False Witness
He saw what you did.
He knows who you are…
AN ORDINARY LIFE…
Leigh Collier has worked hard to build what looks like a normal life. She’s an up-and-coming defense attorney at a prestigious law firm in Atlanta, would do anything for her sixteen-year-old daughter Maddy, and is managing to successfully coparent through a pandemic after an amicable separation from her husband Walter.
HIDES A DEVASTATING PAST...
But Leigh’s ordinary life masks a childhood no one should have to endure … a childhood tarnished by secrets, broken by betrayal, and ultimately destroyed by a brutal act of violence.
BUT NOW THE PAST IS CATCHING UP…
On a Sunday night at her daughter’s school play, she gets a call from one of the firm's partners who wants Leigh to come on board to defend a wealthy man accused of multiple counts of rape. Though wary of the case, it becomes apparent she doesn't have much choice if she wants to keep her job. They're scheduled to go to trial in one week. When she meets the accused face-to-face, she realizes that it’s no coincidence that he’s specifically asked for her to represent him. She knows him. And he knows her. More to the point, he may know what happened over twenty years ago, and why Leigh has spent two decades avoiding her past.
AND TIME IS RUNNING OUT.
Suddenly she has a lot more to lose than this case. The only person who can help is her younger, estranged sister Callie—the last person Leigh would ever want to drag into this after all they’ve been through. But with the life-shattering truth in danger of being revealed, she has no choice...
Reviews
#1 in the UK
#1 in Ireland
#1 in the Netherlands
#1 in Belgium
#8 in the US
An “Amazon Best Book of 2021” in the Mystery category
Amazon Editor’s Pick
“Slaughter skillfully and assuredly relates the violence of a sociopath, while creating an emotional connection to lives touched by tragedy and addressing current events.”
—Library Journal Starred Review
“Equal parts hyperrealistic thriller and epic tragedy, Slaughter’s latest is pitch-perfect storytelling.”
—Booklist Starred Review
“A shocking tragedy at the end will keep readers transfixed. Slaughter is writing at the top of her game.”
—PW Starred Review
“Karin Slaughter is always good, but in the mesmerizing False Witness, she’s downright great…The truth about False Witness is that it’s not to be missed.”
— Providence Journal
“False Witness is a visceral, gut-wrenching page turner that will have you reading with one eye closed as she works to pry your eyes wide open.”
— The Bill Thrill
“A shared secret comes back haunt two sisters, who are forced to confront a dark and terrifying reality. Rich characters and deft plotting make this an unputdownable story that will move you to the core. This is Slaughter's best yet."
—Camilla Läckberg
“Slaughter offers us a high-stakes thriller that handles the tragedy of addiction with empathy and grace. Her heroines are believable, flawed and courageous.”
—Oyinkan Braithwaite
“Heart-stopping one moment, heart-breaking the next. Slaughter at her finest."
—Cara Hunter
“Karin Slaughter’s False Witness is a twisty, searingly contemporary mystery steeped in a dark past, and she weaves a story that catches your breath and keeps you gasping and guessing until the end.”
—Stacey Abrams
“Karin Slaughter is a master of the thriller genre and her genius comes through on every page, in every character, through every plot twist. False Witness is so suspenseful, it’s tension palpable, and the action so visual, I can’t wait to see its brilliance in film.”
—Francesca Momplaisir
"Slaughter has written a wickedly sharp and arresting tour de force that blends a riveting plot and emotional subterfuge with the kind of propulsive prose that makes False Witness absolutely unputdownable."
—Lauren Francis-Sharma
