From the description of a "high octane, true-crime" story in the synopsis I was expecting a more narrative forward style of nonfiction, but "Bear Witness" wasn't exactly compulsively readable like a thriller. It was more of an academic style of journalistic accounting, focusing on the public policy elements of criminal justice, that I nevertheless appreciated and learned a lot from, even if it took me some time to read and dig into.

I was also fearing a book with a religious message from the first few chapters, and while this book is about an evangelical Christian missionary, it wasn't also trying to preach, which I was grateful for since I'm not religious and do not care to read Christian-forward narratives when the main theme is saving people (no shade on Christians who enjoy Christian stories, just not my thing.)

This was however a fascinating look at people who move to a country expecting to do good works feeding the poor and preaching the good word, only to become discouraged by the violence of their chosen country and the tragedy of losing friends and neighbors to gang violence. Honduras at that time was a viper's nest where the rule of law was nonexistent; it was a country of street justice and brazen corruption.

Kurt Ver Beek, an American sociologist and the missionary,
and Carlos Hernandez, a Honduran schoolteacher, team up in an unlikely alliance of reckless do-gooders to attempt to root out the violence from the ground up at great personal risk to their safety.

The book doesn't really dig deep into Kurt's transformation from religious innocent to freedom fighter without a gun; it's more of an academic look at just how one navigates that world and makes lasting change by influencing criminal investigations and ultimately the corrupt government bureaucracy itself, how you work within systems even when they're corrupt and you constantly fear for your life. It really showed the gruesome violence that was a reality of life for everyday Hondurans at that time and how entrenched it was in the power structures. Rooting out the corruption was always going to be a thankless grind.

At times it could seem a little white savior but it didn't shy away from criticism of the nonprofit they founded, either.

Not my usual cup of tea but I found this quite intruguing.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the advance review copy. I am leaving this review voluntarily.

This is a look at life and entrenched corruption in Honduras and the efforts of two strong Christian men to make changes for the better. They used a charity they ran, ASJ, to work towards improving things, not even take a salary for all their hard efforts. Lots of violence and danger throughout.