*2.5
Soooooooooo this wasn't not a good book. It just, it really wasn't my thing. I came into this expecting more of a mystery thriller set in the real world but out of it. Instead I got a mystery thriller set in the real world about the real world. Which is not my thing in thrillers. So objectively it was a good book, just not my book. Maybe I'll come back to it later but not likely.

On the surface, Leigh Coulton has escaped her traumatic childhood and done well for herself - she's a successful and respected defense attorney with a smart and sparky teenaged daughter, and if she's getting divorced, at least she and her husband still care deeply for each other. But when a rape case lands on her desk, Leigh's carefully constructed life begins to unravel. Because she knows the defendant. And he knows her. And he knows what Leigh did twenty years ago...

The only person Leigh can turn to for help is her estranged sister, Calli, a drug addict and the only link to Leigh's horrifying past. But can the two women find a solution to the fix Leigh has found herself in? Or will the sisters need to run again, and this time keep on running?

This is a dark, compelling book, with explosive twists from the beginning - the first one comes a few pages in, and then the book does not let up. But what I loved was that the relationship between the two sisters - and in fact, all the relationships in the book - was so carefully and skilfully written. You really believe in these people, and their problems, and their complicated intimacies, and their struggles.

It's probably my favourite Karin Slaughter book yet, and I will be thinking about this one for a long time. The ending left me gutted, and the characters were so compelling, it felt like they were real people I didn't want to leave behind. An excellent domestic thriller, just brilliantly done.

Thank you to NetGalley and to the publisher, who provided me with a free ARC copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 and a the stars in the galaxy

This is such a gripping story filled with plots and twists that left me speechless

One incredible standalone that will send shivers down your spine.

Karin Slaughter is a master of the pen and she never disappoints

Great read
Another book which will have you gripped from the first page.
It has plenty of twists and turns and will have you on the edge of your seat.
Love this author
Thanks NetGalley

REVIEW
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
False Witness by Karin Slaughter

Callie and Leigh are now all grown up, but while Leigh is a lawyer able to send her daughter to private school, Callie is sleeping in motels, working with animals, selling drugs and getting high every night.

Both sisters are hiding a secret, but one that's been haunting them for the last 23 years. It's a secret that could ruin their lives for good.

So when part of their past catches up with them, the sisters must face was happened 23 years ago doing whatever they can to keep the secret hidden.

A stand-alone novel by Slaughter, set within covid times, which keeps you on the edge of your seat guessing.

I had wondered how authors would write, and change scenes due to the pandemic and Slaughter does this very well. Writing about people's fears and anxiety, through sanitisation of hands and covering the face, this author is so aware of surroundings in her writing and it continues to show within this difficult time.

My favourite character was Walter, someone so loyal but strong; pushed to the limits his emotions come out, but he is still so true to himself.

Callie was a badass, she did everything right in all the wrong ways; but, for this character, life was about survival as well as taking away the pain, mentally and physically.

The character of Leigh was strong, and showed a woman fighting to survive but also keep everything around her together and under control. Within this novel this I felt this character also showed the most growth as events unravelled around her.

I could not put this book down! I have read this author before and she does not disappoint.

Giving you excitement, suspense and action all rolled into one.

A novel I would highly recommend!

A new standalone thriller from Karin Slaughter following two sisters - Leigh and Callie when their lives are turned around for the second time when an incident from their past is brought right to their present.

I love Karin Slaughter, so when I saw there was an opportunity to read another of hers I jumped at the chance. This one is a little on the slow side to begin with but when it got going, it <b>really</b> got going. It took me a couple weeks to read the first 70% and then I read the remaining 30% in two days! I felt like my heart should have been racing and I couldn't get the words in to my eyes quick enough, I was just desperate to find out what was going to happen.

Not a mystery, or a suspense in the typical thriller fashion as you know <b>exactly</b> who the "bad guy" is from the very beginning, however that doesn't detract from the story. It is definitely worth sticking with if you're finding the start a little slower.

<i>Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for an advanced digital copy in exchange for my honest review</i>

I have read other Karen Slaughter novels but False Witness is one of a kind. Absolutely superb. Every aspect of the relationships between the sisters is spot on. The plot is tightly wound right up to the last moment and for me the ending was so very, very emotional. All the strands brought together beautifully.

This novel is and deserves to be a sure fire hit.

It has been a while since I last read a book by Karin Slaughter, and this is a chilling, disturbing standalone thriller.

Prepare yourself for some gruelling descriptions of child abuse, rape and murder. Having said that, you will be well on the side of the two main characters, sisters Callie and Leigh ! They have been involved from their early years with an abuser, and the results of this are reflected in Callie's drug addiction, but also in Leigh's determination to succeed; she is a top notch lawyer.

The past comes back to hit them both square on and what that involves is a rollercoaster of a read. There are also references to the pandemic, as it is written in the present day but all in all a good thriller.

I recommend this as a thrilling book, right up to date with current events, fears, and life!

Karin Slaughter never dissapoints, I really liked this book, thank you Netgalley for the oportunity. I missed Will but I love reading her standalone novels, I couldn't stop reading it!.

False Witness by Karin Slaughter is her latest psychological thriller to be released. One of my very favourite authors I was crossing everything that I could be a part of this tour. I always look forward to a new book from her and expect extremely high standards too. I needn't have worried at all. Karin Slaughter has brought a story that is dark, possibly darker than any other book of hers I have read before.
Leigh and her sister Callie are not bad people – but one night, more than two decades ago, they did something terrible. And the result was a childhood tarnished by secrets, broken by betrayal, devastated by violence.
Years later, Leigh has pushed that night from her mind and become a successful lawyer – but when she is forced to take on a new client against her will, her world begins to spiral out of control.
Because the client knows the truth about what happened twenty-three years ago. He knows what Leigh and Callie did. And unless they stop him, he’s going to tear their lives apart …
Just because you didn’t see the witness … doesn’t mean he wasn’t there.
Leigh is meeting her new client but the successful defence lawyer ends up face to face with someone who transports her back twenty three years. To the night that Leigh and her sister Callie did something terrible. Something they have done their best to forget but he knows they did it and is determined to make them pay.
A Karin Slaughter book is always a happening. She writes the darkest, deepest, most twisted and sometimes brutal books. She does not spare anybody's feelings and she delves into subjects that are what could be classed as 'untouchable'. 'False Witness' brings this and even more. She has created a story that has evil at the heart of it. It spreads through the story, slowly and it has the power to make you feel uneasy. This may not be the book for you if you are a tad faint hearted. What I will say is, it my be dark but Karin Slaughter has superbly balanced it out with the emotional storyline too.
As always with this author it is a fast paced read in which it builds up the tension and atmosphere slowly until you are almost biting your nails in expectation. Another thing to mention is that Covid is very present in this book which, I thought, made it all the more real for me. In retrospect I feel that including Covid made the storyline that little more horrifying as I was kept in the moment.
Another superbly crafted book from one of the most skilled thriller writers of today and one not to miss.
Thanks to Anne Cater of Random Things Tours and to Harper Collins for my beautiful copy of the book.

Another fantastic read by Karin - running with two parallel timelines (including 2020, so strange reading about covid whilst we are still in the midst of it), it follows two estranged sisters with very different lives, both haunted by something which happened in their early teens.

Very pacey and so aborbing. I couldn't put it down.
Thank you all for this ARC copy - 5*

What would you do to protect your little sister especially when your mother cares more about animals than her children?
This standalone book exceeded my expectations - Leigh is an extraordinary character and her sister Callie is as strong as steel. They have both had to be there for each other.
Thank you NetGalley for access to a wonderful book which kept me up past my bedtime!

This is my first standalone from Karin Slaughter, and I am pleased to say that I loved this one as much as the series that she has written.

The first chapters throws a twist at us, and from there, the tension is on!

I liked the characters - I felt sorry for Leigh and Callie, and had to keep reading to see if there was a happy outcome for these two troubled ladies.

Another well-written story by an author who is moving up my list of favourites with each new book of her that I read.

A stand alone book from Karin Slaughter.
The story centres on estranged siblings Callie and Leigh, who a drawn together as demons from their past return to threaten them.
Leigh is a successful lawyer, who is assigned to represent a man who is accused of rape, he turns out to be someone from her past, who can unravel her life. This means she needs to reconnect with her sister Callie, who is a drug addict and not at the best time of her life. Can they help each other?

In true Karin Slaughter style she leaves no holds barred and describes in detail necessary to the plot, but may be a trigger warning to others.
You cannot help but be drawn to the characters and feel involved in the whole saga

Another recommendation for Karin Slaughter fans

WoW..........False Witness by Karin Slaughter is stand-alone thriller and I loved it! and was another superb, gritty and brutal read, that can have you saying OMG out aloud especially as it's has a lot of hard drug use and violence, with sexual abuse and rape content etc so it's not for the faint hearted! Hence why it took me a while to read it as it was a stop start book that just took my breath away in so many places. But, I had to finish it and I am so glad I did.

This latest book is stand-alone thriller and I loved it! and I highly recommend it

Thank you to NetGalley, HarperCollins, and the author for a gifted copy. This is my honest review.

Reading a Karin Slaughter novel is usually a stomach clenching process, full of dare not read passages which, of course, you do. And False Witness is no exception. Across two timelines - 1989 and 2021 (amidst the ever present Covid tribulations) Ms Slaughter has given as much prominence to social issues as she has to this page turning thriller. Two sisters Callie and Leigh both babysit for Buddy and Linda’s son Trevor but both fail to confide in each other the abuse they suffer. Their lives centre on abuse at home too. Fast forward to 2021 and Leigh is a lawyer with a devoted husband and beautiful daughter, while Callie is portrayed as living in Iowa and married to a farmer. This is a graphically gruesome novel which covers drug abuse, alcoholism, paedophilia and a serial rapist who uses extreme violence. There is a rich seam of human interest and it is Callie and Leigh’s relationship that wins through this emotional rollercoaster. Thanks to NetGalley and HarperCollins for the ARC.

What a superb book. This is Karin Slaughter at her very best. What would you do to protect everything you hold dear is the premise of this book centreing around two sisters and the events which change their lives. Literally could not put this down as it had me hooked from page one.

I really enjoyed this book.

It twisted with your emotions right until the end.

This story is about 2 women, sisters, etc ho love each other, however they have abuse all around them. Dreadful upbringing which Leigh manages to grow from but Callie goes down a life of addiction, drugs and tries so hard to get herself in track.

It basically is a tale of revenge. With a vile man that came from another vile man.

I don’t want to elaborate more as sometimes it can put some of reading if you ket the full story out! I didn’t read lots of previous reviews to avoid this. The book cover says enough. Very good.

The book is very well written and I will be looking up more of her work.

Read it you won’t be disappointed.

I am really torn about this book. It's the first one I read from this author and I like the way she writes, I like that she incorporates current facts to give a bit more contest however, I didn't like that there were references to COVID every couple of pages, especially in the first half of the book. This year has not been easy for anyone, and having a reminder of that in a book, something that I use to escape reality, was not pleasant.
Thankfully, as the story developed, COVID was left a bit more on the side and that made me enjoy the book.
I liked the twist and turns and how the story ended.

Would have to give 3.5 stars.

Another absolutely brilliant book by this author, have read all her books and thoroughly enjoyed them all . Great storyline and characters even though it was a hard read sometimes. I highly recommend this book 5 star