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    Need You Now
    Need You Now
    Need You Now
    Audiobook11 hours

    Need You Now

    Written by James Grippando

    Narrated by Jonathan Davis

    3.5/5

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    About this audiobook

    New York Times bestseller James Grippando returns with a gripping new stand-alone novel: a story ripped from the headlines, in which a young financial adviser and his girlfriend uncover a conspiracy that reaches from Wall Street to Washington, from the trading floors of the Stock Exchange to the deepest halls of government. Like Grippando’s recent bestsellers, Afraid of the Dark and Money to Burn—as well as Grippando classics like A King’s Ransom and Beyond Suspicion—the provocative Need You Now is a fast-paced thriller in which danger and conspiracy lie behind every plot and promise, and the future of the nation lies in the hands of an unlikely champion.

    “Grippando grips from the first page.” —Harlan Coben
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperAudio
    Release dateJan 3, 2012
    ISBN9780062116468
    Author

    James Grippando

    James Grippando is a New York Times bestselling author with more than thirty books to his credit, including those in his acclaimed series featuring Miami criminal defense attorney Jack Swyteck, and the winner of the Harper Lee Prize for Legal Fiction. He is also a trial lawyer and teaches law and literature at the University of Miami School of Law. He lives and writes in South Florida.

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    Reviews for Need You Now

    3.5/5

    60 ratings12 reviews

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    • 4/5
      Great Plot ! Would have liked to see a little more detail on “Revenge” !
    • 2/5
      I usually can't put down a James Grippando novel but I found this one to be rather tedious! This book is about a financial Ponzi scheme in which powerful people lost lots of money and the characters who try to find out where the money went. Not one of my favorites!
    • 3/5
      This was my first James Grippando book and I was intrigued by the blurbs on the book jacket. The story basically was a good one but it was dragged down by the woodeness of the characters and their dialogue. I was really disappointed and probably will not pick up another of his books for a while.
    • 2/5
      Bleh, boring and Jonathan Davis' narration doesn't help. Half the characters sounded stoned.
    • 2/5
      I previously read and liked (not loved) Grippando's When Darkness Falls, so I thought I knew what I was getting into when I picked up Need You Now. I expected an engaging mystery with decent characters who make logical choices. In other words, my expectations weren't too high. Boy was I disappointed! This thing is a mess. Cardboard cutout characters, unbelievably convoluted plot lines, and cliche after cliche.There's a fad among popular authors these days to re-release their earlier works once they have established an audience. Recently I read a newly-released early Harlan Coben book where the author actually apologized to the reader in the intro, basically saying, 'please forgive me, this isn't my best work, but isn't it fun to see how I've grown?' That's what this book reminded me of: a book written by an author who will, with some seasoning and lots of practice, eventually be ready for prime time. Unfortunately, this is the latest product from an author with at least a dozen other published books.Bottom line: if you are already a fan, you'll probably think this isn't his best work, but think I'm too harsh. If you aren't already a fan, save yourself the time and pick another book to read.
    • 3/5
      Those Ponzi schemes sure are hard to sniff out, especially the ones that last for only two decades and involve a measly $60 billion.I very much enjoyed the only other Grippando book I've read, Money to Burn, and expected this one to live up to my expectations. While I did enjoy it, I felt a little let down by it. I like that Grippando knows whereof he speaks, that he is very familiar with the Ponzi schemes and their collapses, taking billions of dollars from innocent (and, especially in this story, not so innocent) investors. The story started out strong and pulled me in. My main gripe is that in explaining the ins and outs of the story, there was too much dialogue and not enough action, especially toward the end of the book. The story was convoluted, and I like that, but only if it doesn't have to be explained so much in dialogue. The characters could have been fleshed out more deeply. The one who appealed to me the most was Connie, with her love of snow monkeys. And while I would have liked a little more action, there was too much of it for me in one torture scene. I had to skim through that part, just too graphic for me. Still, given the shortcomings for my readings tastes, I did like this thriller.I received a complimentary uncorrected proof of this book from the publisher. The quote may have changed in the published edition.
    • 4/5
      As our economy continues to wheeze slowly along (what we hope is) its road to recovery in The Great Recession's tumultuous aftermath, James Grippando has written a new thriller that gives pause to conventional thought about what laid beneath one of the most brutal financial crimes of recent times. The story's starting point is clearly inspired by Bernie Madoff's felonious scam that's commonly considered the biggest financial fraud in American history. In the stand-alone book "Need You Now," however, it doesn't take Grippando long to veer sharply from Madoffian dogma and offer for consideration that motivations other than pedestrian self-enrichment can underpin swindles like Madoff's.In the enthralling style for which Grippando has become very popular, "Need You Now" tells the story of Patrick Lloyd. Lloyd is a young financial advisor who, with his enigmatic girlfriend Lilly Scanlon, risk all to expose a deadly $60 billion ponzi conspiracy that oozes from Wall Street's gleaming skyscrapers to sleek, shiny Singapore, to dangerous Paraguayan no-man's-land, and far into the dark heart of Washington, D.C. Appropriately enough given the deliberate complexity of financial chicanery like Madoff's that spans both many years and great distances, this is no elementary A to B to C linear mystery tale. Instead, Grippando successfully intertwines a labyrinth of intriguing (and sometimes seemingly incongruous) plot lines to create a story that's immediate and timely, and as disturbing as it is engrossing. His protagonists are sympathetic and very human characters, refreshingly unlike the quasi-superhumans who frequently overpopulate modern thrillers. Grippando also does a great job of evoking a true sense of place for his settings. For example, in addition to aptly setting stages around various Manhattan hallmarks that are well known from scads of other books set in New York, he deftly captures and conveys less renown places like the Lemon Ice King of Corona, and "spaghetti park," in Queens. That kind of care for detail is emblematic of all Grippando's work in "Need You Now," and is only one of many reasons this very enjoyable thriller is well worth reading.
    • 3/5
      Abe Cushman is a former chairman of the NASDAQ stock market. When his Ponzi scheme is unveiled, he commits suicide, taking his secrets with him.Patrick Lloyd is a young Wall St. advisor to one of the largest Swiss banks. He's called to the corporate office and ordered to find Lilly Scanlon and the money she manipulated from the bank when she was an executive there. This had to do with the Ponzi scheme.Lilly is Patrick's girlfriend and she tells him she's being set up. The money involved is from some of Cashman's investors who are ciminals and will stop at nothing to get their money back.Patrick and Lilly decide to work together. Soon after they are both threatened by criminals and then something about Patrick's past comes to light.The maze of possibilities that these characters must go through makes the novel an interesting adventure read. They must search for the money while not knowing who to trust and even if they can trust each other.This is not only a financial thriller but deals with other important issues such as a father's love for his children and the failures with the witness protection system. It is also a commentary about the people who want to gain riches without caring how they got their money.The author has captured the naivete of his two young protagonists and shows that innocence can be destroyed in a world of government ignorance and corruption at the highest levels.
    • 2/5
      Patrick Lloyd is a young financial adviser for Bank of Switzerland/ American branch. Abe Cushman is a Madoff-type, who has stolen $60 billion in a Ponzi scheme but when he gets caught, he does a swan dive off his terrace. Gerry Collins is an accomplice, brutally murdered when he tries to flee. Patrick is informed by the higher ups at BOS, that his former girlfriend, Lily Scanlon is a suspect in helping Collins hide money. But Patrick has secrets of his own and that is where things start to get convoluted. There are way too many things happening at once with this story and too many coincidences. The dialogue is not great and Grippando's pop culture references every third page made me want to throw the book across the room. I feel like the book could have been much better with a little more effort. Also, I don't find government conspiracy plots very exciting or original. Maybe because it isn't shocking or surprising considering what does happen in reality.I read Grippando's earlier novels years ago and enjoyed them. I don't know if my tastes have changed or he just didn't put much effort into this. Either way, I wouldn't recommend it.
    • 4/5
      James Grippando is back with his latest book Need You Now, releasing January 3, 2012.Need You Now seems to take inspiration from recent headlines - the Bernie Madoff ponzi scheme in particular.Patrick Lloyd is a young advisor at a Wall Street firm. He has returned to the US from the Singapore office after breaking up with his girlfriend Lilly, who also worked for the firm. An unnamed group thinks that Lloyd might now where their missing two billion dollars are as Lilly was the one who processed the transactions. With their lives being threatened, they race to try and find answers. But it's not as straight forward as that. Both Patrick and Lilly have secrets - nothing is quite as it seems. The plot becomes quite convoluted as Grippando adds twists and turns galore. I don't want to print spoilers, so I won't go into detail. But, perhaps there are a few too many twists - it seemed too busy and a bit over the top. I found myself losing track at times of who, what ,where. I never really connected with the two main protagonists or became emotionally invested in their predicament. They simply moved the story along.Need You Now is an entertaining financial thriller, but not a stand out for this reader.
    • 5/5
      Wow! I could not put it down. I zipped through nearly all of it on a recent plane ride from Salt Lake to Nashville. I was taken in from the first page. It seemed as though every character had something to hide and I was determined to figure out what it was. This was my first James Grippando book and will not be my last.
    • 5/5
      “Need you now” by James Grippando starts out as a Bernie Madoff-like character, Abe Cushman, commits suicide after his sixty billion Ponzi scheme is discovered. As his partner, Gerry Collins, learns about Cushman’s suicide, he is murdered himself upon getting into his car. Fast forward three years and we met, Patrick Lloyd, a Manhattan employee of the International Bank of Switzerland who had just returned from his six month stint in Singapore, where he had broken up with his girlfriend Lilly Scanlon, a fellow employee. Soon enough, Patrick’s life is disrupted and he is fleeing for his life as his boss accuses him of disposing of two billion dollars from Cushman’s funds, and notifies him that his ex-girlfriend Lilly had just been fired in connection with this. Lloyd is obviously clueless about the allegation and starts looking for Lilly, but is nearly killed on his way home from work. To complicate matters, Lloyd is not his real name, and his trip to Singapore was no mere accident. As Patrick finds Lilly, he soon loses her again as Lilly runs from his apartment in the middle of the night after an intruder appears. As they try to figure out what is happening, they put people around them in danger. And the violence escalates from there. There’s FBI agents (both good and bad), sketchy characters, and financial puzzles. Even Lloyd’s own family is thrown into the mix. This is a pretty hard to put down mystery. There’s no one you can trust—even the main characters constantly seem like they’re hiding something. That definitely pulled me into the story. Grippando also does a good job with the plot revelations and action scenes. Highly recommended.