Got the Look (Jack Swyteck Series #5) » (Reprint)

As the old cliché goes, write what you know. Former lawyer James Grippando has certainly taken this bit of wisdom to heart with his mega-successful courtroom thrillers, many of them starring Miami defense attorney Jack Swyteck. Time and again, this bestselling author has proven that he not only knows the law but he knows how to conjure an expertly paced tale of suspense.

From bestselling author James Grippando comes the newest Jack Swyteck thriller, in a series that critics have called "riveting," "a winner," and "lapel grabbing." In Got the Look, Swyteck is up against a killer who's so fiendishly clever and diabolical that even Jack may have at last met his match.

FBI agent Andie Henning is tracking a ruthless kidnapper plaguing south Florida, one who's out to prove that all human life can be valued in dollars and cents. But at every turn, he has slipped through her net. This time he's taken the wife of one of the state's richest horse breeders and is asking a ransom of $1 million. The stakes go up when Andie finds the woman — dead.

Enter Jack Swyteck. He has a new girlfriend, Mia, and life is good — until she goes missing. Then Jack gets a one-two punch: he discovers that his lover is married, and her rich husband receives a ransom demand that pegs Mia as the kidnapper's latest victim. Worst of all, her husband knows all about the affair with Jack, and he decides to pay the kidnapper exactly what his cheating wife is worth: nothing. Feeling deceived, Jack at first resists getting involved. But as secrets unfold about Mia's strange marriage and mysterious past, Jack is in for a twisty ride that may bring him face-to-face with a madman.

Publishers Weekly

Attorney Jack Swyteck and his jazz musician sidekick Theo Knight josh, joke and kid, but unfortunately the case they're working-the kidnapping of Jack's girlfriend by a sadistic murderer-doesn't lend itself to humor. The disconnect of monkeyshines versus the grim, detailed torture of a helpless woman cripples this thinly plotted, disappointing thriller set in Grippando's familiar South Florida. The girlfriend in question, the gorgeous Mia Salazar, turns out to be (unknown to Jack) married. After she's been seized, her betrayed husband makes it clear that he has no interest in paying any significant ransom. This duty then falls to Jack, who, working with FBI agent Andie Henning (reprised from Under Cover of Darkness), frantically tries to find Mia. Though Jack and Andie are the proverbial oil and water, the results of this pairing are entirely predictable. And when the kidnapper is finally revealed, his identity is as unbelievable as the tortured reasoning that attempts to connect the many disparate plot elements. The chase scene at the end lends some much-needed firepower, but it's too little too late for anyone but the most diehard Grippando fan. (On sale Jan. 3) Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.