Twenty
A Jack Swyteck Novel
Published on 1. April 2021
Book
Hardback
384 pages
978-0-06-291508-5 (ISBN)
Description
Jack Swyteck and his family are caught in the crossfire after a deadly school shooting claims twenty 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 eighteen-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.
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 eighteen-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.
Reviews / Votes
"Both a thrilling page-turner and a story about love, family, and survival." - The Big Thrill on THE GIRL IN THE GLASS BOX"Scintillating and seductive . . . The Big Lie is one of those rare political thrillers destined to join the likes of Fletcher Kneble'sSeven Days in May and Allen Drury'sAdvise and Consentin becoming a modern-day classic." - Providence Journal on THE BIG LIE
"The Swyteck novels have always incorporated complex, sometimes controversial, subjects and this one tackles a tragically hot topic. . . . Grippando doesn't sensationalize the issue. He presents an evenhanded, intelligent discussion structured, of course, around a smartly plotted mystery." - Booklist
"Chilling . . . Grippando leads Twenty through a complex plot that maintains its sense of realism until the surprising finale." - South Florida Sun Sentinel
"James Grippando's taut and briskly paced story grips the reader from the opening chapter and then keeps them close as Jack Swyteck and his associates race to uncover the forces bent on keeping the truth of the tragedy hidden. Twenty is a highly addictive novel and it is impossible to put down." - Mystery Scene
"There's a reason that James Grippando is a New York Times bestselling author and the recipient of the Harper Lee Prize for Legal Fiction. . . . Twenty certainly works well as a stand-alone title, but it also will inspire readers to delve into Grippando's backlist, so be prepared." - Book Reporter
"What begins as a thriller and then moves into a legal novel, devolves into a full-blown espionage story that calls to mind the work of Brad Thor, among others . . . When the significance of the number twenty is finally revealed it will send chills down your spine and you will soon realize that this is unlike any other Jack Swyteck novel to date." - CriminalElement.com
"Tackling racism, white supremacists, and a generations-old lynching, the book is admirably heartfelt and humane." - Kirkus Reviews on A Death in Live Oak
"James Grippando's skill with suspenseful plots that tightly hold their believable secrets, revealing themselves bit by bit, ratchets up another level in the gripping Gone Again." - Dallas Morning News on Gone Again
"The story starts off strong and never lets up. It builds up to a great climax." - Red Carpet Crash on Twenty
"The action heats up to inferno proportions. Hold on to your seats. . . . Fans of Grippando and of legal thrillers will not be disappointed." - Library Journal
"Twenty is an excellent legal thriller by an experienced hand at storytelling . . . It's still only January, but it looks as though James Grippando may have offered us one of the best thrillers of 2021." - New York Journal of Books
More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
New York
United States
Publishing group
HarperCollins Publishers Inc
Dimensions
Height: 229 mm
Width: 152 mm
Thickness: 31 mm
Weight
535 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-06-291508-5 (9780062915085)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
E-Book
01/2021
1st Edition
HarperCollins
from
€8.99
Available for download
Person
James Grippando is a New York Times bestselling author with more than thirty books to his credit, including those in his acclaimed series featuring Miami criminal defense attorney Jack Swyteck, and is the winner of the Harper Lee Prize for Legal Fiction. He is also a trial lawyer and teaches law and literature at the University of Miami School of Law. He lives and writes in South Florida.