Jack nodded but said nothing.
Isa rose and extended her hand. There was no hug, just a handshake. “Thank you, Mr. Swyteck. Thank you for everything.”
As they turned and headed back into the house, Isa’s words—I’m glad he’s dead—replayed in Jack’s mind, and suddenly it occurred to him:
For the first time since spring, he was absolutely certain that his client was telling the truth.
Acknowledgments
Readers first met Jack Swyteck in my 1994 debut, The Pardon, as an idealistic and somewhat naive young lawyer whose love life could have filled an entire volume of “Cupid’s Rules of Love and War—Idiot’s Edition.” He’s grown a lot since then. So have I. Most Dangerous Place is my—gulp—twenty-fifth novel.
No. 25 is a milestone, and I’m grateful to the team behind this run. To my good fortune I’ve had the same publisher (HarperCollins) and literary agent (Richard Pine, and his father, Artie, before him) since The Pardon. More than twenty years ago Carolyn Marino stepped in as my editor to make sure I didn’t become a “one-hit wonder,” and since then, nothing has happened to Jack without passing the “Carolyn test.”
My beta readers are the unsung heroes. Janis Koch—once known as “Conan the Grammarian” to her students—has been an irreplaceable member of the team since Got the Look. Janis and my longtime friend Gloria Villa have corrected hundreds of errors that would have otherwise gone to print. Readers can thank them for the polish and blame me for any remaining errors.
Finally, thanks to my wife, Tiffany, who was there for the pre-Pardon crash and burn, who knows why Most Dangerous Place is not No. 26, and who has shown only love and support through good and bad, success and setback.
JMG, May 2016
About the Author
James Grippando is a New York Times bestselling author of suspense. Most Dangerous Place is his twenty-fifth novel, the thirteenth in the Jack Swyteck series. He was a trial lawyer for twelve years before publication of his first novel, The Pardon, in 1994, and he now serves as counsel at Boies Schiller & Flexner LLP. His novels are enjoyed worldwide in twenty-eight languages. He lives in South Florida.
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Also by James Grippando
Gone Again*
Cash Landing+
Cane and Abe
Black Horizon*+
Blood Money*+
Need You Now+
Afraid of the Dark*+
Money to Burn+
Intent to Kill
Born to Run*+
Last Call*+
Lying with Strangers
When Darkness Falls*+
Got the Look*+
Hear No Evil*
Last to Die*
Beyond Suspicion*
A King’s Ransom
Under Cover of Darkness+
Found Money
The Abduction
The Informant
The Pardon*
Novellas and Short Stories
The Penny Jumper
Death, Cheated*
Green Eyed Lady+
Operation Northwoods*
For Young Adults
Leapholes
* A Jack Swyteck novel
+ Also featuring FBI agent Andie Henning
Copyright
This novel is a work of fiction. Any references to real people, events, establishments, organizations, or locales are intended only to give the fiction a sense of reality and authenticity, and are used fictitiously. All other names, characters, and places and all dialogue and incidents portrayed in this book are the product of the author’s imagination.
most dangerous place. Copyright © 2017 by James Grippando, Inc. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
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first edition
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data has been applied for.
Digital Edition FEBRUARY 2017 ISBN: 9780062440570
Print ISBN: 978-0-06-244055-6
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