Rating: 
Summary: Sometimes a page-turner, sometimes not
Review: After having read only one of R.N.P's books beforehand (Final Judgement), I found this book both exciting, gripping, but also too long at times.
After having reached the middle of the book, I almost swallowed the rest of the book in no time.
I liked the way that new surprises kept coming up to the surface to turn the story around again and again. That's how I want thrillers to be.
I have now bought all the books from the Christopher Paget trilogy, so I have definitely become a fan of this author.
Rating: 
Summary: one of his best
Review: apart from RNP's seeming obsession with sweet valley high style high-school antics and sexual intimacies involving teenage girls which have occurred in all the books i've read of his - (protect and defend and last judgement) - this is pretty gripping legal drama with good characters and all the betrayals and dilemmas necessary for such great drama.the the teenage characters irritated me through parts of this book
Rating:
Summary: Well Done Courtroom Drama Draped with Rising Suspense
Review: As an attorney, I found Richard North Patterson's depiction of the verbal exchanges that comprise a criminal trial to be realistic and entertaining. Mr. Patterson created a visualization of the court proceedings that successfully sustained the rising suspense level that characterizes his novel, SILENT WITNESS. As the author a suspense thriller, EVIL, BE GONE, myself, I was very impressed with Mr. Patterson's ability to keep me guessing the identity of the perpetrator of the grisly crimes to the very end of his fine novel. I look forward to enjoying many more Patterson books. - Robert John Estko, author of EVIL, BE GONE, another thriller available on Amazon.com
Rating:
Summary: My First RNP Book
Review: I first listened to this book (unabridged) while driving back from school for xmas vacation. I sat in my car till I finished listening to it. This is a spectacular, griping, suspensful and wonderfully written book about friends, lovers, enemies, lust, greed, and justice, all wrapped in up in a masterful murder trial book. I finally picked the book up and re-read the novel, pikcing up on things I missed when I read it. I loved it the first time, I praised it the second time. I have given this to many of my friends as gifts and highly recommend this book to all book lovers out there.
Rating:
Summary: many legal thrillers make promises . . . this one delivers
Review: I just finished this book for the second time; it says something that you can still be riveted by a book you've already read & know the ending. Among RNP's best, and that's saying something, as he is among the very best at this type of book: legal thriller combined with gripping personal stories. The picture he paints of the friendship/rivalry of the two teenage protagonists & their girlfriends rings true, as does the angst he describes as his characters transition from high school to middle age. Secondary characters (often the difference between great writers & merely good ones) are also very strong, particularly John Taylor (father of a girl who is killed), Ernie Nixon (token black in town) and the aging lawyer Sol, past his prime but still hanging in.
One caution: the second half of the book deals openly with details (forensic & otherwise) of a middle-aged school administrator's sordid affair with a high school girl, who eventually ends up dead. On several levels, this aspect of the book can be disturbing & not for the squeamish. All in all, RNP is one of the best, and this book is one of his best.
Rating:
Summary: many legal thrillers make promises . . . this one delivers
Review: I just finished this book for the second time; it says something that you can still be riveted by a book you've already read & know the ending. Among RNP's best, and that's saying something, as he is among the very best at this type of book: legal thriller combined with gripping personal stories. The picture he paints of the friendship/rivalry of the two teenage protagonists & their girlfriends rings true, as does the angst he describes as his characters transition from high school to middle age. Secondary characters (often the difference between great writers & merely good ones) are also very strong, particularly John Taylor (father of a girl who is killed), Ernie Nixon (token black in town) and the aging lawyer Sol, past his prime but still hanging in.
One caution: the second half of the book deals openly with details (forensic & otherwise) of a middle-aged school administrator's sordid affair with a high school girl, who eventually ends up dead. On several levels, this aspect of the book can be disturbing & not for the squeamish. All in all, RNP is one of the best, and this book is one of his best.
Rating:
Summary: Gripping to the last page
Review: I really enjoyed this book. It was well written, had very well crafted characters and although you were never quite sure if Sam Robb had murdered Marcie Calder, it was the shocking revelation in the last few chapters which really took the biscuit. The book has a beautiful symmetry about it and charts the conflicts within the main character - Lawyer Tony Lord returned to his backwater home town, which he left as a teenager, the never indicted prime suspect of a horrendous murder, to defend his boyhood friend, Sam Robb charged with a similarly brutal murder. In his single-minded attempts to prove the circumstantial nature of the charges against his client, he comes close to destroying Ernie Nixon a black boyhood friend by blatantly exploiting the race card and Nixon's occassional lapses of judgement. Lord enlists the help of the Lawyer who so ably defended him 28 years previously, adding another interesting dimension to the story. Sue Robb rounds out the list of main characters - a rock in Sam's life, who nonetheless is conflicted by Sam's drunken lapses and now proven infidelities.
As I infer in my headline - once you get past the early chapters, you will struggle to put this book down. I intend to read more of Patterson's work.
Rating:
Summary: An Intense, Powerful Story
Review: In 1967 Tony Lord and his best friend Sam Robb enjoy double dating with their girlfriends, Sue and Alison. Alison is murdered on the night she and Tony have sex for the first time and Tony is the chief suspect. Although there is not enough proof to charge him, the town turns against him, so he leaves, vowing never to come back. Twenty-seven years later he's a successful defense attorney in San Francisco. He's put the past behind him, though he's never forgotten Alison or how he was falsely accused.
Then Susan, now married to Sam, calls and asks him to come back and defend her husband against a charge of murdering a teenage girl. The case is strikingly similar to what happened to Alison so long ago and Tony begins to think it's not just coincidence. Friendship, death, the death of a friendship, grief and justice are just a few of the issues dealt with in this thriller that spans half a lifetime. Reviewed by Vesta Irene
Rating:
Summary: An Intense, Powerful Story
Review: In 1967 Tony Lord and his best friend, Sam Robb enjoyed double dating with their girlfriends Sue and Alison. Alison was murdered on the night she and Tony had sex for the first time and Tony was the chief suspect. Although there wasn't enough proof to charge him, the town turned against him, so he left, vowing never to come back. Twenty-seven years later he's a successful defense attorney in San Francisco. He�s put the past behind him, though he�s never forgotten Alison or how he was falsely accused.
Then Susan, now married to Sam Robb, calls and asks him to come back and defend her husband against a charge of murdering a teenage girl. The case is strikingly similar to what happened to Alison so long ago and Tony begins to think it�s not just coincidence. Friendship, death, the death of a friendship, grief and justice are just a few of the issues dealt with in this thriller that spans half a lifetime.
Rating:
Summary: "SILENT WITNESS" A REAL WINNER!
Review: Richard North Patterson continues his string of outstanding novels with this penetrating look at friendship, faith and love. Tony Lord, who we first met in "Private Screening" is the legal wizard who is called to his hometown after nearly three decades to defend his best friend of the murder of a sixteen year old girl. Tony himself left his hometown because he had been accused of murdering his girlfriend, Alison Taylor. Tony's guilt was never really clarified, because the only other person who could have murdered Alison was killed robbing a convenience store. We know Tony didn't kill Alison, but the townspeople believe he did.
So now his best friend (who also may have thought Tony was guilty) is facing similar charges, only he gets to go to trial with Tony as his lawyer.
A stunning novel, filled with secrets; heartbreaking scenarios that are so lifelike in their structure, you can't help but feel for those involved. The confrontational courtroom scenes, as always, are brilliant and riveting. The relationship between Tony and Sam is superbly etched; Tony's feelings about Sam's wife, Sue, are painstakingly real; the enigmatic Sam Robb is focal---is he capable of such a brutal murder; does he lie about everything? Is he really Tony's best friend? And is Tony justified in what he does to Ernie?
The novel cruises along with such intensity and fervor, one can't help but gasp in awe at its structure. The finale is devastating, although you can see it coming, you just don't want to admit it.
A brilliant, exceptional novel.
HIGHLY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
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