Witness

Publication Date: 20 December 2016.

Imagine being young and in love, the man of your dreams literally having run into your life during a marathon in support of cancer research. He's kind, charming, great with your ailing mother and most importantly, he adores you. Now, fast forward six months. Imagine living in fear, being verbally and physically abused for the slightest things, not being able to leave the house without permission, always having your guard up. Well, welcome to Rebecca's world. So, when Rebecca testifies against Solomon, her fiance, she knows that her life is about to change forever. When Solomon gets out of prison he'll want revenge, which means that she needs to disappear. But Solomon has other plans for her. It's time to play a game, one in which Rebecca will be the sole witness to a host of terrible crimes.

This is a nail biter of a read with tension that increases with each chapter. Jumping between the current day and Rebecca's diary entries from 2007, a vivid picture is portrayed of her life with and after Solomon. I found the characters to be very real, although I did want to slap Rebecca at times for the decisions that she made. Having said that though, it's impossible to imagine how I would act after months at the hands of an abuser. The author, Caroline Mitchell, is a former police detective and I have no doubt that she draws on her experiences in order to create her stories. I could perhaps be exceptionally picky and say that certain elements of the story might have been slightly far fetched, but hey, this is fiction after all. And there was a nice little twist that I didn't see coming! Overall, this is a great read that I really enjoyed.

My rating: * * * *

Thanks to author Caroline Mitchell, the publisher Thomas & Mercer and Netgalley for my review copy. It was my pleasure to provide an honest review.