The Big Lie

A Jack Swyteck Novel

By: James Grippando

Narrated by: Jonathan Davis

Length: 11 hrs and 22 mins

Publisher's summary

As the Electoral College battle for the White House lands in a Florida courtroom, Miami attorney Jack Swyteck has never felt farther from the truth, fighting for a faithless elector, caught between a corrupt president and his manipulative opponent - with each revelation more explosive than the next.

The country is reeling. For the sixth time in American history, the winner of the popular vote will not occupy the Oval Office. President Malcolm MacLeod, the Machiavellian incumbent, was spared from impeachment only because his political foes were certain they would oust him at the ballot box. Now, he appears to have secured a second term, thanks to a narrow victory in the Electoral College.

His opponent, Florida Senator Evan Stahl, saw his campaign rocked by allegations of an extramarital affair - with another man. Despite the salacious headline-making scandal and the surrounding media frenzy, most Americans chose Stahl to lead the politically polarized nation. But Stahl is refusing to concede. Backed by millions of supporters, he looks to individual members of the Electoral College to cross party lines.

Gun lobbyist Charlotte Holmes is one of Floridas 29 electors who is bound by law and by oath to cast her vote for MacLeod, who won Florida by the thinnest of margins. When Charlotte announces that she intends to vote her conscience and throw the Electoral College to Stahl, the president and his Florida machine haul her into court on felony charges - which, for some, isn't nearly punishment enough.

Miami attorney Jack Swyteck is going to use every legal maneuver he can to keep his new client free - and alive. MacLeod's hand-picked prosecutor is determined to prove Charlotte is unfit to cast a vote. Dredging through her past, he's looking for skeletons to humiliate and discredit her, while others with far deadlier intentions have begun acting on their threats.

As the pressure mounts, Charlotte and Jack must decide how far they'll go to stand their ground in the stand-your-ground state.

©2020 James Grippando (P)2020 HarperAudio

Thinly veiled political hit that didn't have to be

When I want to read/listen to a novel, I want it to be just that. I don't want it to be a political hit on ANY political party or ideology. This would be an absolute 5 star book if the writer had just stuck to HIS story.

We have a chosen elector in a presidential race who is bothered by the fact that one presidential candidate has won the electoral college, but his opponent has won the popular vote. Furthermore, even though she has sworn an oath to vote for the Republican candidate, the elector has lost faith in that candidate. She announces that she will vote for the other candidate - which would give the loss to the incumbent.

The popular vote candidate is the incumbent who was only spared impeachment because the election was close and the liberal party figured they'd just get him at the ballot box. The incumbent is trailing badly until a salacious story breaks about the his opponent and the suggestion that he might be gay. The incumbent squeaks by with the majority of electoral votes. It's suggested this was so because of the salacious story that no one even knows if actually true.

SO you can see, this WOULD be an interesting story, except for the fact that the writer assigns very identifying characteristics to President Trump, his perchance to tan, supposed loss of the popular vote in 2016, the Republican candidate, his name calling, possible impeachment (which in real life the Democrats went through because they couldn't beat him at the ballot box) but the author can't even admit that! Not all the characteristics identified are even true of the President, but a large majority of these characteristics the author assigns are ones that have been bandied about in today's media as being true. No one can doubt who the author has targeted as the "bad guy".

The narration is great, the characters are interesting and of course the story is very plausible and something that was discussed after the fateful loss by Democrats in 2016 - could they get enough electors to switch from their sworn duty in order to "do what was right" in the minds of liberals.

Some reviewers contend the book is not political, they are fudging. It is VERY political when you have one political character so identifiable for all the wrong reasons but none of the good qualities are presented; trust me, the incumbent doesn't have a nice bone in his body, does not care about his country and basically is an imbecile.

I'm just SO disappointed that the author chose to make his character with the identifying factors of a real person. And why is it that authors keep choosing the Republican/Conservative candidate to be the bad guy? Does it really make any difference which party is which? So yes, we know what the author thinks of President Trump - but I didn't pay for his book to hear HIS opinion. Credit back please!

The best of Jack Syteck

loved this novel. it will keep yuh out guessing till the end. expert narrative as usual.

Very bold choice!

This is a controversial topic. Read the printers summary before you buy. It’s more political than many might be comfortable with. On the hand, it’s funny as heck if politics don’t bother you. And as usual, it’s very well written. James Grippando is an amazing author. This one won’t disappoint if you can get past the politics.

Great story!

Grippando’s books just keep getting better and better! This won’t disappoint. Great story line, especially given the political times we live in.

Solid

Just getting to know Jack so don’t love him unconditionally yet. Not sure if I ever will but I do like him enough to listen to another book or two. Solid characters, some quite interesting. I recommend.

Outstanding legal/ political thriller!

Several Audible and Amazon reviews lead one to assume that THE BIG LIE has a positive Democrat political bias at the expense of Republicans. Reading through to the end leads one to learn the bias is against politicians of both major political parties. It is true that President McLeod has some of the more unsavory Trump personality characteristics but in the end the Democrat candidate for president is a worse person than McLeod/Trump. As a strong Republican during my entire adult life I was not offended by the political aspects of this novel nor do I believe it is particularly partisan. I find myself being thankful every day that Trump rather than Clinton is president even as I marvel at Thump's over-the-top need for having his ego stroked.

At its heart The Big Lie is mostly about the issue of the faithless electoral college elector. In order to keep President McLeod from being reelected the Democrats need to convince only six McLeod electors nationwide to change their votes in order to elect their candidate. One such Florida Republican elector named Charlotte has already committed to do just that. This novel is catalogs the opposing parties efforts to facilitate her or block her becoming a faithless elector. There is literally no limit to what each side was willing to do to assure a favorable outcome from their perspective. Politics as practiced in this novel is a blood sport.

The Big Lie is a great addition to the Jack Swytek series. Jonathan Davis narrates superbly as always.

Love the subtle and not so subtle politis

I really like this author. He always weaves a complex plot into the story and keeps it believable. He also often adds subtle political commentary which grnerally leans progressive , and matches my thinking. This particular story is funny in its accurate portrayal of the former President. All the books I have read by this author are extremely well narrated.

He does it again.

James Grippando is an intelligent, knowledgeable writer who chose a theme (hence the title) that parallels accurately our current political dynamics. This book can serve as a reminder of what and who went wrong in our political and social world.

Good storyline but...

Jonathan Davis was fantastic as always. The storyline thriller/mystery was great as usual. That being said, i have grown weary of authors basing characters on President Trump and mocking him and using ridiculous characteristics to portray the President. If you support the President then this book will irritate you to no end. If you still harbor hate for the president and believe all the crap from the main stream media then you will love this book.

I have many of Grippando’s titles in my library but going forward, I will be more cautious before purchasing more.

Very political

The story was well written as is most of Grippando’s books. I don’t think it was one of his best, but I enjoyed it. The book has a President Trump character and makes it out to be really bad. If you love a Trump, you will not like the book. If you hate Trump, you will probably love it. If you’re like me and you understand it’s a book and not a real person, you will enjoy the story.