THE GIRL IN THE GLASS BOX
(SWYTECK NO. 15)
Miami attorney Jack Swyteck lands in the heart of the contentious immigration debate when he takes on the heart-wrenching case of an undocumented immigrant who fled to America to protect her daughter and save herself, in this timely and pulse-pounding thriller that explores the stories behind the headlines from New York Times bestselling author James Grippando, winner of the Harper Lee Prize for Legal Fiction.
Julia Rodriguez and her teenage daughter Beatriz escaped bloodthirsty gangs, random violence and, Julia's abusive husband back in El Salvador. Arriving in Miami, mother and daughter struggled to carve their own piece of the American dream. While life in the States is hard, it is safer, until Julia's rejects her boss's unwanted sexual advances. Suddenly—thanks to an "anonymous" tip to U. S. immigration authorities—she is arrested, locked in detention with criminals, and slated for deportation. Jack's only viable legal move to save her is asylum—a long shot that’s become nearly impossible in today’s charged political climate.
When Julia and Beatriz made the perilous trek north to freedom, they thought they’d left the danger behind them. But now, even Miami isn’t safe. A ruthless enemy may have tracked them to south Florida and is biding time, patiently waiting to strike.
In a case where the stakes have never been higher, Jack Sywteck may not be able to save his client—even if he wins.
“Swyteck is exceptionally cool. And so is James Grippando.”
– The Miami Herald
"James Grippando is a master of the legal thriller."
– Robert K. Massie
"One of his best .... Grippando gets underway with a bang and never lets up, springing a series of carefully calibrated surprises in and out of the courtroom guaranteed to catch even the canniest readers unaware."
– Kirkus Reviews
Behind the book
I grew up in a small town in rural Illinois. Like most small towns, mine had its secrets. It also had things that folks just didn’t talk about.
Every so often, there would be a pounding at our back door in the middle of the night. I’d jump out of bed and follow my parents to the kitchen and watch in horror as my friends rushed in from the cold, dressed in pajamas, their bare feet purple from having run through the snow. Their father had come home drunk again. Their mother had done everything humanly possible to contain him so that her five children could run to the neighbor’s house and escape another merciless beating from a raging alcoholic who was out of control again. In the morning their mom would come pick them up—once with a horrific black eye that I will never forget.
Then the silence would kick in. My friends who’d spent the night in sleeping bags on my bedroom floor would never bring it up. I wouldn’t say a word to anyone at school or to my other friends in the neighborhood. I didn’t even talk to my own brothers and sisters about it.
As an author who is drawn to important social issues, I always knew that at some point I would write a novel about domestic violence. The only surprise was that the one I wrote is wrapped in the current immigration crisis.
The premise of The Girl in the Glass Box is a 2014 landmark decision from the U.S. Board of Immigration Appeals. The Board recognized that a woman may qualify for asylum in the United States if the government of her home country refuses or is unable to protect her from domestic violence. The ruling recognized the startling truth that, in countries like El Salvador, Guatemala, and others, nearly three out of every four acts of sexual violence take place in the victims’ homes, yet the government refuses to prosecute a man who rapes and abuses his wife. Adding to the victim’s plight, abortion in El Salvador is illegal in all circumstances, even in cases of rape. Some women who have had abortions after a sexual assault have been convicted of aggravated homicide. The punishment is a 30-year prison sentence, the same as for a gang member who is convicted of murder.
When I started writing The Girl in the Glass Box in 2017, the legal principle established by the Board in 2014 was not in the news. To be sure, immigration was a hot issue. Little did I realize, however, that within days of completing my manuscript, U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions would make headlines by “making it all but impossible” for victims to gain asylum based on domestic violence. (“Sessions Says Domestic and Gang Violence Are Not Grounds for Asylum,” New York Times, June 8, 2018). Under the Justice Department’s new policy, a foreign government’s failure to protect its citizens from domestic violence involved only “private violence,” which did not rise to the level of government action that is required under the U.S. asylum statutes.
The battle is far from over. Victims of gender-based persecution have already filed suit in federal court to challenge the administration’s new policy. (“ACLU Files Suit Challenging Trump Administration’s New Asylum Rules,” Washington Post, Aug. 7, 2018).
Some say my novels “are ripped from the headlines.” I disagree. Like many writers, I stay on top of current events, but I don’t retell the past. I look for trends and forces that are destined to collide in the future, and then I ask the most important question a thriller writer can ask: “What if …?”
If I’m ripping anything from the headlines, it’s from tomorrow’s headlines.
In the case of The Girl in the Glass Box, never has “tomorrow” come so soon.
James Grippando is a New York Times bestselling author of suspense and winner of the Harper Lee Prize for Legal Fiction. A Girl in the Glass Box is his 27th novel and marks the twenty-fifth anniversary of the debut of Jack Swyteck (The Pardon, 1994), one of the most popular and enduring serial characters in the legal thriller genre. James has is also a practicing attorney as Counsel at Boies Schiller Flexner LLP. He lives in south Florida and teaches “The Law & Lawyers in Modern Literature” at the University of Miami School of Law.
