“Blah Money” would have been a more appropriate
title for the novel “Blood Money”.
New York Times best-selling author James
Grippando completely ignored character development in the January release of “Blood
Money,” thus earning a one star rating.
Not a single individual in “Blood Money,” was
remotely interesting, thus sending all conflicts and resolution into a pit of
oblivion.
The main character Jack Swyteck, a defense
attorney returns for the 10th time in Grippando’s 20th novel.
Maybe Swyteck has an ounce of flare and spark in
the nine other books he’s featured in, but in “Blood Money” Swyteck is as
absorbing as a dead fly in an abandoned attic.
Sydney Bennett, the woman Swyteck defends for
the alleged murder of her two-year-old daughter Emma is equally boring and uninteresting.
Had Grippando put any thought at all into
character development, “Blood Money” would have been a good if not great novel.
The intense conflicts are well planned and
executed. Bennett has the reputation of a heartless party girl who murdered her
own daughter for money. Did Bennett kill her daughter? How can Swyteck defend
such a heatless wench?
On top of all this going on in the book
college student Celeste Laramore is beaten into a coma by a mob of outraged
citizens because they thought she was Bennett who was found innocent of all
charges against her.
Did Swyteck and his posse arrange a Bennett
look-alike contest and have Laramore outside the court room upon Bennett’s
verdict of not guilty so Bennett could avoid an angry mob? Was Bennett guilty
of child abuse, neglect and murder, promised a book deal and did she pay off
the jury with promised future money? If you haven’t already guessed there is a
lot going on in this book and the plot is indeed filled with intrigue and
cerebral arousal.
Despite a barrage of happenings in “Blood Money,”
the conflicts are neatly concluded for a solid story. Unfortunately every
individual in the novel was no more interesting then dried leaves in a debris
box.
