even more frightening, more dangerous, the odds-on favorite to be the last to die?

From the harrowing first scene through its shocking climax, Last to Die delivers nonstop action and chilling suspense that fans around the world have come to expect from bestselling author James Grippando.

--This text refers to the Mass Market Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Dangle $46 million in front of six people and tell them the last one standing gets it all. From that shopworn yet undeniably tantalizing premise springs Grippando's latest thriller starring Miami attorney Jack Swyteck. The big pot of money comes from wealthy divorcee Sally Fenning, who leaves an enormous estate following her murder. Not only is her death suspicious, the terms of her will are insidiously cunning. None of the six heirs, all people Fenning despised, can collect until all but one has either died or renounced their share of the inheritance. The common denominator is that all were connected to the murder of Fenning's daughter five years earlier. There is Fenning's ex-husband, his divorce attorney, the prosecutor who failed to bring charges against any suspect, the newspaper reporter who wrote about the case and a mystery man who can't be immediately located. Swyteck's client, hitman Tatum Knight, is the only one not connected to the little girl's murder, though his tie to Fenning is odious in its own right: Fenning tried to hire him to kill her, but he steadfastly denies taking the job. As expected, someone starts knocking off heirs. Those who survive are brutally intimidated into dropping their claim on the estate. Swyteck, meanwhile, scrambles to find out who's behind it all while balancing a love affair on the side. Grippando (Beyond Suspicion) handles his eighth thriller, his third featuring Swyteck, with workmanlike dexterity. As a protagonist, Swyteck is likable, yet there is little to distinguish him from the current throng of attorney-heroes: he's white, refined but not prissy, fighting off middle age. Yet his adventures are comfortingly enjoyable. Despite including a pointless trip to Africa's Ivory Coast, Grippando's latest lives up to its promise as a $46-million game of survival.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

In last year's Beyond Suspicion [BKL Jl 02], the attorney-turned-author dusted off Jack Swytek, the lawyer-hero of his first novel, The Pardon (1994), and repositioned him as a series lead. This time Swytek, who last year was accused of murdering his ex-lover, finds himself in another sticky predicament. Seems his partner, the ex-con Theo Knight, has a brother, Tatum, who used to be a contract killer. A woman recently tried to hire Tatum to murder her, or so he is claiming now that she has turned up dead. Tatum has been invited to the reading of her will, and he asks Jack to accompany him. There, they discover the woman has left her fortune, $46 million, to one of six people--whichever is the last one alive. Naturally, the potential beneficiaries promptly start dying, and Jack wonders if his client is a ruthless murderer or the next victim. Grippando, whose best thrillers have been full of imagination and out-of-left-field surprises, looks like he's found a winner in the Swytek series. David Pitt
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Audio CD
• Publisher: Chivers Sound Library; MP3 edition (August 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0792729676
• ISBN-13: 978-0792729679
• Product Dimensions: 6.5 x 6.4 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.5 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (35 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #7,049,368 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

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A good legal thriller, July 5, 2003

By 

Debbie Lee Wesselmann (the Lehigh Valley, PA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Last to Die (Grippando, James) (Hardcover)

Before picking up LAST TO DIE, I had never heard of James Grippando, and I was pleasantly surprised by this smoothly written legal thriller. Jack Swyteck, a Miami defense lawyer, is approached by his best friend Theo to represent his brother Tatum, a one-time contract killer who believes he is going to be implicated in the murder of Sally Fenning. Sally's tragic past has strange implications in what unfolds next: she has left 46 million dollars to six potential beneficiaries, but only the last alive will receive the money. Who is the mysterious sixth beneficiary? Why did Sally leave her money to these six, all of whom appear to be enemies? What connects them? What did Sally hope to achieve? And most pressing of all, who is murdering them one by one?

Jack is a likeable protagonist. He is earnest, intelligent, professional, with a soft spot for kids. He is one of the few legal heroes of the genre who looks at his career as a job and not the driving force of his life. What spurs him onward is his own curiosity. I did object to Jack's treatment of one character (and I can't specify without ruining the plot), a reaction that seemed excessively harsh and unforgiving given the circumstances and Jack's emotional attachment to the character.

Grippando's writing is unobtrusive - not noteworthy but smooth enough to propel the story forward. For a thriller, the suspense does not reach adrenalin-pumping levels, although Grippando kept me interested throughout by his judicious meting out of details. I did lose some interest as Grippando took me to Africa, a portion of the book that reads more like a travelogue than a thriller. However, my main complaint with this novel is the weak ending. It lacks the oomph of a first-rate thriller, although the rest comes close.

This book's undemanding yet exciting premise is perfect for beach or airplane reading, and for anyone desiring pure entertainment. Those who love legal thrillers should definitely add Grippando to their reading lists. I'm looking forward to Grippando's next book.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars (4 1/2) Read This Review - Not The Book Jacket, September 25, 2003

By 

Tucker Andersen (Wall Street) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Last to Die (Grippando, James) (Hardcover)

I was first introduced to the concept of "last to die" by a runaway bestseller titled THE TONTINE which was written by Thomas Costain published as a two volume set in 1955. I read that book at the age of thirteen, and it was a riveting introduction to the magnificent possibilities presented by historical fiction written by a first rate author. The tontine was a type of insurance policy written during the middle ages, and that book not only chronicled with amazing historical sweep the events of that period but convincing demonstrated the concept of "moral hazard" and the perverse incentives involved in such a scheme. (Of course, present day insurers attempt to minimize the moral hazard occasioned in their business, and I believe that tontines are in fact universally illegal.) Meanwhile, the concept has been widely used by mystery writers who slowly kill off their characters and challenge their readers to guess who will be LAST TO DIE.

The scope and goals of the author of this book are much more modest than Costain's but the central premise of the book is the same. If a large enough financial reward is payable to the last surviving member of a group, unexplained and perhaps violent deaths of the group's members will begin to occur within a relatively short period of time. The following brief summary of the plot reveals less of the story than the book jacket, since my advance knowledge of a few of the details mentioned there actually detracted from my enjoyment of watching the plot unfold. In this novel, Sally Fenning, a gorgeous divorcee is shot in her Mercedes on the streets of Miami, and her multimillion dollar estate (the book jacket says $48M, the text says $46M) is left to the last survivor among six apparent strangers with unclear connections to her. One of the potential beneficiaries is Tatum Knight, the brother of the best friend of Miami criminal defense attorney Jack Swytek and now Jack's newest client. Jack not only has to prepare for the legal maneuvering that is sure to ensue, but also try to maintain the secrecy of many details of Tatum's past life from the glare of the media publicity that is sure to evolve.

This is a well written legal/mystery/action story with some surprising plot twists and interesting characters. Jack Swytek and his sidekick Theo Knight have an appealing relationship, but since this is the first book that I have read by this author I cannot comment on how his characters have developed over time. It is a very easy and fast read; I basically finished it on a long weekend without it monopolizing my time. I also enjoyed the occasional philosophical forays and asides and as well as the clever phraseology, e.g the chain link fence that had "razor wire running across the top like a man-eating Slinky".

Despite my enjoyment, there are three reasons why I did not give it a five star rating. The first is minor, there are a few editing and proofreading oversights of the sort that I do not expect in a book from a major publisher. More significantly, after the first murder (or certainly the first two occurred), it seemed highly improbable that such intelligent people as the remaining beneficiaries appeared to be would not taken greater precautions to avoid the obvious danger in which they had been placed. Last, I found the ending rather abrupt and contrived and not up to the quality of the remainder of the book. It seemed as if the author decided that the script has achieved its desired length and the storyline had been plumbed sufficiently so that it was just time to tie up all the loose ends and go home. Unfortunately, it left me with a slight feeling of anti-climax. But I do want to emphasize that my rating reflects the fact that I enjoyed the book and recommend it enthusiastically. I just felt that the promise of the plot was not completely fulfilled.

Tucker Andersen

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Memorable and Clever Thriller, July 18, 2003

By 

Bookreporter (New York, New York) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Last to Die (Grippando, James) (Hardcover)

"Be careful what you wish for."

The above quote could well be the theme statement for James Grippando's newest thriller, LAST TO DIE. Miami criminal attorney Jack Swyteck is asked to represent his best friend's older brother, Tatum Knight, a former hit man. Swyteck was successful in getting Theo Knight released from death row, serving time for a murder he did not commit.

A beautiful woman named Sally Fenning, who is worth millions of dollars, has tried to hire Tatum to kill her. He refuses her offer, but she soon turns up dead. Tatum is called to the dead woman's attorney's office for a meeting but wants to have his own attorney present. Swyteck accompanies him to a reading of Sally's will. The reading of this document is a life-altering event for those involved.

One of six persons named in the will is going to inherit $46 million. The catch is that the recipient will be the last one of them still living. The unlikely beneficiaries include a former husband, divorce lawyer, female crime reporter, assistant district attorney, Tatum, and a mysterious no-show at the reading named Alan Sirap. Throughout, Grippando develops the cast with believable motives and personalities. Each has a history with the deceased woman that indicates more reason for her hatred than the benefit of her generosity.

Swyteck's involvement takes him from Miami to Africa, where he meets Sally's sister Rene, a medical doctor as beautiful as her dead sibling. His near-romantic entanglements become complicated when he dates a law assistant and mother of his "little brother" Nate. The friendship is threatened when Kelsey divulges information from Swyteck's investigation to determine the guilt or innocence of his client in Sally's death.

One by one, the possible beneficiaries are murdered. Violence, bloodshed and death haunt the remaining ones enough to form alliances to protect themselves and their claims to the inheritance. When clues hint that Tatum is not whitewashed from blame, Swyteck is determined to find the remaining Alan Sirap.

LAST TO DIE is a clever rendering of motives, crimes both past and present, and a shocking resolution to the question of who will receive the millions. Courtroom drama is alive with wit and humor in the scenes when bumbling Gerry Colletti seeks a restraining order against Tatum. Grippando depicts Theo with humor as well and involves his audience with his characters as they wheel and deal their paths to conclusion. Swyteck is as real as the odd assortment he cohabits with on the page.

LAST TO DIE will have a place with most memorable thrillers. I highly recommend it for one who enjoys a great mystery.

--- Reviewed by Judy Gigstad