Daughter
of a controlling mother, Elizabeth finally let loose one night,
drinking at a nightclub and letting a strange man's seductive Russian
accent lure her to a house far away. The events that followed changed
her life for ever.
Twelve
years later, the woman known as Abigail Lowery lives on the outskirts of
a small town in the Ozarks. A freelance programmer, she designs
sophisticated security systems - and supplements her own security with a
fierce dog and an assortment of firearms. She keeps to herself, saying
little, revealing nothing.But
Abigail's reserve only intrigues police chief Brooks Gleason. Her
logical mind, her secretive nature, her unromantic viewpoints leave him
fascinated but frustrated. He suspects that Abigail needs protection
from something - and that her elaborate defenses hide a story that needs
to be revealed.
I've not read a Nora Roberts book for the longest time. This one
though, when it came through for review really did appeal. I like
crimey novels and the fact that the Russian mafia is involved and the
witness is on the run...well, needless to say, my interest was piqued.
It's a
quick read, in the sense that it makes you turn the pages really fast,
which is great. The writing is good, not great or fantastic, but it's
the characters that genuinely appeal. In Elizabeth we have a more human
version of Tempe Brennan from Kathy Reichs' books.
Elizabeth has lived a sheltered life in the sense that, for all her vast
intelligence, she is kept away from other kids. She's on course to
become a doctor, like her mother, and instead of having a summer off,
for herself, she's forced to take part in a course her mum has decided
for her. She rebels, throws a proper strop and her mother, who comes
across as a superb cow, leaves Liz to stew in her angry juices, packs
her bags and goes off on a business trip.
Liz finds herself in the mall and decides to go on a bit of shopping
spree - buying jeans and t-shirts and make-up. Stuff she is never ever
allowed to buy or wear as her mother buys and approves her clothes. At
the mall Liz makes friends with a girl she recognises from high school,
they end up doing a bit more shopping and Liz agrees to make fake IDs
for them to get into a local nightclub.
The girls dress up and set off for a night on the town. It's when they
get to the nigh club and they are chatted up by the owner and his
manager that alarm bells start ringing. Liz is only sixteen, a few
weeks from her seventeenth birthday and although she is highly
intelligent, she has no real concept of relationships and the bigger
scale of things.
She lets herself be dragged along for a party at the one guy's house and
once there, she becomes violently ill. She falls asleep on the patio
and is woken by harsh words being exchanged. And sees a murder
committed. Liz runs. She rings the police, they find her, she tells
them everything that's happened, they take her into protective custody
because basically she's handed them, on a platter, the local Russian
mafia's right hand man on a platter.
Things progress from here quite rapidly and the story unfolds easily -
Liz becomes more likeable as she is forced to deal with mundane people
and her security team, a bunch of great sounding cops. She is
contrasted well but never held as truly odd - her remarks are taken at
face value and soon the cops realise how clever she is, how completely
isolated and how her mum had basically treated her as an experiment and
not as a daughter.
Bad things happen and Liz runs, leaving the house in flames behind her, two of her security detail dead and one more wounded.
We skip ahead in time and place and meet Abigail. Very soon we realise
who Abigail really is. She's a recluse, living with a giant dog for
protection and she works from home in a small town in the Ozarks - it
sound fantastic and I personally would love to visit there. As a
programmer she has no real reason to travel around a lot as all of her
work can be done from home but it's when she goes into the local town to
buy some ingredients for her cooking, that she draws the attention of
the local chief of police. He's intrigued by this young woman who lives
on the outskirts of town who is so incredibly private and almost
painfully shy. Or so he thinks, at least.
Slowly but surely he - Brooks - makes friends with her. Then his mum
turns up at Abigail's place and is kind towards her. Abigail is thrown
in turmoil - she doesn't know how to do the friends thing. The small
talk thing, the whole relationship thing.
Part of the charm of The Witness is seeing how Ms. Roberts contrasts
Abigail/Liz and Brooks and his insane family. How she teases out
Abigail's reticence to make friends, to be friendly to others. We are
given a whole picture of a young woman who, although wonderfully
successful and highly intelligent, is so socially inept she researches
barbecue etiquette online and throws fit when she realises she's
expected to take along a covered dish of food to the barbecue.
The relationship that develops between Abigail and Brooks is so well
done - I fell in love with them as a couple. The small-town shenanigans
that go on formed a strong colourful secondary story to Abigail's story
and when she eventually tells Brooks of her past, how she's been
running and hiding, he fully stands by her and together they decide to
make work of the old unresolved case.
The Witness is tightly plotted and it felt like I got to spend a great
deal of time with the characters, getting to know them and like them.
The world Ms. Roberts created is rich and populated with strong well
thought out characters.
The conclusion was good too - I thoroughly approved of it and it made me
close the covers with a smile. I would love to see this book turned
into a movie as it has some great moments which i think would translate
well to the screen. Abigail/Liz is a resourceful, charming, funny,
intelligent and wise character and Brooks is just swoon-worthy and cool
and honest and all good things you want from a hero.
If Ms. Roberts' other books are as well written and as much fun as The
Witness, I may have become a fan. I highly recommend The Witness as a
great summer read. It will make you forget about airport lounges, the
annoying child screaming for his parents around the pool, and it will
carry you off to have an adventure with Abigail and Brooks and some Very
Bad Men indeed. Sadly, the cover lets it down, as it is quite bland
and says pretty much nothing, but if you look past the obviousness of
it, the book is a lovely surprise. Definitely recommended!
