Twenty: Jack Swyteck #17    by James Grippando Order:  USA  Can Harper, 2021 (2021) Hardcover, e-Book      Reviewed by Hilary Williamson Miami criminal defense attorney Jack Swyteck is back in Twenty, seventeenth in James Grippando's excellent series. He always picks intriguing (and often disturbing) topics. This time, it's an unfortunately timely one, school shootings. At this stage in the series, Jack is married to FBI agent Andie Henning and they have a daughter, Righley, in kindergarten. As the novel opens with Jack at his office, Righley's school sends an emergency text. Florida has had yet another school shooting, one with twenty casualties. This creates immediate suspense which keeps on building. A semiautomatic pistol was recovered at the scene, registered to a parent, Amir Khoury, whose wife Molly is a friend of Andie's. At the Khoury residence, their son (high school senior Xavier) claims that he did it. A reluctant Jack ends up as Xavier's counsel. His old friend Theo Knight, whom man Jack rescued from death row, helps him to investigate what happened. They try to contact Xavier's girlfriend Maritza, but learn that ICE has just deported her! Meanwhile, Jack faces hostility for even taking on the case, which also puts his marriage in jeopardy. As matters progress, Jack is told that 'you're smack-dab in the middle of something much bigger than you can imagine.' The crescendo of a conclusion involves a nail-biting hostage situation, when twenty comes up again. If you enjoy thrillers, then this is the one to propel your reading year forward. Highly recommended! Note: Opinions expressed in reviews and articles on this site are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of BookLoons. Find more Mystery books on our Shelves or in our book Reviews