When Darkness Falls
by James Grippando
Published by HarperCollins
Click on book
cover to order
at Amazon.com
Reviewed by Andrea Sisco
I came late to James Grippando's novels. My first was Got The Look and since then, I've been devouring his earlier works.
Jack Swyteck is a Miami, Florida attorney who is hired to defend a homeless man who calls himself Falcon. Falcon lives in his car, doesn't seem to have a job, yet he has enough cash on hand to bail himself out of jail. And there seems to be more where that came from.
Straddled on top of the William Powell Bridge, Falcon is threatening to jump unless he can talk to his obsession, Alicia Mendoza, the Miami mayor's daughter. Crisis negotiator, Sergeant Vincent Paulo, who is blind, attempts to talk Falcon down. Thus begins the strange and intriguing journey of When Darkness Falls.
A short time after Falcon is released from jail (the police don't like jumpers) a woman's body is found in the trunk of Falcon's car. Falcon takes Jack Swyteck's best friend, Theo, and others, hostage in a motel room. He wants his money (he thinks Jack has it) and to speak to Mendoza. Falcon's behavior is erratic (to say the least) but there are good reasons for everything he does.
Jack and the negotiator, Paulo, must work together to free the hostages and learn Falcon's agenda. If they aren't successful, a lot of people are going to die.
I enjoy Jack Swyteck and the rollercoaster rides Grippando takes his readers on with each novel. He writes page-turners that grab the reader at the first page and keep us up late at night.
The rich mixture of the Anglo and Latin cultures is an extra that one finds in Grippando's novels. The addition of Argentina's dirty war and the thousands of 'disappeared' in When Darkness Falls adds a dark and sinister element to the plot.
Armchair Interviews says: You'll love When Darkness Falls and then you'll be shopping for all of Grippando's other novels.
Author's Web site: http://www.JamesGrippando.com