Jack Bunker Books In Order

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Jack Bunker
Jack Bunker has ridden the legal rails, in his career as a trial lawyer, from solo practice, to a large international firm, to two years spent as a legal editor with Thomson Reuters in Dubai, and to the U. S. Department of Justice.

Jack holds the distinction of having played scout team tight end for Bobby Bowden’s Florida State Seminoles and clerked for ex-Chief Justice Boyce F. Martin of the U. S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.

He got his law degree from St. John’s University in New York. He has been or is a member of the bars in California, New York, the District of Columbia, and Georgia, and even the Virginia Cattlemen’s Association.

He worked in the law office of John R. Bunker from July of 2003 until May of 2008, and as an associate at King & Spalding from September of 1998 until June of 2003.

Jack splits time between the family farm in the breathtaking Bluegrass Valley in Virginia and with his wife and four kids in Northern Virginia.

He has always been a big reader. In college he discovered the work of Joseph Wambaugh and during his mid-twenties, he found Elmore Leonard. Jack found himself being less absorbed by the plots than he was by all the flawless dialogue.

Jack also cites writers such as William Kennedy, Paul Theroux, Tom Wolfe, and John Gregory Dunne. Each one of these writers are people that Jack hopes has influenced his own writing in its own way. All of whom have a sense of humor. He has read “Life Its Ownself” by Dan Jenkins more times than most likely anyone else. Over thirty years later, he can still recall lines from Joseph Wambaugh’s “The Choirboys”, and every time he reads “True Confessions he laughs, despite the fact it isn’t a comedy.

He once had to pick up his daughter from an IHOP. She had been careless about making sure her phone was fully charged. Due to Jack having to wait on a tow truck, his patience was all fouled up after he was able to collect his young daughter. The next morning, he actually appreciated his daughter’s carelessness.

He was working on a book at the time and found that there was something missing from it. The tow truck in the parking lot from the day before pulled his tale into a totally different direction, and it was one that offered all kinds of possibilities.

Jack notes that crime fiction is something that thrives not only because it shares fantasies of killing our neighbors, but because you relate to the actors in the story. He says that you may go through bad times, but just jot down some notes, because they may come in handy in some way for a story you are working on.

Even when he stayed in a motel room with one of his sons in Redmond for a night, he knew the lousy atmosphere was something he could use. From the crack in the door that was patched with gooey off-white polymer, to the gauzy towels and one tumbler of ice that the emphysmatic night manager was able to rustle up for them both.

He has written both short fiction as well as a novel. His short fiction has appeared in Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine.

Jack’s debut novel, called “True Grift”, was released in the year 2015, and is from the mystery genre. The audiobook was narrated by Harry Byson. The novel was published by Brash Books and Cutting Edge Publishing.

The novel hit number 71st among all paid books, ninth among mysteries, 21st among mysteries and thrillers, third among legal thrillers, and first in hard-boiled fiction on Amazon. On iBooks, it hit 51st on all the paid books, and ninth among all the paid thrillers and mysteries.

It also got two starred reviews from Publishers Weekly. One was for the audio book, and one was for the print version.

“True Grift” is the first stand alone novel and was released in the year 2015. There isn’t any crueler bait than a foolproof plan.

One greedy insurance adjuster and one bankrupt lawyer put together a personal injury scam that involves a runaway grocery cart. They recruit some half-wit golf course Greenskeeper to be their fall guy.

J.T. Edwards, a crooked lawyer with a money issue, gets intrigued, while in a Southern California golf club’s bar and grill, about a scheme that is cooked up by a man named Al Boyle. He is an insurance adjuster that wants payback against his company for disrespecting him.

J.T. quickly puts their team together. He recruits the grill’s waitress, named Wanda, who is smarter and sexier than she appears in uniform. There is also Mack, a Greenskeeper on whom the entire plot spins despite the fact that he is dumber than a box of rocks.

The plan goes terribly wrong, however, and the entire thing spirals into a murderous disaster. These grifters have to deal with mobsters, shakedowns, betrayals, and bombs. Or worse, an early grave out in a Southern California landfill.

This is a darkly-funny, shrewd, wildly unpredictable novel that evokes the best of authors like Carl Hiaasen, Elmore Leonard, and John Grisham. This is a breezy page turner that is filled with fun and loaded with a lot of laughs right from the start. It is hard to believe this is Jack Bunker’s debut novel, with his vivid and effortless writing with brisk, witty, and quick dialogue. All of his situations are believable, if a bit outrageous and the plotting is air tight. With this novel, Jack proves that he knows the law and the ways the system can be manipulated.

This is a rollicking misadventure that just may deter anybody that has ever pondered making a fast dollar off some insurance company. All while examining one surefire insurance scam that goes hilariously and horribly wrong in a lot of ways. Jack lets loose things like casinos, leeches, bookies, lawyers, and even some golf in this novel, making this some readers’ type of book they like.