Cover Image: Final Witness

Final Witness

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Member Reviews

The title drew me in - I was intrigued from the get-go. Who was this Chinese CSI, Song Ci? And why had I never heard of him?

I love crime - fiction and non-fiction. I have an entire bookcase dedicated to it - that is, what I personally own. What have I read would take up many, many more. Even more recently, courtesy of Netflix and SBS (in Australia), I have taken a liking to movies depicting historical China, including the highly entertaining "Judge Dee" series. Needless to say, I was eager to get my hands on this book.

The life of Song Ci of Jianyang, is told against the backdrop of historical events shaping the Chinese empire in the 13th century. Song Ci himself, due to his father's illness, was prevented from taking up an official government post; instead finds himself back home, seeking answers in the hopes of healing his father. A series of local murders, disappearances, violence, government corruption and inaction, sees local seeking our Song Ci for assistance. A lack of knowledge of the law is evident, so he goes in search of such knowledge.

As Song Ci is presented a series of "cases" to solve, he make mistakes along the way, goes in search of more knowledge, develops his skills in assessing crime scenes, and ultimately gets there in the end. And as he does, his reputation increases, and he eventually becomes judicial commission aged 53yo.

This is a very different style of writing which also encompasses quite a bit of history - political, social and legal - as well interspersing the cases studies with an ongoing biography of Song Ci. Chinese society was very structured and protocol must be adhered to which sometimes made the process of solving the crimes rather lengthy.

Once you get used to the flow of the story, it becomes quite an easy read. The stories themselves are fascinating as are the methods of investigation - a far cry from our more modern scientific methodologies. This is well worth taking the time out to read.

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I'm a huge fan of Judge Dee and was more than happy when this ARC was approved.
It's a fascinating trip into historical China and a good mystery.
It's not fast paced and sometimes it's a bit confusing but was an enthralling reading experience.
Highly recommended!
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

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This is a strong book that has a great story. It perhaps makes you work a bit harder as the story has a historical element that is educational as to all the dynasties and it takes a moment each time to work out exactly which character is speaking/written about as the names are unfamiliar. But you quickly edit the story as you progress through the book and the result is a fascinating insight into forensics, Chinese culture and links to modern day methods of forensic science as the story is revealed. Thanks to netgalley for giving me the opportunity to review this book.

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Final Witness is a interesting historical fiction novel, but it is so slow. The translation may have caused some of the issues. It is a shame it fell short.

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Was ok book for the right reader part of my job as to read books before I buy them to see if they what people would like I find this book nicely written a great story to it but was a very slow read for me the cover really nice

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