I was SO excited to get an advanced audiobook of False Witness as Karin Slaughter books on audio are what got me hooked on audiobooks. Kathleen Early is one of my favorite narrators and she has a way of bringing the gritty, dark writing in Karin Slaughter books to life. I was immediately drawn into this story and couldn't stop listening.

I know Karin Slaughter books aren't for everyone. They are dark, so many brutal violent scenes and False Witness has detailed descriptions of rape, pedophilia, murder, drug abuse/addiction and more. Even with these hard scenes, I'm always so into her books.

Leigh is a defense attorney in Atlanta and she's tried hard for a normal life after a hard childhood and hiding a devastating secret from her teenage years. When she gets a new case defending a rapist, she is shocked to find he's the little boy her and her sister used to babysit and he knows her past....

This almost felt like an episode of Criminal Minds to me. Where you know what happens but you're trying to see how it all plays out.

I loved this book and Karin Slaughter fans will too!

I received an ARC of this book from the publisher via NetGalley for an honest review.

And Holy. Friggin. Night. Karin Slaughter did it again.

This standalone thriller follows defense attorney Leigh Collier and her sister, Callie as they come face to face with demons from their past. We see the lasting impact of trauma and how it bleeds into every day life and decision making. This book I s riddled with trigger warnings (to be listed at the end of this review), but also really, really important conversations. A thriller has never made me cry, but there were two conversations that Karin wrote that moved me to tears. They were beautifully executed.

The only flat note in my symphony of love for this was the inclusion of the pandemic, though after listening to her author’s note, I understood her why. I think for me, as a teacher who was essentially frontline in this pandemic, it was a little too soon. Very much a me thing. Did it stop me from finishing this lovely dark and twisted masterpiece? Absolutely not. It wasn’t a big enough part of the book to bother me that much.

I loved the sisters, their challenging dynamic. Karin is fantastic at constructing compelling, complex female heroines that are flawed and still strong. It’s beautiful.

This book had me ensnared from the beginning, full of twists and turns. It had me wishing I wasn’t teaching summer school so I could have listened all the day and night instead of over the course of four days.

If you like thrillers, pick this up immediately.

And now, for the promised trigger warnings (I may have forgotten one or two, who knows):

Rape, pedophilia, substance abuse, suicidal ideation, suicide, sexual assault

Karin Slaughter delivers an outstanding, heart wrenching, and captivating psychological thriller that will grip the reader from beginning to end. In the stand alone novel, the reader will witness the horrific impacts of child sexual abuse and how differently this trauma affects the two sisters in the novel into their adulthood. Readers' will go on an emotional roller coaster of disgust, fear, hate, sorrow, and ultimately love. The audiobook's narrator Kathleen Early did an amazing job bringing to life each character.

Thank you to #WilliamMorrowBooks for this advanced copy, and to #BlackstoneAudio and #NetGalley for the audiobook.

If you haven't seen me say it already, this book was my most anticipated book of 2021. I absolutely love Karin Slaughter, especially her Will Trent series, and couldn't wait for a new standalone from her. I am so lucky to have received an advanced copy!

This book much heftier than all her previous novels, and the subject matter is very heavy as well. I read the first half and listened to the second, since I received the audio copy halfway through reading the physical.

This was the first book I've read that's acknowledged Covid as just a day-to-day thing. It was post-lockdown Covid, but it was interesting that the characters referred to quarantine and thought things about whether people were wearing masks. Leigh, the main character, had contracted a fairly serious case of the virus before the story starts.

As with all of Karin's books, False Witness is very dark and full of trigger warnings. I was hooked from the incredibly disturbing first chapter, where KS sets you up to think the scene is one thing and then completely rips that out from under you.

Without spoilers, I loved this book, but it was a little different from the past few of hers I've read. I really love the depth of the characters: Leigh's guilt over what happened to her sister and how she can't help Callie, her complicated relationship with Walter, and her tenuous relationship with Maddie. I loved Callie's love for animals, and how that was really the one thing grounding her as she struggled with addiction.

I"m so glad I listened to the audio of the second half, because I absolutely love Kathleen Early. She narrates most of Karin's books, and her slight southern accent is the perfect fit for the Georgia location. Just her voice gives me so much nostalgia to listening to a well-loved series!

Leigh Coulton has been given a defense case that will change her life. She has to build a case to defend a serial rapist. He is a familiar face from her past, one she tried to forget. This man knows about what she did twenty years ago, and is using that knowledge against her. He needs a sure win, and Leigh has to give it to him.
The only other person that knows what happened that night is the last person she wants to see. Leigh's sister, Cali, needs to know that their secret is out and she may be in danger. Bringing Cali back into her life may be just as dangerous as defending a rapist.

Karin Slaughter is at it again! No one else pumps out books on a yearly basis, and keeps the content fresh and current. False Witness is the first book I have read in 2021 to completely embrace what Covid has done to our lives. She doesn't just talk about mask wearing and the hand sanitizing that is now routine, but about the effect the Pandemic had on the court system and law enforcement. She discusses this in the afterword, but I picked up on it immediately.
The story itself has a lot of triggering plot points. Brutal rape, pedophiles, and extreme drug abuse are abundant in this book. Slaughter is good at bringing up uncomfortable subjects we don't want think about, and forcing us to face the ugliness of the world.
I read this as an audiobook, which made me more uncomfortable. The narrator nailed the creepy grooming voice of the pedophile, giving me icky shivers. She did creepy, elderly, insanely drugged out high and burnt out voices on point. I don't think the book would have been nearly as disturbing if I had read it on print.
False Witness is a suspenseful, disturbing and fast paced thriller that keeps you guessing til the end.

In the grips of the Covid 19 epidemic, attorney Leigh Collier has had to leave her private defense practice and sign on with a giant law firm. Now, she’s been told by the head of the law firm that a wealthy client accused of several brutal rapes has asked for her to act as his defense counsel. Leigh has no idea who the man is until she sees him. Many years before, Leigh’s sister was brutally savaged by a man. Callie defended herself, and in doing so, inflicted a mortal wound on her attacker. Unable to bear the truth about what happened to her becoming public, Callie begged Leigh for help. What are big sisters for? What Leigh did next would change her life forever, but she was sure that she had gotten away with it. Now, her past in the form of her new client has come home to roost. If she won’t defend this animal that she’s sure is guilty, her secret will be out and her life will be over. This is a brutal and harrowing story and Early does an amazing job of capturing Leigh’s barely suppressed rage at the casual and brutal misogyny so prevalent in society