Witness 8 by Steve Cavanagh
A masterfully written crime story, Witness 8 is a page turner which will keep you up way past your bedtime and remain with you giving you the creeps! The front cover tells us that the witness is more twisted than the killer so there is no secret about that right from the beginning. Ruby Johnson is a chameleon; wealthy people trust her as nanny to their most precious possessions-their children- but ..."There's something wrong with Ruby Johnson." Cavanagh makes this clear from the get-go. The reader is given access to the cold, brutal, heartless and manipulative workings of Ruby's mind. She is clever and she has no remorse. What she will do keeps the reader in horrified suspense as it is clear that she is capable of anything. Two older women see through Ruby. There is a surprising twist in the Epilogue when she is recognised by someone else but most people see her as a sweet, pretty, reliable young 22- year-old girl- a lovely nanny for their children.
Witness 8 is the eighth book in the Eddie Flynn series. It can be read as a stand alone. Eddie (the main character) was a conman in the past, brought up street savvy and with many useful contacts on the street. Now a trial lawyer, he has to defend an innocent man accused of murder. Eddie has an unconventional approach to working his cases. He is blisteringly brave and whip-smart and heavy prices are put on his head by both the underworld and corrupt police. Hitmen abound, danger lurks at all moments and Eddie must stay one-step ahead to save his own life and to clear the name of the accused.
The plot is full of unseen twists and the end- though right in most ways is also wrong but strangely satisfying in its wrongness. The characters are rounded. Even the most unpleasant possess flaws, ambiguities and complexities that build sympathy and empathy in the reader. This reader for one will be waiting to see if any of the characters (beside Eddie) in Witness 8 reappear in a subsequent novel in the Eddie Flynn series. Two of these characters in particular could well have much further misadventure and rotten work to get on with in the fertile world of crime and corruption where they operate. Is it possible to ask an author to keep on working with certain characters? What better commendation could be given to a book than a request for a sequel.
Ultimately Witness 8 could be about brokenness and belonging. It could be a meditation on the horrors created by violence and trauma and lack of acceptance- of how a mind can be broken and what that brokenness can lead to. Hope and restoration is also a theme.
Steven Cavanagh is a critically acclaimed Sunday Times best-selling author of the Eddie Flynn series. A million copies have been sold in the UK. Addictive reading!
Themes: Murder, criminal gangs, police and legal corruption, dysfunctional families, the criminal mind.
Wendy Jeffrey