Book Review: The Witness by Simon Kernick

Book Review: The Witness by Simon Kernick

  Those of you who know this blog or follow me on twitter will know that I’m a huge Lee Child fan and when I told a family member this he went into his shed and came back with a stack of thrillers. Amongst these were books by the likes of Peter Robinson, Chris brookmyre, David Baldacci, Jonathan Kellerman, Patricia Cornwell and Simon Kernick.( I may have missed some out , it was quite a large pile)

 That particular Simon Kernick book was Target (which I reviewed on here a while ago http://bookebloke.blogspot.co.uk/2015/08/book-review-target-by-simon-kernick.html) I blew through that in about a week and decided to check out some more of Kernick’s work and have since read A Good Day To Die ,The Debt ,One By One and the subject of this review The Witness.

The Witness focuses on Jane Kinnear who witnesses her lover being murdered, and suddenly finds herself with information about a terrorist attack and  maverick DI Ray Mason (who seems to be cut from the same cloth as Dennis Milne) from the Met Counter Terrorism Command is on the case. While Jane and Ray tell their tales in the first person, both flick back to moments that shaped their lives, which gives an insight into what makes them tick.
Kernick expertly builds layers upon layers of intrigue and tension, just as everything starts to fall into place, even more action barges in and delivers a good kicking.  

The Witness is written in a similar style to the Jack Reacher novels. There is also a lot of action  but not so  much that it becomes over-the-top or unbelievable. I thought the plot was very clever and well thought out, with quite a few unexpected twists especially at the end ,but I won't give that away.

The Witness is one of Kernick’s best books to date, if not the best. Regular fans won’t be disappointed and newbies are in for a treat.

 https://www.amazon.co.uk/Witness-Simon-Kernick-ebook/dp/B014XJGURU/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1475427690&sr=1-1&keywords=the+witness