Got the Look

The only problem apparent in Grippando's latest is in the writing, not the reading. Nick Sullivan contributes a smooth delivery of a contrived plot and pedestrian dialogue. A serial kidnapper is at work, and his ransom demand is "pay what she's worth." If the ransom payment fails to meet the kidnapper's expectations, the victim is killed. Criminal Defense Lawyer Jack Switeck begins a search for his girlfriend, the latest to be abducted. Sullivan is adept at transforming a story with weak dialogue into a strong presentation. He is at his finest when he's called on to voice the several Latin characters. He has the accents down perfectly. A.L.H. (c) AudioFile 2006, Portland, Maine

November 7, 2005
Attorney Jack Swyteck and his jazz musician sidekick Theo Knight josh, joke and kid, but unfortunately the case they're working—the kidnapping of Jack's girlfriend by a sadistic murderer—doesn't lend itself to humor. The disconnect of monkeyshines versus the grim, detailed torture of a helpless woman cripples this thinly plotted, disappointing thriller set in Grippando's familiar South Florida. The girlfriend in question, the gorgeous Mia Salazar, turns out to be (unknown to Jack) married. After she's been seized, her betrayed husband makes it clear that he has no interest in paying any significant ransom. This duty then falls to Jack, who, working with FBI agent Andie Henning (reprised from Under Cover of Darkness
), frantically tries to find Mia. Though Jack and Andie are the proverbial oil and water, the results of this pairing are entirely predictable. And when the kidnapper is finally revealed, his identity is as unbelievable as the tortured reasoning that attempts to connect the many disparate plot elements. The chase scene at the end lends some much-needed firepower, but it's too little too late for anyone but the most diehard Grippando fan.