Intent to Kill

A very enjoyable story. It begins softly and slowly with the loss of a wife in a car accident. After a lot of grieving and time passing the husband leaves his attempt at the major leagues and becomes a radio shock jock for sports. He isn't happy with this but at this point things begin to speed up. Was it a accident by a drunk driver or was it something else? Now we begin on the long journey of investigation and wonder to what really happened. Along with a challenged brother in law, a friend in the majors and a lot of politicians envolved we follow through with a very interesting story. I would recommend it highly, it is a very enjoyable read and away from the usual terror and murder type stories now fashonable.

While baseball is the sport of choice of the main character and his brother-in-law in this intriguing read, it is not its core theme. A minor league baseball player has a chance to make it into the big leagues with the owner of the BoSox coming to watch this, the final game of the season. The team manager receives a phone call during the first inning that changes everything for Ryan when he learns that his wife and young daughter had just been in a terrible accident. Ryan rushes to the hospital where he discovers that while his daughter is okay, his wife didn't make it. Three years later and clues are being left for the lawyer from the Attorney General's office who had been investigating the case. Though she'd probably like to, she can't disregard whom the latest tip is pointing to. Murder or Accident - Someone admits on-air to killing Chelsea. Evidence goes missing. Hiding - A crypt in a boneyard. A no-longer-used boxcar. I guessed wrong more than once. Likable characters. Some not so likable. Some downright not-likable.

I just recently discovered this author's books and this is the 4th one I've read. I did enjoy the Jack Swyteck novels so thought I would venture into his stand alone one. I thought the author did a good job of developing his characters even with with the mystery the center of things. One of the characters "Babe" has Asperger's Syndrome and I don't believe I had ever read a storyline that dealt with this. I know a little about this and felt the author dealt with it in a knowledgable way. One Reviewer was pretty critical of his method but I personally felt it was handled well. The book moves at a steady pace and has enough twists and tuns and I might say a couple surprises to keep you engrossed to the end. I enjoyed all the characters and the end leaves you satisfied as the author ties things up nicely. I read a lot of mystery/suspense and like the fact this author does not overuse profanity. In this genre of books a lot of authors feel they can't have a good suspense without an enormous amount of profanity and that really tires me by the end of the book. When JG does use it, it's is done where it makes some sense-not used to just use it. All in all I think James Grippando is a fine author and writes enjoyable books that take you away for awhile. I think it interesting that he uses a real persons name as one of his characters. I'm not positive how he picks them. He indicated the one in this book "lent his name to the character" and seemed to be involved with a charity auction. I think he does that is all of his books. It's interesting to look for that character in his books. So far I have enjoyed all of JG's books and hope to have time to go back and read some of his older ones.

I just finished this book and highly recommend it. It's well written, the characters well drawn and the story kept me on the edge of my seat. I couldn't put it down.

I've been following J.P.s books since Found Money, and I was glad to see him break away from the Swyteck character. It's a very good read.