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Hostile Witness (Witness Series #1)

by Rebecca Forster (Goodreads Author)

3.69 of 5 stars 3.69 · rating details · 3,103 ratings · 576 reviews

When sixteen-year-old Hannah Sheraton is arrested for the murder of her stepgrandfather, the chief justice of the California Supreme court, her distraught mother turns to her old college roommate, Josie Baylor-Bates, for help. Josie, once a hot-shot criminal defense attorney, left the fast track behind for a small practice in Hermosa Beach, California. But Hannah Sheraton...more

Paperback, 384 pages

Published February 3rd 2004 by Signet (first published 2004)

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Apr 01, 2013 MaryAnn Koopmann rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: favorite

Hostile Witness is a very good, fast pasted book. It has a lot of twists and turns. It will leave you fascinated, and consumed in the plot. I would recommend this book to anyone who reads legal thrillers or even watches them on TV!

I love legal thrillers and this one was especially good. It took me to another world and the story was great. This author is becoming my favorite along with Tom Clancy and Steven King and also Dean Coontz. Had to take time out of my busy schedule to give praise to wher...more

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Mar 17, 2013 Hamilton Burger rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

HOSTILE WITNESS introduced me to legal thrillers. I am forever grateful for that! I found REBECCA FORSTER'S book had remarkable realism. The depth of the character development was fabulous, and by the end of the book, I knew these ‘people', and I was left with a hunger to know more. I found the accuracy of the courtroom scenes to be amazing. Several of my friends, who happen to be lawyers, have read the book and give it 2 thumbs up. I look to the next book in the WITNESS SERIES with immense anti...more

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Apr 10, 2013 Max Read rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

“A legal thriller, crime mystery series”

Her marriage to a Superior Court Judge is no doubt helpful when writing legal thriller novels as Rebecca Forster does. To her own credit, she holds a BA and MBA from Loyola University and teaches at UCLA writers program.

Forster’s legal thrillers star attorney Josie Baylor-Bates and her love interest Archer, a retired cop. In this novel, “Hostile Witness”, Josie is recruited by an old college roommate to represent her daughter who is accused of setting a fi...more

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Apr 03, 2013 John Darling rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommended to John by: Jeff Joslin

I really wanted to do more than like this book, but I just can't do it.

I love legal stories of all kinds. I grew up watching Perry Mason and The Defenders. I have seen every LA Law and, just for the heck of it, every Ally McBeal episode.

I have read, and own (mostly First Editions) every John Grisham book he has written. The Last Juror is probably my favorite book of all time.

Except for a few very nice touches, it would be easy to pass this book off as a Lifetime Movie since it has all the ele...more

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Apr 03, 2013 Kim rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2012, thriller

I like a good thriller - and this is a pretty good one

A slightly broken lawyer (aren't they all) gets involved with defending a troubled child (aren't they all) who may or may not have killed a man and set a house on fire.

Josie, the lawyer, gets super involved in defending the teenager daughter of an old school friend, and despite much evidence to the contrary continues to believe in her evidence.
The fact that the man she is charged with murdering is her mother's husbands father, and a supreme c...more

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Apr 01, 2013 Melanie Adkins rated it 5 of 5 stars

Josie Bates is an attorney who recently moved from the city to a smaller law practice. Her last case in the city really took a toll on her mentally. She needed the time to rejuvenate. When Linda Sheraton-Rayburn showed up at her door, Josie knew it was bad news. The two shared an apartment in college and she'd learned quickly Linda wasn't there to study books. Now, Linda's daughter was in trouble. She'd been arrested for the murder of State Supreme Court Justice Fritz Rayburn. Justice Rayburn w...more

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Dec 18, 2012 Joan rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This "manuscript" is an adequate first-draft version of what could have become a good novel if the author had been willing to spend some time revising and editing. There was actually a good nugget of a plot, and the characters were interesting and fairly complex. The remainder of this review is a giant "however."

The tone of the book was very inconsistent. Some passages of dialogue and narration were written with clarity and facility, while other passages could have come from the pencil of a th...more

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Sep 11, 2012 Lewis Weinstein rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: crime-thrillers

This is a terrific read, with a challenging premise and characters who are well developed, with more than enough strengths and flaws to make them seem very real human beings.

Some GR reviewers said they figured out "who done it" early in the story. I never try to do that, finding it more enjoyable to let the author bring me along for the ride. In a murder mystery, the pleasure for me is more in the steps taken to work out the solution than in the solution itself. And if I had guessed, I would ha...more

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Aug 17, 2012 Stephen Clynes rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Did Hannah Sheraton start the fire that killed her step-grandfather Justice Fitz Rayburn? Josie Baylor-Bates, a friend of Hannah's mother, defends her daughter.

This story slowly unfolds in the court and with Josie's investigations outside. Very little is said between Hannah and Josie. You are unsure of her guilt and Hannah believes her problems will blow away. You do not develop an empathy for Hannah because she does not co-operate fully with Josie. This crime thriller is basically a court room...more

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Jul 03, 2012 Debra Martin rated it 5 of 5 stars

From the moment the book opened with 16-year-old Hannah Sheraton being processed into the women's prison, I was hooked.

When Hannah's mother begs her old college roommate, Josie Bates, to defend her daughter, Josie is caught up in a complicated legal situation. Was this a simple case of a rebellious teenager acting out or was there an underlying reason for the girl's obsessive compulsive actions? These are the issues that Josie must uncover if she is to mount a credible defense for Hannah.

Through...more

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Mar 20, 2012 Shawn Davis rated it 4 of 5 stars

Josie is a lawyer, and a very good one. So good, in fact, that she even managed to get a not-guilty verdict for a guilty client... who then murdered her own children.

Josie decided not to practice criminal law ever again.

Until her best college-friend showed up desperate, needing Josie to represent her daughter Hannah - who has been accused of murdering her step-grandfather. And that step-grandfather just happens to be a famous and politically active California judge.

Hannah is not easy to represe...more Josie is a lawyer, and a very good one. So good, in fact, that she even managed to get a not-guilty verdict for a guilty client... who then murdered her own children.

Josie decided not to practice criminal law ever again.

Until her best college-friend showed up desperate, needing Josie to represent her daughter Hannah - who has been accused of murdering her step-grandfather. And that step-grandfather just happens to be a famous and politically active California judge.

Hannah is not easy to represent - she has OCD and she cuts herself. She self-medicates with legal and illegal medication. And she's hiding something. Josie knows it, but she doesn't know what it is.

When she finds out, it's nearly too late.

This book grabbed me immediately, and kept me hooked. I'm supposed to be packing and painting our house for a move, but instead I blocked off a day to read this, it was that good (also, I'm really tired at this point, so I'm not a hard sale for resting with a book. But still. It was great).

Josie is a well-rounded character, portrayed well enough in all her human-ness that I didn't really like her that much. The character of Hannah is exceptionally well done, well enough that I alternated wanting to save her and wanting her to be locked away forever. In the end, I'm still not sure which alternative would be best for Hannah... and everyone else who comes in contact with her.

And Archer? What can I say. I have a soft spot for soft-spoken tough guys who don't wear their ability to kick ass on their sleeve and carry around inner-sadness and barely healed torment.

The only character I didn't feel was well-rounded (and there's always at LEAST one in every book, because it would be too boring to spend a chapter describing everyone's background, from main character to gardener) was Kip. Kip's motivations were discussed, but never really fleshed out. I understood his background, I just didn't really understand his present.

There's a good deal of action, and you are never quite sure how much is OCD and how much is psychosis - even when the book ends.

I've read several reviews of this book on Amazon which point out numerous grammatical deficiencies. I can honestly say that I didn't notice most of them while reading, as I was too caught up in the story. (less)

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Feb 09, 2012 Stacy rated it 3 of 5 stars

I really enjoy legal thrillers and was looking forward to digging in to this novel. After just a few pages, I almost put it away for good, but being a little OCD, I couldn't stand the thought of not finishing a book, so I continued. It did start to get better about halfway through, but I don't think I will read any more of the series. I can not decide if I like her style of writing - it seemed quite inconsistent to me - some parts of the story line were well thought out and interesting while oth...more

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Oct 17, 2011 Sandy rated it 5 of 5 stars

Outstanding series I have read all three of the Legal Witness Series and they were all outstanding. I highly recommend them. You will not want to put them down. Rebecca Roster is the best at telling a great story that is very realistic and I enjoy her characters with there human flaws and all. I just do not know how she continues to come up with all the great twists and turns in the plots. And this particular book dealt with trying minors as an adult. I have mixed emotions on this subject. And i...more

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Jul 11, 2011 Carla rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: legal-drama, thriller-mystery

A tightly woven plot, strong characterisation and a dramatic storyline combine to make HOSTILE WITNESS, by Rebecca Forster, a compelling, exciting read.

Other reviewers have commented on this title's page-turning qualities. This was one novel that not only did I lose sleep for, but it accompanied me to the supermarket, car repairer and was propped on the kitchen bench while I supervised dinner preparation. Its plot was well paced and did not get bogged down with unnecessary waffle, unlike other n...more A tightly woven plot, strong characterisation and a dramatic storyline combine to make HOSTILE WITNESS, by Rebecca Forster, a compelling, exciting read.

Other reviewers have commented on this title's page-turning qualities. This was one novel that not only did I lose sleep for, but it accompanied me to the supermarket, car repairer and was propped on the kitchen bench while I supervised dinner preparation. Its plot was well paced and did not get bogged down with unnecessary waffle, unlike other novels I have read where it's not the end of the world if you skip a page or chapter or two.

It's always tempting to compare one author with another based on similar central characters, setting or plot. An obvious comparison might be made between legal drama heavyweight, John Grisham, and Forster. Both certainly feature lawyers as central characters and legal dilemmas as a source of conflict in their plots. However, as much as I have enjoyed the novels by Grisham that I have read (and I certainly haven't read them all), I found Forster's first work in the `Witness' series had a stronger focus on characterization. `Hostile Witness (The Witness Series)' featured strong, very human female characters, whose actions and motivations were gradually revealed to the reader through each of the character's own perspective. This allowed for reader empathy to be developed, particularly for the characters of Josie and Hannah, but also the less-likeable character of Hannah's mother, Linda. However, that's not to say the supporting male characters are reduced to two-dimensional stereotypes, as less capable writers have a tendency to do with minor characters. For example, characters such as the prosecutor, Rudy Klein, are portrayed with some complexity - enough supporting detail about him is provided so we, as readers, understand his mental battle between his professional role and his moral and emotional uncertainty when it comes to prosecuting an obviously damaged minor. Indeed, this is probably one of the novel's primary strengths: Forster has taken the complex and often socially taboo subjects of mental illness and domestic violence and treated them with a clear eye, compassion and understanding.

I thoroughly enjoyed this novel and recommend it highly. (less)

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Jan 23, 2013 Autumn Jean rated it 5 of 5 stars

FANTASTIC book!! This is a crime novel that just totally blew my mind. It's one of those "Who done it" type books but written in a phenomenal way that keeps you on the edge of your seat and turning pages until you reach the end. Thankfully, the author didn't leave us hanging with "buy the next book to learn what happens" at the end. I fell in love with the main character, Josie and the defendant Hannah.

This book reminded me of Law and Order's Criminal Intent, but with more bang for my buck and...more

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May 04, 2012 Joyce Lagow rated it 1 of 5 stars

Josie Baylor-Bates is a middle-aged lawyer practicing low-key home-town law in Hermosa Beach, California. an old college friend turns up, desperate to have Josie, once a high-pressure criminal defense lawyer, defend her 16 year old daughter who has been accused of arson and murder.

That's the plot, and it's not bad. But it's the only thing that's not bad about this terrible book. Forster can't write; her prose is mediocre at best and her dialogue is strained, to put it mildly. The book could have...more

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Nov 29, 2012 Karen Perkins rated it 5 of 5 stars

Hannah is a tattooed, multi-pierced 16 year old with OCD and a mother who does not understand the concept of love. We meet her after she has been arrested for murder and thrown into prison.
Josie is a big shot defence lawyer who, after successfully defending a guilty woman who went on to kill again, has run away from her old life to practice law in a small town, where her toughest case is to defend a 'weenie-wagger' - and convincing him to keep his trousers on when in public. Josie is also Hanna...more

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Nov 05, 2012 Melissa rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: kindle, law-and-order

I'm an idiot. I just finished two books this weekend and just wrote a whole review here for the other book. So, I start again.

In Hostile Witness, Josi is hired by an old college roommate to defend her 16 year old daughter in a murder trial. Josi hasn't defended anyone in several years - not since the last person she got off went and brutally murdered her own children shortly after Josi got a "not guilty" verdict.

The Defendent is Hannah, only child of a mother who has for years searched for a hu...more

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May 13, 2012 TC rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: crime

Josie Baylor-Bates has retreated from high profile criminal cases after successfully defending a woman who went on to kill her children after her acquittal. When an old college friend arrives at her door begging her to defend her daughter Josie intends to pass the case on to someone else but finds herself intrigued by her beautiful but delicate client. 16 year old Hannah is accused of killing her step-grandfather, a supreme court chief justice. Her mother and step-father seem to accept her guilt...more Josie Baylor-Bates has retreated from high profile criminal cases after successfully defending a woman who went on to kill her children after her acquittal. When an old college friend arrives at her door begging her to defend her daughter Josie intends to pass the case on to someone else but finds herself intrigued by her beautiful but delicate client. 16 year old Hannah is accused of killing her step-grandfather, a supreme court chief justice. Her mother and step-father seem to accept her guilt and are pushing to have her committed to a psychiatric facility. Josie though is determined to dig deeper and uncovers family, political and business tensions that all seem to have a bearing on the case.

This book is a real whodunnit and there are plenty of candidates for the role of the guilty party. There were enough twists and turns to keep me guessing and to keep me absorbed in the book. However some threads of the plot seemed to just fizzle out and I thought the author could have made more of the research Josie does into the victim's past conduct and Hannah's OCD and how it affects her behaviour. Josie begins to research the possibility that her OCD means she could not have started the lethal fire and destroyed the environment she was most comfortable in. However this line of enquiry becomes superseded by events and any in depth consideration of the subject is avoided. I also noticed a sprinkling of daft typos that need cleaning up.

I warmed to Josie who was a well defined lead protagonist. As well as her chequered legal career the reader finds out about her own troubled family past and her successes as a sportswoman. Josie finds herself questioning her own judgement to the point of almost alienating partner Archer which made her very human. Hannah is a vulnerable child but her outbursts made me unsure right up to the end about whether she was in fact guilty. It also made me think about how appropriate it is to treat a person of her age as an adult, but again this is a theme that could have been developed further.

Overall I really enjoyed this book which made for an easy crime read, and I would happily read further books in this series. At the moment this book is available for free on Amazon so if this is your genre pick it up!(less)

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Dec 31, 2011 Judi rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: amazon, e-book, kindle, legal-thriller, free-read, series, favorites, dec, 2011

If you’re a fan of straight up legal dramas then you won’t be disappointed by Hostile Witness (and it was a freebie at Amazon - doesn‘t get much better than that). It reads like any great lawyer show you might watch on TV or see at the movies. In fact it would make a great movie.

I was hooked right from the opening chapter.

A well-loved, Supreme Court Justice Fritz Rayburn is dead and a young 16 year old girl, Hannah Sheraton is in jail accused of his murder.

Josie Baylor-Bates is a great lawyer...more If you’re a fan of straight up legal dramas then you won’t be disappointed by Hostile Witness (and it was a freebie at Amazon - doesn‘t get much better than that). It reads like any great lawyer show you might watch on TV or see at the movies. In fact it would make a great movie.

I was hooked right from the opening chapter.

A well-loved, Supreme Court Justice Fritz Rayburn is dead and a young 16 year old girl, Hannah Sheraton is in jail accused of his murder.

Josie Baylor-Bates is a great lawyer. She’s an athlete who enjoys a little beach volleyball, has a great no strings attached, mutually satisfying relationship with ex-cop turned PI Archer and a great low stress job at a laid back practice in Hermosa Beach...ahhhh that's the life.

But once upon a time Josie was a big time lawyer, forced into the spotlight when she defended a young woman, a mother of two small children. Josie defended her client so brilliantly that she walked only to later perpetrate the greatest crime a mother could commit. Josie never wanted to be in that position again so she threw in the towel for local small time, small problem law. Until a blast from her college days Linda Rayburn begs and pleads for Josie to defend her innocent daughter, accused of murder...the murder of Judge Rayburn.

The whole case is extremely interesting and complex. Hannah was a disturbed teenage whose metal status I continually questioned. She’s got OCD, cuts herself with razor blades and has been in trouble with the law in the past...basically she's a mess. Did she or didn't she do it?

It’s up to Josie to figure out the truth from the lies. What hidden Rayburn family dynamics are at work? The judge's son Kip, married to Hannah’s mom Linda is poised to assume his father’s seat on the bench. Who's willing to lie to keep the truth hidden? And is a little bit crazy Hannah going to be the scapegoat?

I really enjoyed Hostile Witness. It keep me guessing (even at 90% into the story). Was Hannah really innocent? Was she a consummate master manipulator? Josie was steadfastly in Hannah’s corner, defending her with every lawyer bone in her body when others would have sacrificed her to further their own agenda. Was history going to repeat itself? Was it possible for Josie to be so wrong about someone for a second time?

This is my first book by Rebecca Forster, but it won't be my last. I loved it.
(less)

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May 13, 2013 Peggy Holloway rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Some authors are good story tellers, some are good writers, Rebecca Forster is both. This was the first book I have read by her but it definitely will not be the last.

This is a story of a teenage girl who is accused of killing her step-grandfather. She is obessive/compulsive and everyone in the small coastal California town believes she is guilty. The stepfather was a supreme court judge and everyone thinks he is above reproach.

She has a real loser for a mother and the only one on her side is th...more

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Jul 02, 2012 Kat Collins rated it 5 of 5 stars

Usually when a book is free for Kindle on Amazon, I'm a bit skeptical of how good it's going to be. And some I've read that were free have proven that point. Yet, Hostile Witness by Rebecca Forster reminded why I keep pursuing free books - because every now and then, you'll find a gem! I fell in love with this book. It was fast-paced and kept me on the edge of my seat.

Synopsis per Amazon, "When sixteen-year-old Hannah Sheraton is arrested for the murder of her stepgrandfather, the chief justice...more Usually when a book is free for Kindle on Amazon, I'm a bit skeptical of how good it's going to be. And some I've read that were free have proven that point. Yet, Hostile Witness by Rebecca Forster reminded why I keep pursuing free books - because every now and then, you'll find a gem! I fell in love with this book. It was fast-paced and kept me on the edge of my seat.

Synopsis per Amazon, "When sixteen-year-old Hannah Sheraton is arrested for the murder of her stepgrandfather, the chief justice of the California Supreme court, her distraught mother turns to her old college roommate, Josie Baylor-Bates, for help. Josie, once a hot-shot criminal defense attorney, left the fast track behind for a small practice in Hermosa Beach, California. But Hannah Sheraton intrigues her and, when the girl is charged as an adult, Josie cannot turn her back. But the deeper she digs the more Josie realizes that politics, the law and family relationships create a combustible and dangerous situation. When the horrible truth is uncovered it can save Hannah Sheraton or destroy them both."

Normally, I write my own reviews, but a top reviewer on Amazon summed it up so well, I had to share his review with you (Daniel Jolley):

"Usually, legal thrillers have a few passages that are dry and boring or feature cardboard characters lacking any spark of life in them. Not so with Hostile Witness. Forster has given life to some vivid, remarkably human characters - the heroic, sympathetic lawyer who puts a painful past behind her to defend a young girl accused of arson and murder; the 16-year-old defendant, a troubled teen lost in emotional chaos and harboring shocking secrets, the girls' seriously dysfunctional mother and step-father seemingly hiding behind mysterious secrets of their own, the hard-nosed yet somehow slightly noble prosecuting attorney, even the victim himself, a man already dead when the novel begins.

The protagonist of the novel is Josie Baylor-Bates, a lawyer who finds herself back in the criminal defense game she left some years ago. Not only is she still dealing with the pain of being abandoned by her mother when she was just a young girl, she is haunted by an old case. An accused murderer she successfully defended (and truly believed to be innocent) turned around and killed again - only this time it was her own children. The sense of guilt that tragedy engendered in Josie led her to abandon criminal defense cases altogether and settle down in a quiet beach community with a quiet little legal practice. Then an old college roommate turns up at her door and begs her to defend her daughter. This will be no ordinary case; it will, in fact, explode all over the media. The girl, Hannah Sheraton, is accused of killing her step-grandfather, a man who just happened to be a prominent justice on the California Supreme Court. In the middle of everything is Hannah's step-father, the governor's choice to take his father's place on the high bench. The case has media circus written all over it - even before a series of shocking revelations about the murdered judge come to light, but Josie agrees to take the case after meeting Hannah. She sees a little bit of herself in the young girl, a frightened lass with deep emotional troubles manifested outwardly in obsessive-compulsive behavior, self-mutilation, and a powerful overdependence on her mother.

Convinced of her client's innocence, Josie's defense of the girl runs into a number of obstacles, including the girl's own mother and step-father, neither of whom, Josie comes to believe, has Hannah's best interests at heart. All too soon, this case has become intensely personal for Josie, and that leads her to question her own motivations. Forster does a wonderful job of developing these characters, showing you increasingly significant cracks in their facades while holding out on the goods until the very end. You have your suspicions, but you just don't know the truth about what is really going on and who is really responsible for the victim's death until the very end.

The novel's most memorable moments take place inside the courtroom, culminating in some unforgettable moments of witness testimony, but the case takes drastic turns (more than once) away from all the cameras and watching eyes. It's an emotional roller coaster for Josie, trying to deal with her own personal baggage alongside the heavy burdens placed upon her by Hannah's incredibly dysfunctional family and the intense pressures of such a high profile trial. A wondrously human heart beats inside the chest of this particular lawyer, though, and that - plus a beautifully constructed plot - is what makes Hostile Witness a novel you just can't put down."(less)

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Jan 15, 2012 S. Seymour rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

An enjoyable read, but a lot easier to work out than I expected.

Rebecca Forster has a deft hand when it comes to bringing characters to life and a slick writing stlye that makes the reader comfortable from page one. As soon as I read the description, "the shower room smelled of mold and misery," I relaxed, knowing I could trust the author. And nothing jolted me out of that trust.

The characters are flawed, believeable and likeable in varying degrees. The pace is swift without being dizzying, the...more

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Jun 26, 2012 Adrienne Campbell rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

A decent read from author Rebecca Forster. This is the first of her novels I've read and I'm looking forward to reading more of her work.

Taken straight from the book cover: "When sixteen-year-old Hannah Sheraton is arrested for the murder of her stepgrandfather, a California Supreme Court justice, her distraught mother turns to once infamous defense attorney, Josie Bates. Now a small town lawyer in Hermosa Beach, Josie wants nothing to do with the case since the gruesome evidence points to Hann...more

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Jan 17, 2011 Linda rated it 5 of 5 stars

I've sort of burnt out on legal novels, re: John Grisham, so when I got this, I didn't really know what to expect. This is action, from the get-go. Josie is an attorney, who, after winning a big case years ago, only to have the defendant kill her own children in a particularly gruesome fashion, decides to withdraw from the big-case law field, and work on "safe" things.

Enter a school chum who begs her to save her Daughter for a murder charge. She's a mid-teen, and accused of killing a big-name j...more

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Jul 18, 2012 Lisa A. rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I was taken in by Rebecca Forster's main character Hannah Sheraton right from the beginning. The further the plot progressed, the more I felt for this girl. As a teacher, I've seen students who struggle with "family baggage" and don't know how to process it. I've taught a couple of students who were cutters also. Rebecca Forster does a great job describing Hannah's self-destructive behavior. A couple of times I felt myself cringing as I read.

Hannah's mother is a character that I found I loved...more

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Jan 07, 2012 Lavinia Thompson rated it 5 of 5 stars

This book had me hooked from the moment 16 year old Hannah Seraton was introduced in chapter 1, in prison for the brutal murder of her step-grandfather, a Supreme Court Justice. Her mother talks an old friend, defense attorney Josie Bates, into defending Hannah. Josie is haunted by a past case but determined to prove Hannah's innocence.

Rebecca Forster weaves an intricate and mind-tripping mystery in Hostile Witness. She makes the reader believe the same thing Josie does- that somewhere, in all...more

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Jan 01, 2012 Christina (Ensconced in YA) rated it 5 of 5 stars

I got this as a free book off of Amazon.

It's been a while since I've read a page turner-- one that I had to stay up late reading just to race to the end. This was one of those novels. From the initial meeting of Linda, a past roommate with an intriguing proposal, to meeting her defendant, Hannah and to revealing the rest of the ragtag band of screwed up characters, they were all fascinating characters. I loved the fast paced courtroom drama-- I definitely have a soft spot for those. I loved the...more

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Jul 27, 2012 Emma rated it 5 of 5 stars

5.0 out of 5 stars more please, 25 July 2012
By
emma - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase(What is this?)
This review is from: HOSTILE WITNESS (legal thriller, thriller) (The Witness Series,#1) (Kindle Edition)
Well What Can I Say This Book Was Realy Good,
At First At The Begining I Got A Bit Confused Because It Was Talking About Hannah In Jail.
So I Thought It Was Going To Be About That,But Then It changed To Josie And What She Was Doing So It Confused Me A Bit.
But If You Keep Reading It All...more

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Jun 22, 2012 Jeff Dawson rated it 4 of 5 stars

Adrenaline primer

I'm not for the court room drama books or the shows, but this one is a catcher.

Little Hannah and her mom Linda are the epidomy of the so called happy family: exquisite house, nice cars, small mansion and a very successful husband, until something terribly goes wrong. Linda's father-in-law (California Supreme Court Justice Fritz Rayborn) is killed in a suspicious fire. Hannah, the half-breed daughter is the prime suspect. Linda seeks out her long time college friend(?) Linda and...more

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About Rebecca Forster

On a crazy dare, I wrote a book and suddenly a lark became a passion. Now, with over 25 books to my name including the Witness Series featuring Josie Bates and the USA Today Best Seller KEEPING COUNSEL. I’m love writing thrillers that combine great plots and intricate character relationships.

I'm long married to a Superior Court judge (we met in high school) and the mother of two sons who write. Al...more

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BBCode	[url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/115440.Hostile_Witness?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book][img]http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1328032417l/115440.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/115440.Hostile_Witness?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book]Hostile Witness by Rebecca Forster[/url]

Hostile Witness (Witness Series #1)

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