Silent Witness
by Richard North Patterson
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Book Summary Information
Author: Richard North PattersonEdition: Mass Market Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 1997-08-30
ISBN: 0345404769
Number of pages: 512
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Book Reviews of Silent Witness
Book Review: STILL A THRILLER SECOND TIME AROUND
Summary: 5 Stars
I READ THIS BOOK WHEN IT FIRST CAME OUT AND FORGOT ABOUT IT OVER THE YEARS. IT DIDN'T TAKE LONG TO REMEMBER THE STORY OF TONY LORD AND ALISON TAYLOR IN THEIR LOVE AFFAIR AT AGE SEVENTEEN. I KNEW THE KILLER BUT COULDN'T REMEMBER THE TRIAL AND OUTCOME. SO I READ IT AGAIN AND IT WAS JUST AS EXCITING AS THE FIRST READING. SAM ROBB AND HIS GIRL FRIEND, SUE. WERE BEST FRIENDS WITH TONY AND ALISON. THE BOYS WERE COMPETITIVE SPORTS JOCKS AND VIEING FOR THE SENIOR AWARD AS BEST ATLETE OF THE YEAR. BUT AFTERR ALISON'S BRUTAL MURDER THE SMALL TOWN BLAMED TONY FOR HER DEATH BUT THERE WAS NO EVIDENCE TO INDITE HIM. AFTR FINISHING HIGH SCHOOL TONY WENT ON TO HARVARD AND BECAME A LAWYER. TWENTY SOME YEARS LATER TONY RECEIVES A CALL FROM SUE, NOW SAM'S WIFE. SAM HAS BEEN ACCUSED OF KILLING A SIXTEEN YEAR OLD GIRL WHO WAS A STUDENT AT THE SCHOOL WHERE SAM IS VICE PRINCIPAL. TONY DECIDES TO RETURN TO THE HOME TOWN HE HAD LEFT BEHIND TO ACT AS SAM'S DEFENSE ATTORNEY, GRATIS, BECAUSE SAM HASN'T BEEN ABLE TO ADVANCE IN HIS FIELD AS TONY HAS. AFTER ALL THESE YEARS SAM STILL FEELS INFERIOR AND IN NEED TO COMPETE WITH TONY. TONY FEELS THE TOWN STILL REMEMBERS ALISON'S DEATH AND THE FACT THAT TONY WAS NEVER ACTUALLY CLEARED OF BEING THE MAIN SUSPECT. HE FINDS HIMSELF GOING THRU THE SAME FEELINS AGAIN AS HEINTERVIEWS SAM, AND SAM IS STILL THE SAME TRYING TO KEEP ONE UP ON TONY. THE TRIAL BRINGS OUT SO MANY HALF TRUTHS THAT EVEN TONY DOESN'T KNOW IF HIS CLIENT IS INNOCENT ASSAM CLAIMS TO BE. THE JURY IS HUNGAND SAM GETS OFF. BUT TONY AND SUE HAVE A MEETING BEFORE TONY LEAVES TO RETURN TO HIS WIFE AND SON INSAN FRANCISCO. SUE TELLS TONY OFHER THOUGHTS REGARDING ALISON'SDEATH AND TONY FINDS HE MUST STAY AFEW MORE DAYS TO GATHER MORE INFORMATION RE THE KILLER HE NOWSUSPECTS. A SUPRISE ENDING IS AFITTING GIFT OF JUSTICE TO MORE THAN JUST A FEW OF THE TOWN'S PEOPLE. JAMES NORTH PATTERSON ISA PRO IN COURT ROOM ACTION AND NOTSO DETAILED THAT YOU LOSE INTERESTAS SOME OF THE WRITERS IN THISTYPE OF FICTION.
Summary of Silent Witness
Attorney Tony Lord left his hometown and the bitter memories of his girlfriend's murder behind. Now, twenty-eight years later, he's pulled back to Lake City to defend his closest high school friend against a charge of homicide.Sam Robb, the married father of two, is a local football legend. But he was also the last to see sixteen-year-old Marcie Calder alive, and as shocking forensic evidence at the trial reveals, he is the father of her unborn child.
Probing the darkest recesses of love and friendship, Lord will discover things too disturbing to ignore--that Sam wasn't the only one in Lake City with a motive for killing Marcie, that small-town secrets can hide devastating betrayals, and that the past has a way of repeating itself . . . even in murder.
In each successive novel since Degree of Guilt, Richard North Patterson has experimented with flashbacks and past tragedies to drive the present suspense of his legal thrillers. Silent Witness is, perhaps, his greatest achievement with the technique as his hero, Tony Lord, is haunted by the 27-year-old murder of his high school girlfriend, Alison Taylor.
In the late 1960s, Tony is the star of the Lake City, Ohio, high school football team. But when Alison is found strangled behind her house, even Tony's closest friend, Sam Robb, suspects him. Alison's true killer is never found, and Tony flees his home town to forge a career as a high-powered, high-profile San Francisco criminal attorney and marries a a movie star. Cutting to the present day, Tony is called back to Lake City to defend his old friend. Sixteen-year-old track star Marcie Calder was found dead on the shore of Lake Erie, and Sam, now the overweight assistant principal and track coach of Lake City High, is the accused. A series of scandals slowly erodes Tony's confidence in Sam's innocence as Tony comes to terms with his own troubled past.
As with Patterson's previous work, Silent Witness is a novel with subtle characters who happen to be involved in a compelling (and authentic-seeming) criminal trial. For dedicated Patterson fans, some insight into the life of actress Stacey Tarrant is a special treat. She's Tony's wife in the present world of the novel but was the lover of Senator James Kilcannon before the senator was assassinated. James was the brother of Kerry Kilcannon, the enigmatic presidential candidate at the center of Patterson's 1998 blockbuster, No Safe Place. --Patrick O'Kelley
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