Yeah Me! After a fairly long time for me I finally finished a book. The Right to Remain is the 20th book in the Jack Swyteck series from James Grippando, and like the first 19 books, it was a great read. I actually had checked the book out of the library when it first came out. However, it went back unread. I rechecked it out again a few weeks ago and I’m glad I did.
With Jack Swyteck from Beyond Suspicion to The Right to Remain
My first encounter with Jack Swyteck was in 2005 when I read Beyond Suspicion, the second book in the series. I quickly went out and read the first book, The Pardon. Then for some unexplained reason (can you say too many books, too little time?) I set them aside. Another explanation was that between 2006 and 2012 I had a lot of personal family responsibilities that kept me busy.
I started reading the series again with A Death in Live Oak (Jack Swyteck #14), and I haven’t missed one since. Additionally, in 2022 I read book #5 in the series, Got the Look. The bottom line is I like this series a lot!
The Right to Remain – A Multi-Layered Mystery Thriller
What would you do if you were an attorney and your client chooses to invoke his right to remain silent and stops talking totally? He won’t even speak to Jack! That’s the dilemma Jack faces in The Right to Remain.
The story revolves around a trans man, Elliott Stoddard, who comes to Jack when he is summoned to testify in a Grand Jury indictment case. Jack soon learns that the person indicted is Elliott for the murder of his boss, Owen Pollard. So Jack has a tough mission to save his client when it appears that he doesn’t even want to save himself!
As always, Grippando weaves in a little of the friction that exists in Jack’s life. The friction arises from the fact that Jack’s wife Andi is an FBI agent and Jack is a top-tier defense lawyer in Miami. Consequently, they can’t talk over their cases with each other—a problem that has almost split them apart in the past.
The Bottom Line
The bottom line is The Right to Remain is another strong installment in a series that continues to get better and better. It has everything you could want in a series: great stories with strong lead characters who are fully developed and actually people you can root for!
The book can be read as a standalone. However, like many long-running series, it’s that much better when you know the characters and their history.
While I wait for the publication of James’s 2027 novel…
Here are two Grippando novels on my TBR shelves:
A Most Dangerous Place (Jack Swyteck #13)
