False Witness by Karin Slaughter

Leigh Collier has worked hard to build what looks like a normal life. She has a good job as a defence attorney, a daughter doing well in school, and even her divorce is relatively civilised – her life is just as unremarkable as she’d always hoped it would be. But Leigh’s ordinary life masks a childhood which was far from average … a childhood tarnished by secrets, broken by betrayal, and finally torn apart by a devastating act of violence.

Then a case lands on her desk – defending a wealthy man accused of rape. It’s the highest profile case she’s ever been given – a case which could transform her career, if she wins. But when she meets the accused, she realises that it’s no coincidence that he’s chosen her as his attorney. She knows him. And he knows her. More to the point, he knows what happened twenty years ago, and why Leigh has spent two decades running. And time is running out.

My Thoughts

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Sisters Callie and Leigh Collier had a far from perfect childhood, with an abusive mother and both girls being sexually abused by a man who’s children they babysat for. When Callie realises that Buddy has been filming the abuse he has inflicted upon her a heated argument occurs, and seeing red Callie stabs him. When Leigh then helps to finish the job, the sisters see no way out of the situation – other than to bury the body and try to forget that night ever happened.

Years later, Leigh becomes a defence attorney and finds herself representing a violent rapist, who turns out to be the young boy she had helped babysit all those years ago. In a chilling turn of events, he reveals that he knows everything that took place back then – from the assaults Callie had to endure, to the murder the sisters committed and quickly covered up. Not only does he know about their troubled past, but he also knows all about Leigh’s husband, daughter – in fact her entire family, leaving Leigh with little choice but to do what he says or others will suffer.

This was one of those books that had me well and truly hooked from the moment I turned the first page. Karin Slaughter has such a fascinating and incredibly detailed way with words that really immerses you in the story and the lives of the characters in which she has created.

Leigh and Callie Collier are characters that your heart goes out to from the start. They have to face more in their childhood than most people face in their entire lives, and yet somehow they have still managed to come out the other side of it – granted, with a fair amount of trauma and emotional scars that carry through to their adult lives. With each passing chapter we get to know more about these women as individuals, and get a better understanding as to how they have attempted to piece their lives back together.

The storyline is utterly gripping and perfectly structured, with the tension and suspense growing gradually with every passing chapter I really did find it difficult to put this book down as I simply needed to know what would happen next. The plot is unique and intense, it ticks all the boxes you want to find within a thriller!.

About the Author

*Thank you to Anne Cater at Random Things Tours, Harper Collins and Karin Slaughter for providing me with a gifted copy of this book in return for my honest review. All thoughts are entirely my own and not influenced in any way.*