A Death in Live Oak

A Jack Swyteck Novel

By: James Grippando

Narrated by: Jonathan Davis

From the 2017 winner of the Harper Lee Prize for legal fiction comes a powerful and timely story of race, politics, injustice, and murder as shocking and incendiary as today's headlines.

When the body of Jamal Cousin, president of the pre-eminent black fraternity at the Florida's flagship university, is discovered hogtied in the Stygian water swamps of the Suwanee River Valley, the death sets off a firestorm that threatens to rage out of control when a fellow student, Mark Towson, the president of a prominent white fraternity, is accused of the crime.

Contending with rising political tensions, racial unrest, and a sensational media, Townson's defense attorney, Jack Swyteck, knows that the stakes could not be higher - inside or outside the old Suwanee County Couthouse. The evidence against his client, which includes a threatening text message referencing "strange fruit" on the river, seems overwhelming. Then Jack gets a break that could turn the case. Jamal's gruesome murder bears disturbing similarities to another lynching that occurred back in the Jim Crow days of 1944. Are the chilling parallels purely coincidental? With a community in chaos and a young man's life in jeopardy, Jack will use every resource to find out.

As he navigates each twist and turn of the search, Jack becomes increasingly convinced that his client may himself be the victim of a criminal plan more sinister than the case presented by the state attorney. Risking his own reputation, this principled man who has devoted his life to the law plunges headfirst into the darkest recesses of the South's past, and its murky present, to uncover answers.

For Jack, it's about the truth. Traversing time, from the days of strict segregation to the present, he'll find it - no matter what the cost - and bring much-needed justice to Suwanee County.

©2018 James Grippando (P)2010 HarperCollins Publishers

MUST READ!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

AWESOME PERFORMANCE!!! KEPT ME WANTING TO HEAR MORE. I WOULD HIGHLY RECOMMEND LISTENING TO THIS BOOK

Well done

Very well done story. The narrator is great and the racial tension keeps you interested.

One of his best...

One of his best... great writhing and great narration. great combination of writer and narrator.

Excellent

I never tire of Jack Swyteck. Mr. Grippando is an author you will get hooked on!

a very good read about my town .

I truly enjoyed this !! I love the town specifics and accuracy . This is a good book for anyone interested in criminal stories

Excellent legal thriller

If you are a fan of John Grisham’s Jake Brigance series you should give this a try. It is in a familiar vein. Jonathan Davis does an excellent narration and I found it hard to put down. I will be continuing the series for sure.

Edge of the Seat

A story of unspeakable brutality. Still, there was at least partial redemption. A legal thriller.

Much truth in fiction...

I spent my first 18 years living in Jacksonville, Fl. The story in this book does not surprise me at all, even after 38 years. When I went to school there was segregation, that wasn't working so well. Then they tried integration, that didn't work so well either. If you were black (I wasn't) or Jewish (I was) you had a problem in a city that was very racist and in the good old southern Bible Belt, anti Semitic. I moved north.
I could see this story taking place in Live Oaks, it's barely a speck on a map, very small town. It's the kind of place you drive through and didn't know you were there. Progressive thinking does not come easily in places like that. Unfortunately with out much outside influence, bigotry is generational.
Anyway, I really like some of Grippando's stand alone books and have looked at the Jack Swyteck books many times. The reviews are so mixed I always change my mind. After this book I will be getting the rest of the series.
Jonathan Davis does an excellent job narrating.
Outstanding book with a twisted ending, HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
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Thank You.

He Let The Tears Come.....

This is another well written, interest-holding Jack Swyteck story. The Publisher's Summary is a very good synopsis. I won't reiterate here but only to emphasize that it is a very timely, incendiary story of race, politics, injustice, and murder.

The story has many twists and turns with just a few flashbacks which add to the ease of following the storyline as the plot thickens. The great court room drama stirs the pot and adds more seasoning to the thickening plot. So far I've listen to six of the Swyteck series and this may be Gippando's best yet. I listened at every opportunity and couldn't wait to get back to the story and I didn't have to rewind once because of unclear words or to recall the story from where I shut it down at my last listen.

Jonathan Davis is one of my favorite narrators. He voice range provides very good individualized voices for most everybody in the novel. So far, I have not been disappointed by Gippando or Davis.

OUTSTANDING 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

Absolutely outstanding! This is cliche but I wish I had more than 5 stars to give.