Genre:
Thriller
Description:
“Blame is
in the eye of the beholder when Josie faces her toughest challenge
yet – one that comes from halfway around the world and forces her
to question her faith in justice while threatening the people she
loves most.”
This is
book #5 in The Witness series featuring attorney Josie Bates.
Author:
Best-selling
author Rebecca Forster has had more than twenty books published in
her career, most legal thrillers.
For more,
visit her website.
Appraisal:
I’ve read
three of the four prior books in this series and although having done
so isn’t a prerequisite to understand or enjoy this book, when I
evaluate why I liked it, one of the biggest reasons are the
characters, specifically Josie Bates and her foster child, Hannah.
Eyewitness can be read as a standalone and Forster introduces the
bare bones of their back story, but I couldn’t help wondering if
doing so wouldn’t be missing out on some of what I saw and felt,
having made the previous investment and having the deeper
understanding of the characters that I had coming in. Josie is an
attorney and the books in the series are legal thrillers, yet they
have more heart than the typical book in this genre, largely because
the legal conflict is usually much more personal for Josie.
In this
installment, that personal stake is because her client is Billy Zuni,
a friend of Hannah’s who has been a secondary, but far from trivial
character in previous books. As Josie digs, she discovers that much
of what she thought she knew about Billy wasn’t quite reality. This
is also unlike a typical legal thriller because of the way it weaves
elements of a foreign culture and how that can influence the life of
US immigrants into the story. I highly recommend this book for fans
of legal thrillers. Even more, I’d recommend backtracking to the
first of the series and reading them all.
FYI:
Although
the fifth book in the series, this can be read as a standalone.
Added for
Reprise Review: Before Her Eyes was the winner in the Thriller
category for 2014 Readers' Choice Awards at BigAl’s Books and Pals.
Original review ran April 17, 2013.
Format/Typo
Issues:
No
significant issues.
Approximate
word count: 100-105,000 words
Rating:
***** Five stars
Reviewed
by: BigAl
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