The Pardon Written by James Grippando

Raul Fernandez is on death row in Florida due to be executed in a few days. Jack Swyteck, the son of Governor Harry Swyteck, has begged his father to stop the execution stating that the prisoner was not guilty. The governor refuses to stop the execution, only lengthening the bitterness between the father and son. The ironic part is that Jack was the defense attorney for Fernandez during the trial but now feels he was wrong and the authorities had the wrong man. When Fernandez is executed, Jack starts his investigation to find the real killer.

Two years later Eddie Goss was on trial for brutally murdering a young girl after doing unmentionable things to her. Guess what; Jack Swyteck is Goss’s defense attorney. Jack felt that Goss was guilty as charged but he had to present the best defense possible. Sure enough Goss was found not guilty. Jack had done too good a job of defense. This infuriated the authorities as well as the entire surrounding area. Jack Swyteck was on everyone’s “bad list” and he received threats from many. He didn’t have many friends these days. Even the distance between he and his father widened.

Governor Swyteck was stopped one day while jogging and was told by a man that he had performed the actual killing of the person for which Raul Fernandez had been executed. This started the blackmail that kept the amounts increasing as time went on but the governor had been told that if he told anyone that he was being blackmailed the evidence proving that the governor had executed the wrong man would be made public along with other negative information against the governor. He had to keep his mouth shut. He now knew that his son was correct in trying to save Fernandez but it was far too late.

Jack’s girlfriend, Cindy Paige, was also on the fringe area not knowing whether to stay with Jack or get out of his life with all the strange occurrences. Cindy and her best friend, Gina, had many talks regarding Jack and his emotions since the execution of Fernandez and now the verdict releasing Goss. Neither Jack nor Cindy knew which way to go with their relationship. It was somewhat the same between Jack and his father. The governor did not know which way to turn knowing he had to keep silent or he and his family would be bitterly hurt and his reelection as governor would be almost impossible.

Here I will stop so I don’t give away the many plots, twists, and turns. Believe me you will NOT be disappointed. I had never read any of James Grippando’s books so I did not know what to expect with the story line; good, bad, or indifferent. I was amazingly pleased with the movement and continuity of the story. No dull areas; just a story that kept me turning pages and not wanting to put the book down. I now look forward to reading more of his books hoping they will contain the same type of constant action and movement.

The Pardon Written by James Grippando