Witness by Caroline Mitchell.

Rebecca is a witness and sends her fiance Solomon to prison for the murder of Jake. Ten years later, Solomon is released from prison on license and he wants revenge.

I found Witness a very powerful story. It is a psychological thriller and Caroline’s writing is top quality. She tells a very, very creepy tale and the tension she creates is incredible. Right from the start of her story, my alarm bells were ringing. She mentions things casually in passing and I thought “hang on?” or “you stupid cow!”.

Caroline has the art of great storytelling and the characters of Rebecca and Solomon are fully developed. By the end of this novel, you feel as though Rebecca and Solomon are real people who you have worked alongside for maybe a decade.

I liked how Caroline chose to write some chapters from Rebecca’s point of view but others from Solomon’s side. You get both sides of this story and it does include some domestic abuse.

The story does not build with a linear timeline but wanders back and forth from before Solomon was sent to prison and the current day. Normally this back and forth would drive me bonkers but Caroline used this time shifting purely for you to understand the characters as the psychology is quite deep. Bear with it because Caroline tells a great story and a linear timeline would not have worked.

I loved the way details were thrown into this story, which forced you to join up the dots. As you read through the chapters, you constantly think “I wonder if?” and this added so much enjoyment to this book because you felt like a fly on the wall. Because the author is a woman and Rebecca was a victim of domestic abuse, readers may feel this book is aimed only at women. But men should give this book a read too because it is very, very good. Hen pecked husbands could even fantasise about having some control over their wives!

Witness is a great story driven by fear and I can find nothing wrong with this novel. Okay, I did wonder who the second man was in the video but that does not really matter! Also the cyclist who spat on a character was later referred to as a jogger but that would be nit picking! Yes, some readers may find the subject of domestic abuse to be uncomfortable but bear with it. Sex is mentioned but there is no graphic sex. Sean who is Rebecca’s husband after Solomon goes to prison, is a vet and animals are included in the story but no harm comes to an animal. What you have is an excellent psychological thriller that gets the top score of 5 stars from me.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher Thomas & Mercer for giving me a copy of this book on the understanding that I provide an honest review.