Scan barcode
heyitsmichellehamm's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
This book gave me so many feelings. It was such a wild ride and even now at the end, I'm not sure how to feel.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape, Murder, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Stalking, Abandonment, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Blood, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Gore, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, and Violence
kfalls's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Leigh and Calli are sisters who had a devastating childhood. Now they've grown up and thought that they had put their past behind them -- of course, that's never the case. The past comes back to haunt them, and it's worse than ever.
Karin Slaughter did not disappoint with this one! While I really enjoy the Will Trent series, I live for Slaughter's stand alone's, so I was so excited when I was approved for the audio on NetGalley. I love how different False Witness is from other books. After I heard the first chapter, I was hooked and could barely put this down. False Witness touches on so many different topics -- COVID, addiction, family/sisterhood, childhood guilt and more. Slaughter really finds a way to weave all of it together into one truly great story. I highly recommend False Witness.
Once COVID started becoming a present storyline in television, I've been wondering how I would feel about reading books about COVID. While False Witness isn't strictly about COVID, it touches on the pandemic -- there's a lot of mention of mask wearing, long haulers, etc. I thought this was really tastefully done here where it added to the storyline for sure, but definitely didn't take away from it either. I really liked Slaughter's note at the end about why she chose to include it and how COVID has affected her personally as well.
Karin Slaughter did not disappoint with this one! While I really enjoy the Will Trent series, I live for Slaughter's stand alone's, so I was so excited when I was approved for the audio on NetGalley. I love how different False Witness is from other books. After I heard the first chapter, I was hooked and could barely put this down. False Witness touches on so many different topics -- COVID, addiction, family/sisterhood, childhood guilt and more. Slaughter really finds a way to weave all of it together into one truly great story. I highly recommend False Witness.
Once COVID started becoming a present storyline in television, I've been wondering how I would feel about reading books about COVID. While False Witness isn't strictly about COVID, it touches on the pandemic -- there's a lot of mention of mask wearing, long haulers, etc. I thought this was really tastefully done here where it added to the storyline for sure, but definitely didn't take away from it either. I really liked Slaughter's note at the end about why she chose to include it and how COVID has affected her personally as well.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Murder, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual content, Sexual violence, and Violence
tashm's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
A much anticipated Slaughter stand-alone that kept me well and truly hooked. Leigh is a sassy defence attorney who gets a request to represent a high profile client accused of rape. She's read about him in the paper and can't understand why he would request her, until she walks into the conference room for the first time and realises that she knows him very well. And he knows an awful lot about her.
Leigh and her sister Callie (endearingly short for Calliope but pronounced Callie-ope as their mother didn't understand how it was supposed to be pronounced) have been running from their past for a long time and are brilliant characters. Leigh is outwardly poised and powerful but actually incredibly vulnerable. Callie has coped with the assistance of opiates and a myriad of other drugs (CW: in addition to the usual Slaughter violence, there are graphic descriptions of intravenous drug use - I'm not squeamish but in the last chapter there was a scene that even made me grit my teeth!).
I am a huge fan of Slaughter's writing and really enjoyed this. I felt for the characters, particularly Callie, and adored her relationship with Dr Jerry. It wasn't quite as twisty and turny as some of her books are but there was a few solid surprises thrown in. It was more an exploration of what you would do to protect the people you love and the morality of decisions you make. It's also set in current time, so is full of references to masks, Covid-19 and the impact of that on the community/country.
All in all an excellent thriller - not my favourite of hers but a brilliant read that made me abandon all other reading plans!
Leigh and her sister Callie (endearingly short for Calliope but pronounced Callie-ope as their mother didn't understand how it was supposed to be pronounced) have been running from their past for a long time and are brilliant characters. Leigh is outwardly poised and powerful but actually incredibly vulnerable. Callie has coped with the assistance of opiates and a myriad of other drugs (CW: in addition to the usual Slaughter violence, there are graphic descriptions of intravenous drug use - I'm not squeamish but in the last chapter there was a scene that even made me grit my teeth!).
I am a huge fan of Slaughter's writing and really enjoyed this. I felt for the characters, particularly Callie, and adored her relationship with Dr Jerry. It wasn't quite as twisty and turny as some of her books are but there was a few solid surprises thrown in. It was more an exploration of what you would do to protect the people you love and the morality of decisions you make. It's also set in current time, so is full of references to masks, Covid-19 and the impact of that on the community/country.
All in all an excellent thriller - not my favourite of hers but a brilliant read that made me abandon all other reading plans!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Blood, Cursing, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Murder, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Violence
More...