Silent Witness

By: Richard North Patterson

Narrated by: T. J. Edwards

Length: 17 hrs and 56 mins

Publisher's summary

A main selection of the Literary Guild

Silent Witness begins in 1967, in a small Midwestern town. Seventeen-year-old Tony Lord, Lake City's star athlete, seems destined for great things. His driving ambition is precisely what attracts Alison Taylor, the daughter of the town's leading family, and it is what sets Tony apart from his two closest friends: Sam Robb and Sam's girl, Sue Cash.

Suddenly, everything changes. Alison Taylor is brutally murdered, and Tony is the number one suspect. The town turns against him. His friendship with Sam is destroyed. And Tony leaves Lake City, vowing never to return.

Twenty-seven years later, an urgent phone call from Sue changes Tony's life once more. For Tony Lord is now a San Francisco lawyer - a relentless advocate dedicated to the defense of his clients. Sue's plea for help is one he cannot ignore: Her husband, Sam Robb, now the vice principal of Lake City High School, is suspected of the murder of a female student. In seeking to save him, Tony must confront not only the fear that Sam is a murderer, but the concealed passions and buried truths that underlie Alison's death so long ago.

©1997 Richard North Patterson (P)1996 by Random House Audio Publishing, Inc., All Rights Reserved Under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions, Reproduced by Arrangement with Random House Audio Publishing, Inc.

Critic reviews

"This generation's best writer of legal thrillers.... His strongest fiction to date." (Entertainment Weekly)

"Enthralling.... The denouement is powerful." (Los Angeles Times Book Review)

"Intense courtroom drama.... As startling as the bang of a gavel." (People)

Back to High School

This is a very good (but not great) book by RN Patterson. I thoroughly enjoyed it, though if you're a realist, some of the coincidences may be a problem for you. It definitely gives the listener a lot to reflect on regarding life purposes, worthwhile goals, and the nature of friendship.

I gave it a good raiding . Would like to here more

The story made me wont to lesion to more. The plot was very good. It keep you on your seat.

Great Book

Well written. Suspenseful and page turning. Enjoyed the narration. Did not figure it out till close to the end.

Not the narrator's fault

The good: the narrator - not the best, but good. The bad: the plot! If you have read at least a couple of legal thrillers before, you will not be the least surprised when the real killer is unmasked. In fact, categorizing this book as a legal thriller is only 50% accurate. The first-person narrator of the book (not the narrator of the audio recording) becomes ever more unlikeable and pathetic as the snail's-pace plot grinds on. This is partly intentional on the part of the author - a successful criminal defense lawyer sometimes relies on morally repugnant (or at least amoral) tactics. But it is also the result of an inexplicably fierce loyalty between the protagonist and his boyhood friend cum accused murderer - even the lengthy flashback that consumes most of the first half of the book failed to provide an adequate basis for the purportedly inextricable link between the two.

Bad Quality

The audio was so low, that even with the volume of my player at maximum, I could barely hear the book.

great listen

highly recommended.

Same plot as another book by same author

What disappointed you about Silent Witness?

I've listened to this Richard North Patterson book, and one other-The Spire. Both books have the same plot: highly successful, sensitive, brilliant, wise-beyond-his-years lawyer returns to the scene of a traumatic experience from his youth, rights past wrongs, and emerges even wiser and more sensitive. And of course he gets/keeps the girl! Odd contrast between the overall unlikely, romance-novel plot and the gritty descriptions of dead bodies, crime scenes, and sex scenes. I won't listen to (or read) another book by this author.

What do you think your next listen will be?

Donna Tartt's The Goldfinch

You didn’t love this book... but did it have any redeeming qualities?

The first time around I kept going because I wanted to find out what happened. The second time around I didn't have to because I already knew!

not too gripping

I thought there would need to be some kind of twist at the end of the story, especially since there were no surprises along the way. However, the only twist was one that I'd suspected all along, but just didn't have quite enough information to confirm. The story was written all right, just not as gripping as some. But with the dramatic reviews, I was expecting much more.

Surprisingly mediocre

If you're someone who thrives on pubescent melodrama you'll probably like this book; however, I found it to be surprisingly mediocre, especially after all those rave reviews. The characters were simplistic, sappy, and not believable.

This is a solidly mediocre book

There is nothing in this book that elevates it past a solid C/C-. The plot is weak, the legal and courtroom drama are barely passable, the detective work is non-existent, the development of the characters is veneer-thin, the melodrama is thick and heavy, and the prose is sophomoric. All told, I can't imagine how anyone can like this book. I bought it based on same rave reviews. I'll make sure that I don't buy again a book that was raved-reviewed by those folks.