The Witness

I have read this book at least ten times, maybe more. It is a book I turn to when I need comfort, a hug and definitely a laugh. Ms Robert’s knows a very smart person with no common sense, she nailed Abigail.Elizabeth at age sixteen is a graduate of college and starting pre-med Her mother is related to the Stepford wives. Brooks said it perfectly when he told her she had been abused by her mother her first sixteen years. One day she said NO to her mother. The same no any sixteen year old would have said. It led to death and running for twelve years.Brooks is the chief of police in his hometown. He recently moved back when his father had a health scare. Ms Abigail Lowery is intriguing, shy, wicked smart, doesn’t talk w anyone and very pleasing to Brook’s eyes. He decides he needs to visit Ms Lowery. Abigail has a big, ferocious guard dog. She has several registered guns (I love the one in the drawer next to the toothpaste.) She is a security consultant. Mostly she doesn’t understand why Brook’s keeps coming around. Why won’t he leave?!I do not know how Ms Robert’s was able to make Abigail so loving, funny, stunted, unsure, sure, confusing, perplexed but it is why I re-read this story. Brooks is perfect for Abigail. First flowers, first love, first holding hands, first I love you’s. You will fall in love with Abigail and cheer on a happy ending that, until Brooks, was never in her radar.Trust me this will be on your to be re-read shelf.

One of my favorite Nora Roberts books, I’ve read it so many times and still enjoy the story and characters.

Elizabeth"The barb in the arrow of childhood suffering is this: its intense loneliness, its intense ignorance."- Olive Schreiner,For me, Elizabeth Fitch is along the lines of Lisbeth Salander (TGWTDT). IQ off the charts, even though Lisbeth has to deal with her hardships, Elizabeth has her crosses to bear as well. That’s where the lines blur, yet their inner core of strength shine through, which puts them both in my top spot for female characters.Liz’s rebellion starts at 16. Her mother has been dictating her life up until this point. Where she goes to school, what she wears, who she sees outside of school, what she eats. She’s cold and not a mother at all. To her mother, Liz is a science project, someone she can mold, and control. Elizabeth is having none of it. They have a fight, her mother is off to a convention and she expects Elizabeth to take pre-med classes, with her mother’s colleague. Elizabeth doesn’t want to go, she was promised time off and her mother wants to hear none of it. Her mom walks out (her usual silent treatment) and goes on her merry way. Elizabeth hops in her mothers car and heads to the mall to actually find herself. New clothes, shoes, makeup, hair. She wants to watch the other girls interact with each other, talk about boys. She wanted all the things her mother wouldn’t allow her to have, a normal childhood.She meets up with Julie Masters by chance at the mall. Julie is a few years older than her, they went to school together, and wouldn’t it be Liz’s luck Julie just broke up with her boyfriend. They get to talking about going to clubs, but she doesn’t have ID. The two strike a deal. Julie helps Liz buy clothes, and makeup, and Liz would make them the fake Ids’.Julie picks her up with a cab, and they are on their way to a happening club owned by Russian mobsters. Which Liz knows, because she’s researched the place. (Her mother wants her to be a Doctor, but Liz wants to work for the FBI in their cyber crimes department) I can’t stress enough that Liz has a seriously high IQ, photographic memory, and social awkwardness. I couldn’t help but think maybe she was on the Spectrum, but regardless she knows facts and she’s very literal.They have drinks, dance, and catch the eye of Alexi and Ilya. The men wine and dine them, and decide they want to go back to Alexi’s house for some ‘fun’… Ilya gets called away at the last minute , Julie, Alexi, and Liz take off. This is where things go very, very, badly. Alexi has been stealing from Ilya’s father, was picked up by the police, and in the world of the Mafia, you’re a big fat liability. They send in their mechanics, and kill Alexi while Liz is outside regrouping from being sick from all the alcohol consumption, she watches the whole kill go down. Julie stumbles out of the bathroom while Alexi is lying on the floor dead, and they kill Julie as well. Ilya walks in and freaks out because the hit wasn’t suppose to take place until tomorrow night, knowing the girls were at the house. He also knows that Liz is somewhere on the property and she must die.Liz gets away, calls the police, goes through the story, FBI gets involved, they put her into protective custody and s*** gets doubly bad. Ilya’s father has a far reach; which means he has police, US Marshalls, and FBI in his pocket. The bad Marshalls set things into motion to kill Liz, which happens to be on her 17th birthday. She has formed deep emotional ties to her watchers, Terry and John. They treat her like a person, truly care about her, and she gobbles it up because she has never had these emotions or ties. Marshal Keegan, and Cosgrove show up to take over and ambush, John, and Terry, killing them both. As Marshal John Barrow lay dying he gives Liz his back-up gun and tells her to run. Out the window she goes and as she’s making her escape in a bad storm the house explodes behind her.Liz has been on the run ever since. We move on to Brook’s part of the story which takes us to a little town in the Ozarks. Brooks is the Sheriff of the town and he is intrigued with the newcomer that stays to herself. He noses around a bit, like any good cop and forms a relationship with Liz, who is now going by the name Abigail. This is where the story goes from fantastic to blow me away. This book is all about character. The ending is absolutely fantastic. I thought it was going to go one way and she blew me away with the outcome. I’ve read a lot of Nora Roberts/J.D. Robb books over the years, but this book, is by far one of her best books period.Favorite Quotes:“You… prevaricated so he’d feel some sympathy toward me and less curiosity about the cameras, the gun and so on.” “ I like ’pervaricated.’ It’s an important word, and classier than ’lied.’”“I’ve never been romantic, not before you. But you make me want moonlight, and wildflowers and whispers in the dark.”

Fantastic read to the last page! What an adventure! Looking forward to yet another novel by Nora Roberts. Thank you!

I loved the mystery, details, romance in this book. Nora’s fantasy books have been my favorites, but this is at the top now.

Well I love the book as I do all of hers but I need to know how the potatoes turned out. I also know what happened to Keegan, Cosgrove and Pickto. Maybe there could have been been a news report of some sort. And a paragraph or 2 of the melt down after the virus destroyed everything or maybe a description of the frantic attemp to fix/save it. Also in the beginning John had a boy and girl, at the trial she said 2 sons.

Awesome read! Nora Roberts at her best. Stayed up late to read, could not put it down even though it was a reread!

This is hands down my favourite book by Nora Roberts. It grabs your attention from the first. I highly recommend this book. Actually I recommend all her books. I have been a fan since she penned her first book. Robert's is a master wordsmith. Her stories are always an excellent read. The characters interesting and believable. Love, hate, or pity them each is memorable. I have never been disappointed in any of her works. There is a wide range of subject matter to explore whatever your preference.

Super intelligent 16 year old Elizabeth Fitch aka Abigail Lowery finally rebels against her mother's rigid rules and expectations, but whilst her rebellion starts wonderfully it ends in death and her life forever changing. Dr. Susan L. Fitch, Elizabeth's mother was so cold, heart ached for Elizabeth, her mother turns her back on her so very easily.Taken into protective custody, Elizabeth (Liz) is finally living, and enjoying herself, but when she and the US Marshals she adores are betrayed, she finds herself forced to run and hide. Years later under the name Abigail Lowery she lives a quiet life, with no friends, only going into town when she really needs to.Brooks Gleason took up the recently vacated position as Chief of Police when his father suffered a heart attack, and is enjoying being back home. He finds himself drawn to Abigail, her attempts to steer clear of him doing nothing to deter him, and the small arsenal she has as well as her home security system which is better than the town's bank having him more than a little curious about her past and life.Both MCs are likeable and a good fit. I liked how Abigail found herself baffled by Brooks. I also loved that Abigail could more than take care of herself.An enjoyable re-read. This time around I did feel the bad guys could have been fleshed out a bit more and had a more compelling role in the latter part of the book, but that didn't stop me from being entertained.Potential Triggers: Reference to domestic violence

I feel a little torn only scoring this a 3 star and I'll explain why, the best I can!The story in short - super intelligent Elizabeth witnesses a Russian Mafia murder at the age of 17. She gets put into witness protection which doesn't quite go according to plan. In her late 20s she finds herself trying to live a normal life as Abigail, in a small town with a bunch of nosey neighbours. One in particular is the chief of police, Brookes. Their relationship grows stronger and she realises she has to face her past in order to live her future.This is my first Nora Roberts book. I'd heard she writes about cracking romances so as a lover of a good romance, I had great expectations for romance - and to be fair, I got it. But the romance was a little but clumsy and awkward.Elizabeth/ Abigail is, as I mentioned, super intelligent and socially, she comes across as a misfit. So her unlikely and relatively unexpected pairing with Julie (an old high school friend) is hard to work with. Similarly, her relationship with Brookes comes on a bit sudden for someone who a) isn't great in relationships and b) is trying to keep a low profile.Her witnessing of a multiple murder is clearly key to the whole story, but it felt a little hurried, and pretty much ignored between the age of 17 and 29. There's very little to help build the gap of 12 years. I felt I wanted to know more about her; about how she's put her intelligence to good use, about how hard her life might have been in those 12 years. I wanted to know more about her dog, Bert. I wanted to know more about how much the Russians has tried to look for her and any near misses. Additionally, there is no real description of how she looks in her 20s (or it was fairly short and I missed it!) and I missed having that picture in my mind of her. I struggled to like her very much and I wasn't much of a fan of Brookes either. I thought he had quite the ego and she absolutely did not, and I couldnt piece in my mind how they would get together quite so quickly. I couldn't empathise with them much, and couldn't be happy for her when Elizabeth/ Abigail was happy, yet I really wanted to be. I think my favourite character was Bert the dog!The ending sadly for me was the biggest disappointment. I felt the last couple of chapters were very rushed and lacked the depth some of the rest of the book gave. It just...ended.Don't get me wrong, I liked the story overall and I enjoyed it mostly. I just couldn't quite love it. I'd be tempted to read another Nora Roberts book though as I do like her style of story telling.

A sixteen year old teenager rebels and forging ID, goes to a nightclub with a friend while her mother is away. What happens then is tragic. She witnesses two murders and goes on the run until she finds safety with the police and goes into the witness protection system. The murderer works for the nightclub owner, part of the Russian Mafia, and they won't give up until they find and kill her. They kill again to get to her, and once again she escapes. Twelve years on, she remains on the run, but has a new identity and a successful business. Brought up by a cold and ambitious mother, she has never known affection or love and when she finds the possibility of both in the small town in which she has settled, she shuns it. She can only trust herself, her dog, her security system and her armoury. However, the police chief in the town won't give up so easily and he sets out to prove that she can at last trust someone apart from herself. The Mafia family, however, have never ceased to search for her and if she wants to finally stop running, she will have to bring them down and tell her story in court. Can she do this and stay alive? Another page turner I recommend.

This was my introduction to Nora Roberts. I thought it was a lovely book and had me captivated from the first chapter to the last. I'm glad I had the weekend to myself so I could just dive right in. I liked the characters and how well they worked with each other. My only critique was that the climax wasn't very suspenseful - there was a bit with a PI which I thought might provide an interesting read but that was kind of brushed to the side. I think the book was lovely, but I think it could've been better - it seemed to wrap up in a pretty little bow.

I really love all of your books. They keep me on the edge of my seat. I have loved every moment of this book. I really love how you go unto so much detail. I really loved the fact that you made me think that it had all gone wrong when she was shot. I can't wait to get your next books .