From an early age, James Grippando knew he wanted to be a writer. "At age eleven I wrote a comedy western and put my friends in it so they would sit and listen to me read it to them. In high school and college I was the weirdo who actually looked for courses that required you to write a paper. As a lawyer I published in more academic journals than most tenured law professors. I keep an "idea file" in my closet, and I'll never live long enough to write all the stories I want to write."
Readers who have already discovered the wonderful novels of James Grippando will be happy to hear he has many more ideas ready to thrill us. He has written eleven novels, six starring his attorney character, Jack Swyteck, and one novel for a young adult audience, Leapholes. His twelfth novel for adults, Lying with Strangers, has just been published by HarperCollins, and it's a masterpiece. 
A standalone from his Swyteck stories, the story is told from the perspective of Dr. Peyton Shields, a first year resident at a major children's hospital in Boston, and her husband, an attorney with a secret ambition to become a successful author. Their marriage already in tatters, a dark night on an icy road will change their lives forever. To make their situation even more difficult, Peyton is being stalked and her admirer will do everything in his power to win her love. A Grippando novel is a guaranteed great read, but he has outdone himself in his latest.
Grippando was inspired to write Lying with Strangers in 1998. "My son spent the first eight days of his life in the hospital's neo-natal intensive care unit. Each day, my wife and I would visit him in that darkened room, reach inside the incubator, and touch his little hands and face. When we finally left the hospital, I told Ryan's doctors and nurses that they were my personal heroes. What I didn't tell them-and what I didn't realize until some time later-was that I desperately wanted to write about them. We had to closely monitor Ryan's condition after he came home. Luckily, I had a friend whose twin brother had graduated at the top of his class from Harvard Medical School and who had just been named Chief Resident at Boston Children's Hospital. Dr. David Weinstein was in the most coveted position at the best pediatric hospital in the world, but he always found time to take my calls. During one of our conversations, I told him-only half-jokingly-that I ought to write a novel about a pediatrician. Later, he phoned and said, 'Why don't you come up to Boston Children's and shadow me, see what hits you?' I couldn't get there fast enough."{mospagebreak}
Grippando continued, "One morning during my stay at his house, David told me about another pediatric intern-a brilliant and beautiful young woman who had been stalked by a patient's relative. A light immediately went on, and Peyton Shields was born. I realized, however, that I was building quite a challenge for myself. My editor and I were about to launch a series for HarperCollins featuring Jack Swyteck-a man who is a lawyer in Miami. The story in my head was about a woman who was a doctor in Boston. We went with the Swyteck series-the right decision-but Peyton Shields was never far behind in my heart and mind. It took years to finish Lying with Strangers, partly because of the research involved, but also because I wrote it in my spare time. Over the six years it took to write it, I wrote six other novels and a short story for the ITW thriller anthology."
He had amazing access to the hospital. "I love research. That's the great freedom of a writing career, being able to dive headlong into any subject matter-or into the head of any person that interests you. I owe a huge thanks to Boston Children's Hospital, which allowed me to shadow its chief resident and interview several female residents. I couldn't have possibly captured what it's like to work at the best pediatric hospital in the world without spending time there. To have that kind of access to such a fabled institution and to the men and women who worked there made this some of the most enjoyable research I've ever done."
One terrifying aspect of Lying with Strangers deals with the invasion of privacy aided by the Internet. Grippando remarked, "There is one thing all thriller writers agree on: it's difficult to overstate the danger of just about anything in today's society. Identity theft over the Internet is the fastest growing crime in the world, and we are all vulnerable. Readers find the stalker in Lying with Strangers so frightening because he knows his victim so well. For better or worse, the Internet gives all of us-criminals included-the power to uncover intimate details about perfect strangers. Even scarier, it enables predators anywhere in the world to reach into our homes and target and communicate with their next victim. It's interesting that I started writing Lying with Strangers in 1999, before the dangers of the Internet were even talked about. The book is more relevant now than ever."{mospagebreak}
The novel also features an attorney who yearns to be an author. Grippando's series character, Jack Swyteck, is also an attorney. Does he share any characteristics with his characters? He responded, "I can definitely relate to Kevin's experiences as a young lawyer dreaming about becoming a writer. Like him, I was working 50-60 hour weeks in a big law firm, secretly writing a novel nights and weekends. And also like Kevin, I had my share of disappointment along the road to success. After four years of writing, not a single publisher wanted my first manuscript. But my agent believed in that book. 'Jim,' he said, 'you got the most encouraging rejection letters I've ever seen.' It sounds goofy, but what else can you say to an author who's taken his best shot and landed face down on the floor? Artie the optimist, I called him. With Artie's encouragement, I wrote another novel in seven months, and it sold in just a few days to HarperCollins Publishers, 
The Pardon was the very first novel to feature Miami criminal defense lawyer Jack Swyteck. A lot of people think that because Jack is now in six of my novels (most recently When Darkness Falls), Jack must be me. That's not at all the case. Jack's father is Florida's governor, and my dad was an equally great man but a blue-collar worker on Chicago's Clark Street. Jack's love life could fill an entire chapter in Cupid's Rules of Love and War (Idiot's Edition), and I've been married thirteen years to the love of my life. Jack's best friend was once on death row, and my friends-well, maybe some of them do belong in jail. But cloning my friends or myself is not what makes a character work for my readers or me. It's about complexity. My bad guys are never all bad, and my good guys are never all good. They have a past that makes you understand their contradictions, their flaws, and their motivations. They surprise you, too. And if they have dark secrets they're trying to hide, even better. I keep all of those things in mind as Jack Swyteck grows with each novel."
Even though Lying with Strangers is set in Boston, James Grippando currently lives in South Florida. "My writing routine remains very Miami. I write in my backyard. My outdoor office has these essentials: a patio table and chair, a big shade umbrella, a laptop computer, a hammock, a hot tub, and a swimming pool. The cell phone is optional. For me a 'normal' workday means putting on my oldest pair of shorts and favorite T-shirt, visiting the refrigerator every half hour, and explaining to my youngest daughter that she can't bang on the keyboard while daddy is trying to write a book. Early in my career, I often woke in the middle of the night to write. I try not to do that so much anymore, but you never know when inspiration is going to strike. For the most part, morning is my most productive writing time, and I try to finish every afternoon in time to coach my son's soccer team."
