Wednesday, September 26, 2018

The Lonely Witness; William Boyle


AUTHOR: William Boyle
PUBLISHER: Pegasus
PUB. YEAR: 2018
SETTING:  Brooklyn, NY
FORMAT:  - Library
RATING: 4/5 stars


Amy is a young, lonely woman just out of a relationship.  Once a party girl, she now spends her time visiting the housebound and administering communion.  One day, one of her clients, Mrs. E, an elderly woman with dementia, mentions something which disturbs Amy and makes her concerned for Mrs. E's safety.  Mrs. E. reports that a young thug named Vincent has been using his mother's key to enter her apartment unannounced. Amy's curiosity gets the best of her and when she decides to follow Vincent, she witnesses something she wishes she hadn't and her life slowly spirals out of control.

This story totally took me by surprise and it wasn't at all what I was expecting after reading the first chapter.  The protagonist, Amy, does some incredibly dumb things along the way yet, I kept hoping she would find her purpose in life and come to terms with her dysfunctional childhood.

This author is new to me and he certainly knows how to write a character driven mystery. He also created a great sense of place and made me feel like I was right there watching the story unfold.  Although parts were a bit slow but, this was still a very enjoyable read.

14 comments:

  1. It's always fun to root for a good character who does dumb things. I'm glad you enjoyed this.

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  2. Character driven is good I feel. Glad you enjoyed it.

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  3. I like the sound of this one. Will put it on my list. Yes, sometimes characters are quite clueless, but I do like character driven novels. And plot driven novels. And...Ha!

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    1. Kay, this was not at all what I was expecting. Not the best mystery ever but, engaging and a quick read as well.

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  4. Now I'm curious about what Vincent was doing. Nothing good I imagine!

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  5. That one does sound kind of interesting!

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  6. So intriguing! It sounds like this one might not turn out the way one would expect. And it deals with an important topic: elder abuse.

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    1. I do like when there are elderly chapters, but this one played a smaller part than I was expecting.

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  7. I like the sound of this one too... a new author to me. I like that term TSTL... Too Stupid To Live... it describes perfectly the actions of these protagonists!

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