Criminal defense lawyer Jack Swyteck uncovers a vast plot in James Grippando's compelling new novel, "Afraid of the Dark."
Swyteck is asked to represent a suspected terrorist held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. He quickly learns that his client, Jamal Wakefield, is wanted for the murder of his girlfriend three years earlier.
The murdered woman was the daughter of the best friend of police officer Vince Paulo, who discovered her after she had been stabbed. With her dying breath, she implicated Jamal in her death. A few seconds later, an explosion destroyed Paulo's eyesight.
Jamal claims to have been tortured for suspected terrorist activities on the night of the murder. As Swyteck investigates, people who seem to have inside information end up dead. His fiancee, who works for the FBI, begs him to back off.
Paulo doesn't want to believe the person responsible for the loss of his eyesight is still free.
Grippando has written a legal thriller that has more twists and turns than a snowy mountain pass. Though Swyteck has been featured in several other terrific thrillers by Grippando, this latest adventure reads like a stand-alone and will not confuse readers new to the character.
"Afraid of the Dark" will have readers embracing this darkness.
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Jeff Ayers is the author of "Voyages of Imagination: The Star Trek Fiction Companion" (Pocket Books, 2006).
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