Twenty

A Jack Swyteck Novel

By: James Grippando

Narrated by: Jonathan Davis

Length: 11 hrs and 39 mins

Publisher's summary

Jack Swyteck and his family are caught in the crossfire after a deadly school shooting claims 20 casualties - Florida’s fifth mass shooting in as many years - in this provocative and timely thriller from Harper Lee Prize winner James Grippando that touches on some of the most contentious issues roiling America today.

It is the message every parent of a school-age child fears: "Active Shooter on Campus."

Jack Swyteck is at his office when he receives the emergency text from Riverside Day School. Both his daughter, Righley, and his wife, FBI agent Andie Henning, are in danger. Andie is in the school’s rec center when she hears the fire alarms, then loud popping noises and screams coming from the hallway. A trained law-enforcement officer, Andie knows she’s supposed to stay locked down inside the room. But Righley is in her kindergarten classroom, and Andie must get her to safety.

The tragedy prompts mass hysteria - and dangerous speculation. The police haven’t identified the shooter, but they find a handgun on the school grounds registered to a parent, a Muslim man named Amir Khoury. News of the gun and its owner leaks and quickly goes viral. Within minutes, Al Qaeda claims responsibility. Andie is shocked - Amir is married to her friend, Lilly, a WASP whose bloodline goes back to the American Revolution.

When Xavier, Amir and Lilly’s oldest child and an 18-year-old senior at Riverside, confesses to the crime, the local community’s anti-Muslim fervor explodes to levels unseen since 9/11. Terrified for her son’s life, Lilly asks Jack to step in. A seasoned defense attorney with a passion to see justice done, he’s taken on plenty of complicated cases. Xavier’s, however, is not one he’s inclined to take - until an old friend who lost his daughter in the shooting tells him that he must.

With the public calling for blood and prosecutors confident their case is air tight, Jack must unearth the Khourys’ family secrets in order to expose the shocking truth and save his client from certain death. But he may not be able to save everyone - including himself.

©2021 James Grippando (P)2021 HarperCollins Publishers

Greatly enjoyed

The pace was well set. I was invested in the characters and I thought the end was good.

Very engrossing!

Great storyline. Very pertinent for our times. I felt it was well presented without prejudice.

Great Read

Loved it! Couldn't put it down. Kept me engaged until the very end and even then I wanted more.

A thrill ride’

Twists and turns Grippando style with twin towers thrown in and Davis’ narration make this a winner. A must for multiple reads!

Highly recommended

I love this series. Looking forward for more to come. This series is the best of all his books

Fast paced legal thriller...

TWENTY is the 17th book in Grippando’s Jack Swyteck series. Although this book can be listened to as a standalone, I think it’s more enjoyable when listened to as part of the series. There are continuing relationships that develop from one book to the next. ................ In this book Jack drops off his wife Andie (an FBI agent) along with his daughter at school. His wife is not allowed to carry her gun onto school grounds and leaves it in the car. Later that morning there is a school shooting and Andie finds herself armed with only a fire extinguisher. When an 18 year old Muslim student is charged with the crime of murdering 13 and injuring 7, Jack Swyteck takes the case. With mounting evidence against his client Swyteck finds inconsistencies that could mean that he didn’t commit the crime. ............:.. This is a fast paced legal thriller that has my HIGHEST RECOMMENDATION. ................ Jonathan Davis does a wonderful job narrating. ................ If you found this review helpful please indicate so. ............... Thank You.

Like the series

A good legal thriller. Interesting premise. Thought it might go in a different direction. Like that it kept me guessing.

Might be his best ever.

I've read or heard them all. Jonathan Davis is a great performer as well. Great work.

It was good

Good but kinda slow at the beginning. Lots of characters to try to follow who's who. Narrarator was kind of off putting but he does accents well.

His best yet!

Wow! How do you top this one? I didn’t see any of it coming. The play on the name was brilliant. I was wrong about the meaning for most of the book. So how will James Grippando top this one? I’m excited to find out! Sad it’ll be a year at least before the next book! Grippando is hands down my favorite legal suspense/thriller author of all time.