False Witness: Book summary and reviews of False Witness by Karin Slaughter

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Barbara A Wells

False Witness
Twisted minds of a Father and copycat manipulative lying Son!

techeditor

Another Excellent Thriller From Karin Slaughter
The best thrillers are made up of situation after situation that make the reader wonder how the author can write herself out of it. Of course, FALSE WITNESS does that. I say "of course" because it is another Karin Slaughter thriller, and you can always count on her to write the best.

Two sisters, after murdering the pedophile who victimized them when they were in their early teens, are living different lives 20 years later. Leigh is now a lawyer; Callie is a junkie hooked on heroin. The sisters continue to love one another, and each tries to protect the other.

Leigh has now been put in the position to defend the pedophile's son who is accused of rape, a charge he is guilty of. This son, it turns out, is much like his father.

Although Callie is a drug addict, she works off and on for a veterinarian. She is an animal lover. (Some of my favorite parts of this book are the names Callie comes up with for cats and fish.)

The pedophile's son, Leigh learns, is guilty of much more than the rape. But she must continue to defend him because he can prove that she murdered his father.

Once you start reading FALSE WITNESS, you won't want to put it down. Promise.

Cloggie Downunder

a brilliant read as always
False Witness is the fourth stand-alone novel by best-selling American author, Karin Slaughter. Leigh Collier has only worked for mega legal firm, Bradley, Canfield and Marks since COVID shut down her sole practice a year ago, so she’s surprised to get a call from partner Cole Bradley. Apparently, the client, Andrew Trevor Tenant is the scion of luxury car dealership chain, Tenant Automotive Group, and has insisted she represent him.

Andrew has been charged with a particularly violent rape and aggravated assault, has dismissed his lawyer two days earlier, and his trial starts in just over a week. Even as she is introduced, in the opulent partners’ conference room, to Andrew, his fiancée and his mother, Leigh is puzzled by their request.

It’s the smirk that she recognises from some twenty-three years earlier, and her unease quickly turns to dread as Andrew later hints at impossible knowledge of a crime committed by two teenaged sisters. The details of his own alleged crime, and possible earlier ones, unsettle her deeply. What does he know, and what does he want?

Callie and Harleigh emerged from a dysfunctional childhood and adolescence, Callie’s cheerleading injuries producing a junkie, Harleigh’s hard work and determination yielding a lawyer. Neither would claim to be a saint, both have spent time in juvie, but if Andrew knows about this incident from their past, then exposure will demolish the lives they are living now.

Faced with the dilemma that pits justice, her reputation as a lawyer, and her job against the safety and sanity of her husband, her sixteen-year-old daughter and her sister, can Leigh do her job, act within the law in defending this psychopath and still somehow remove his power to harm? Or does she submit to his control? And for how long?

Her sister Callie, a graduate with honours of the school of hard knocks, plays by a very different rulebook, and the implied threat to her niece has made her very angry indeed. To what lengths will she go to neutralise the menace he poses?

What a talented author is Karin Slaughter! She manages to take some very gritty subjects (the poor management of drug addiction, the grooming of children by paedophiles, discrimination in sexual assault cases, to name a few) and build a story that addresses these convincingly, if quite graphically. The narrative is filled with tension, relieved occasionally by traces of black humour, and a dash of romance. There are red herrings and twists, some of which will have the reader gasping.

Slaughter is skilled at creating both characters to care for (and get choked up about in certain emotional moments) and characters to thoroughly despise (several of those are offered here), and has the reader cheering on these two strong women, for all their very human flaws, as they face a test of wits and guts. Two men who provide solid support also deserve admiration.

Slaughter does not shy away from the existence of the COVID pandemic, does not set her novel in an alternative present that knows no virus, but rather, realistically includes it in her story with the mention of Zoom, masks, distancing, hand sanitising, and with protagonists who are survivors of it, giving her novel authenticity without overwhelming it. A brilliant read, as always.

Brian

False Witness, an irritant.
Have read many of Slaughter's books. Enjoyed them all, until this one. Why she chose to constantly remind the reader of Covid-19 and the asinine protocols it invoked is hard to grasp. Filling space with all the trivial details of the protocols. Books of this nature should allow you to escape, not remind you of an inane time. Could not get past the third chapter.

Ellee

A fictional piece of Covid propaganda
A gripping and dark story completely ruined by the constant Covid references from start to finish. As the story takes place during 2020/2021 no reference to the pandemic would be rather odd but I counted over 95 references throughout the book virtually all of which are unnecessary, hold no bearing to the story and certainly do not add any value to the reader. Derogatory trite language covidiots, anti vaxxers, superspreaders, Corona cannon fodder, constant talk about mask wearing for no reason other than to mention it. A masterclass in propaganda. The authors note also adds to the bewildering lack of knowledge, ignorance and naivety of the author.

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