The Perfect Witness

by Iris Johansen

She was the perfect witness--until they found her.

When Teresa Casali was young, she discovered that she could read people's memories. But this strange gift became a curse when her mob boss father used Teresa to gain the upper hand in his world of corruption and violence. Exposed by her own family to the darkest impulses of mankind, Teresa finds herself defenseless and alone…until, from seemingly out of nowhere, she meets the mysterious Andre Mandak. Armed with a chilling set of skills, Mandak can protect Teresa and kill her pursuers. But can she trust him?

Now she's the perfect target--and there's nowhere left to hide…

With Mandak's help, Teresa learns to control her power before it consumes her. It is his promise to get her into Witness Protection that convinces Teresa to assume a new identity: she becomes Allie Girard and tries to forget Teresa Casali ever existed. For years "Allie" lives a normal life with a new family…until the day her cover is blown and the truth spreads like wildfire. Now she will have to use her finely-honed gift to end the threat that began with her family's betrayal. Nothing can stop her from revealing the truth…even if it kills her.

Genres: Mystery, Thriller, Fiction, Suspense, Paranormal, Romance, Mystery Thriller

359 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 2014

About the author

Iris Johansen is a New York Times bestselling author. She began her writing after her children left home for college. She first achieved success in the early 1980s writing category romances. In 1991, Johansen began writing suspense historical romance novels, starting with the publication of The Wind Dancer. In 1996 Johansen switched genres, turning to crime fiction, with which she has had great success.

She lives in Georgia and is married. Her son, Roy Johansen, is an Edgar Award-winning screenwriter and novelist. Her daughter, Tamara, serves as her research assistant.

IRIS JOHANSEN is The New York Times bestselling author of Night and Day, Hide Away, Shadow Play, Your Next Breath, The Perfect Witness, Live to See Tomorrow, Silencing Eve, Hunting Eve, Taking Eve, Sleep No More, What Doesn't Kill You, Bonnie, Quinn, Eve, Chasing The Night, Eight Days to Live, Blood Game, Deadlock, Dark Summer, Pandora's Daughter, Quicksand, Killer Dreams, On The Run, and more. And with her son, Roy Johansen, she has coauthored Night Watch, The Naked Eye, Sight Unseen, Close Your Eyes, Shadow Zone, Storm Cycle, and Silent Thunder.

http://www.irisjohansen.com

Reviews

[Bea Lynch · Rating 1 out of 5]

I received this book as an advanced readers copy, and I was really looking forward to it, especially after I learned how acclaimed the author was. However, the writing made me feel as if I was back in 5th grade. I stopped reading after page 200 because I realized I just didn't care what happened to the characters! They felt lifeless, and it was due to the writing, not the plot. I was tired of reading the short choppy sentences and unnecessary exclamation points, so I have moved on to better books. Hopefully others will like this book more than I did.

[Annastasia Sikel · Rating 1 out of 5]

Sadly disappointed in Ms. Johansen. This book stunk.

I think the concept had great potential, but this book did not deliver. I couldn't get attached to any of the main characters. I found myself skipping many pages of irrelevant drivel, and was glad to reach the lackluster end.

Writing a bad review of one of my favorite authors now has me depressed and I must go find a bucket of ice cream to cheer me up. Dammit.

[Book Addict · Rating 2 out of 5]

I am 2/3 of the way through this book and I have to say it absolutely awful. A more ridiculous plot and set of characters have never been combined before, I am sure of it... I wish I was the kind of person who could leave a book unfinished but if I set it aside now I will forget how incredulous I am. Next thing I know, I'm neck deep in the idiocy and ranting again. I may as well finish the torture now and save my future foolish self sanity :P

I always get excited to read books where the main character is intellectually gifted and I'm almost always disappointed at how stoopid they end up being. Tip to the world of authors: if you aren't a genius please for the love of all that is good don't attempt to create one, please? Even if this character weren't so out of character to her supposed intelligence, I would dislike her for her selfish immaturity alone.

OK lets do this thing and never ever look back...

Finished, done, complete ... happy. The bones of this story sound like a great read but it is so far from being pulled off I dare you to prove an author with dozens of novels under her belt wrote it. In a few days we will find out someone pulled a VC Andrews and took over IJ's identity. On the plus side there were no horrible spelling/grammatical errors that jerk you out of the story to re-read a dozen times to get the right meaning. On the negative side there were no horrible spelling/grammatical errors that jerk you out of the story to re-read a dozen times to get the right meaning so that you might forget to start reading again...

[Karyn Niedert · Rating 1 out of 5]

I'm not going to provide an in-depth review for this one, because to be absolutely fair, I didn't finish it. From the beginning, I was turned off by the idea of a middle aged man being drawn physically to a 16 year old girl. I know, I know, "What a prude, eh?" Bus alas...

Johansen did wait until Theresa/Allie was 23'ish before the main characters take "it" to the next level, but the whole time I was thinking, "Oh, how wonderfully perfect for a late thirties dude to be hot-trotting it with a 23 year old." Sorry I'm being so churlish, but this just was not my cup of tea. Theresa/Allie didn't come across like a 16 year old during the first few chapters of the book, and that made me lose interest. Andre Mandak was a typical mercenary/savior, typical fairy tale noble dude.


If you are a fan of previous Iris Johansen novels, you'll probably enjoy her latest offering.

[Jo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Love Iris Johansen as an author. The novel was an entire cast of new characters. The beginning of the novel was not good at keeping my interest. However, I kept on reading and the second half was much more exciting. I don't know if these characters have been in follow-on novels or not. It was a good read.

[Laurie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really wanted to like this book. Iris is one of my favs. But there's non stop dialog between the two main characters and it's constant bickering. Allie has known Mandak for seven years but she argues with him and fights him at EVERYTHING. Even after so many tell her he's a good guy. I so wanted Allie to grow up and shut up. Four-fifths through it I was hoping the bad guy would get her and Mandak would find someone else.

[Marti (Letstalkaboutbooksbaybee) · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was so bad.

It seemed so promising. The cover was intriguing, the plot seemed good.

So disappointing. The writing was so stiff and wooden, and so boring. One character would say something like "this is what I'm doing. This is why I'm doing it. This is how you're reacting. Blah"

Seriously, a 10 year old would have written better dialogue.

And the relationship between Allie and Mandak was so creepy. Like they met when he was a grown man and she was 16 and yet they kept talking about the "sensuality" of their relationship. None of which was actually conveyed through the writing, we had to be directly told it existed, instead of being able to tell from the writing.

Ugh that's 200 pages of my life that I'm never getting back.

[Michelle · Rating 1 out of 5]

This literally could've been a combination of every other Iris Johansen book I've read lately. I couldn't even get through the first half of the book because I didn't care about the characters. Disappointing!!

[K9Capers · Rating 1 out of 5]

Waste of brain cells to even listen at 3x speed. Just stupid

[Mauoijenn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good story line.
I just felt it was a little rushed at the end.

[Tina · Rating 3 out of 5]

As a child, Teresa Casali discovered that she has a strange psychic gift - she can read other people’s memories. After growing up with abusive parents who used her abilities for their own gains she trusts no one. Her gift is a curse to her in many ways. At 16, her stepfather tries to have her killed because he feels threatened by her and she is rescued by a man named Mandak. Although she doesn’t trust Mandak she has no other choice but to go on the run with him.

Mandak has his own special psychic gifts and he trains Teresa to control her own before she loses her sanity. But, he also has his own agenda that he refuses to reveal to her. After months of physical and mental training he puts her into a Witness protection program with a new name and she goes to live with friends of his, although he visits every few months to make sure she is ok and to reinforce her mental blocks.

7 years later, under her new name of Allie, she has finally learned to completely control her gift and to block out most people’s memories. She has grown to love the elderly couple that she has lived with the past 7 years and she is about to graduate college.
But, then her cover is blown and the very people she loves the most are in great danger. Once the truth comes out, Allie decides that she needs to use her gift to help Mandak put an end to a man who has been slaughtering his family for years even while putting her own life at risk.

I mostly enjoy Iris Johansen’s books and she has great story lines, however, I wish she would develop some unique characters. Since her Eve series, every book has a very strong willed, in your face, woman character who doesn’t trust anyone and they all have the same personalities. I would like to see a new type of character in her future books.

[Kate Murphy · Rating 1 out of 5]

I created a new category called FAIL just for this book. I lasted to chapter 3. Rarely do I give up on a book that early. It is really bad. Half way through the first chapter, I thought that maybe I was reading a book targeted to young teens - but, having read most of the books my young teens have read - it was still no excuse for such sub-par writing. Points repeat themselves beyond the annoyance stage. By chapter three, I was saying - out loud - "OK! ALRIGHT already! We get that she doesn't trust this guy! We get that he has some mysterious "talent" that we won't know about for awhile....MOVE ON!" But no. It didn't move on. Into chapter three and this same "message" is all that's coming out. I actually called audibles and requested they credit me back the credit I used to purchase this as an audio book. Hitting my head against a wall would be more fun than continuing this book. PASS.

[Jennifer · Rating 1 out of 5]

I have no idea how this is averaging as many stars as it is. Super blah. I finished because I hate no to, but nothing was good about it. Jumpy and sketchy to read. Blah dialog. Blah characters. Kind of blah storyline. So not impressed. Glad I borrowed from the library for free. I feel pretty stiffed if I spent money on it.

[Sara · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was the dumbest, most poorly written book I've read in a long time. I only read to the end because my compulsive nature rarely lets me put down an unfinished book. What. A. Huge. Waste. Of. Time.

[Cate]

I have always been a big fan of this author so when I saw this book I couldn't wait to dive in. I made it to page 169 and I just can't read anymore. There is no flow to this book. Every page of this has been a struggle. If I didn't know better I would think a middle schooler had written this. The characters are not well developed. I would find it very hard to believe that she did any sort of research before she started this book. I also wonder if she read it cover to cover before sending it out to the masses. I'm just thankful I got this book from the library and didn't waste my money. So disappointed. Epic fail.

[Louisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh, awesome, awesome book! Loved these characters and this plot, though it has changed from the first synopsis I read! And I do wish I'd read the earlier Iris Johansen books first, because this book has Megan from Pandora's Daughter in it, and Megan was also in an Eve Duncan book, so things are connected!

[Sarah · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was a really bad novel. The author, although highly acclaimed, repeated herself over and over. Very disappointing.

[Christine · Rating 1 out of 5]

. . . Oh my lord this book was awful. I mean, seriously. What in the name of the Flying Spaghetti Monster did I just read?

Before I go any further, I’d like to briefly explain how I fell into the terrible graces of this travesty of a book. I was at a small shop while vacationing in Montauk two years ago when I came across The Perfect Witness at the back of the store. Now I have a little “test” to see whether I’m going to buy a book or not.

Step 1: Read the blurb. If it’s intriguing, read the first page.
Step 2: If the writing is engaging enough to read past the first page, buy the book.
Step 3: Have happy fun times . . .?

Since the idea for this book piqued my interest, I went and bought it. Of course, there have been times when I’ve been met with disappointment. The Perfect Witness just so happened to fall flat on its face. As a matter of fact, there are so many things that could’ve gone wrong with this book . . . and - surprise! - they went wrong. For starters, the exchange between Teresa/Allie and Mandak in Chapter 1 is basically a giant block of exposition. What makes it even worse is that the exposition happens through the dialogue. Allie’s entire backstory is told through several paragraphs of dialogue when it could have easily been shown in flashbacks. And it was at that moment that I realized: “This is gonna be one of those books, isn’t it?”

On the topic of the dialogue, The Perfect Witness has hands down the worst dialogue I’ve ever seen. It literally made me want to go out to my backyard and scream until my throat was raw. Fortunately for my neighbors, I didn’t do that. But in case you want a sample of just how appallingly bad this dialogue I speak of is, here’s a few that I’ve unearthed from the fiery pits themselves.

Keep in mind, the following quotations are samples of actual dialogue. Read on at the expense of your brain cells.

Page 2: “We were just sent to bring you back. You know me. I’ve watched you grow up. I was at your sixteenth birthday party last month.”

Page 13: “You were sent away to boarding school from the time you were six. You didn’t seem to mind. You did extraordinarily well at school. You’re exceptionally bright, and from very early on, the teachers found out that you had a special talent. You have a photographic memory.”

Page 52: “It’s been four hours and I was getting a little worried. Though I thought it was probably a mental effort to get away from me that was causing it.”

Page 98: “I didn’t do anything that would embarrass you or Natalie. I wrote what Simpson wanted me to write. But do you know that history professor is fake and an idiot?”

Page 99: “Why shouldn’t I, with a tiger like you to defend me? I was just wondering if my stomach was going to tolerate that hot sauce at your favorite Mexican restaurant. I decided that I’ll survive. Go get Natalie.”

Page 169: “‘I’ll do it,’ she said curtly. ‘But you were too vague about what you were offering me in return. I’m going to spell out exactly the terms you have to offer me.’”

Page 231: “You’re sitting there so straight, you look as if you have a poker in your back. You’re exhausted. You’re torn apart.”

Page 233: “Now you’re going to lie here and pretend today was a bad memory you have to block.”

Page 332: “Now stop yelling at me. I’m feeling pretty raw and hurting. I need a little time to pull myself together and start thinking. I was just acting on instinct when I was talking to my mother.”

And that’s only scraping the surface. Everything that could have been explained through the prose itself is instead explained through the dialogue, making this book unbelievably irritating. And as you can probably tell, this book pretty much breaks the golden rule of writing: “Show, don’t tell”. For the record, the author seems to have a fondness for reusing certain words to oblivion. This is fine in moderation, but do the world a favor and mix things up a bit.

Moving on, pretty much all of the characters come off as one-dimensional and a good chunk of them may as well be flatter than cardboard. To make things worse, there is absolutely no difference in the way they talk; they all speak in an annoyingly monotonous way and it’s very easy to mistake one character’s dialogue for another. On the other hand, it’s practically impossible to get attached to any of the characters. Characters that could’ve been fleshed out are killed off before they get the chance. The ones that do make it remain straight up unlikable. Character motivations are also black and white in terms of morality; for example, the antagonists of this book do the things they do because . . . potatoes, I guess.

I don’t know. I just like potatoes. Point is, the characters pretty much do what they do just for the sake of being good/evil. Yawn fest. The only two characters in this book with any semblance of depth are Allie’s mom and maybe Mandak. Maybe. I’m just throwing darts randomly at this point.

Back to the writing, the pacing of this book is atrocious. After the end of Chapter 4, we get a sudden seven-year time skip that, while it works to an extent, is just a bit out of place. By the time I reached the halfway point, I knew for a fact that this could’ve easily been a duology or something. There was just so much stuff crammed into this 359-page book that I felt one book alone wasn’t enough to accommodate it. There’s also the fact that this book tries to be way too many things at once. It starts out with the setup for a psychological thriller, but halfway through it suddenly transitions to something you’d probably see out of a James Bond movie or perhaps a stereotypical action flick. There’s even a chase scene a little after the halfway point and stuff involving missiles. For the love of God, pick one genre and stick to it.

So are there any positives to this book (besides the fact that I somehow managed to survive)? Actually, yes. Kind of. While the ending was underwhelming, the last big scene ended with somewhat of a bang. There were also some passages that were engaging but, unfortunately, those were few and far between. I think the only reason I managed to survive this monstrosity was that I’ve already DNF’d three books this year and I really didn’t want to DNF a fourth. There’s something about DNFing too many books in a certain amount of time that really throws me off. Even then, I had a terrible feeling that this book was going to be awful, which is a shame because some of the author’s other books have gotten 4-star ratings on GR.

So . . . am I missing something? Anything?

. . . Why am I even asking this? I’m not even gonna read another one of her books anyway.

VERDICT: 0/10

[Deb · Rating 2 out of 5]

I thought that I would give one of Johansen's stand-alone books a try. I am NOT a fan of her Eve Duncan series but I thought this book might be better. I was not too impressed with this one either. There was so much conversation, and not enough action. I will agree with one of the other reviewers in that the short and choppy sentences were a real distraction. The characters lacked depth and I didn't care what happened to them. I better quit now before I take away a star!

[Cheyenne · Rating 1 out of 5]

Oh my. This book. The plot sounded so good and I’ve seen so many Iris Johansen books, so what the hell, I gave this one a try.

First off, the way this books starts feels like you are hard core in the middle of the story. There is a chase scene, some killing, someone is saved in a “take my hand if you want to live” way blah, blah, blah. I kept waiting for there to be a flash back moment of like six months earlier or something considering this level of drama at the beginning, but no. Ok…we’re really doing this. Then within the first 15-20 minutes we are literally told the WHOLE introduction to the characters in a way that’s not organic at all. I liken it to reading a bio of someone. When Mandak first meets Teresa/Allie it is like ok, you’re born this day, and your father did this and used you, and this is your special talent, which has haunted you, and people are after you, and that’s how you ended up in this forest, and I will help you harness your power and on and on. Seriously, this was all one conversation at the beginning. Freaking a, what is the point of reading this now?? Nothing is revealed in a way so that we get to know these characters or see them develop.

Not too long after that we get to hear this middle-aged Mandak lust over this 16 year old girl. Telling her how he “knows her body” because he dressed her flesh wound and has to keep himself away from her. Just ick. Instant turn-off on this book. The characters are clichéd and unbelievable. And the dialogue between these two? She’s goes between sounding like a petulant 12 year old to a much older woman. Seriously, what young person says, “Oh very well then!” at the end of an argument? Or, “hogwash!” Too much of the book was filled with long dialogue where too much is said in a disjointed and uninspired way. Oh, and Allie says either “bullshit” or “go to hell” every other page. She’s absolutely ridiculous. One minute she’s Billy Bad A** the next she’s “hurting right now”.

I think the final straw was the first time when they are about to get down and dirty and he stops himself, yells at her, and then tells her how much SHE wants it and is “gonna like it” when he is inside her. OMG. Man, please. You’re feeling yourself a little bit too much there sir and I am not amused. I don't think this would have bothered me as much if they had a different history.

This book was unbelievable, slow, repetitive with unlikable characters. It was hardly thrilling, suspenseful or mysterious. It really just wants to be a romance, but it’s not the greatest example of that either. Based on reviews I’ve skimmed, this writer’s other books follow a similar formula. Sadly, I think this is the first and last Iris Johansen I read.

[Bridget LaMonica · Rating 1 out of 5]

I listened to the audiobook of this novel.

Unfortunately, I just could not get on board with this book. It has a lot of problems. A lot.

My biggest issue is the inappropriate relationship between Mandak (a grown-a$$ man) and Teresa/Allie...which begins when she's 16. If romance is having a teenager offer a man who could be her father sex so nonchalant...then I just don't want romance in my novels about murder plots and mob bosses.

The writing also was incredibly weak for such an established author. It was adverb-apalooza all up in here. She used a lot of crutch words that got so repetitive as to be hilarious. She used "jerkily" more times in one chapter than most authors would feel comfortable tossing into an entire series.

And Teresa/Allie does EVERYTHING "Jerkily." She nods. Jerkily. She says things. Jerkily. It's like this girl has the shakes. Also, the point when I heard the narrator read: " 'No,' Teresa said, jerkily" I almost had to pull over my car and write this review right there. How do you say one word--jerkily? Also, haven't you heard that overuse of adverbs kills kittens? How dare ye!

I've read at least one other Iris Johansen novel and ...although I regret to inform you which title it was, I don't recall it being this bad. Everyone's going to have a craptastic novel when they've written almost 120 of them.

It's too bad. She had an opportunity to have an interesting story, if she'd just made Teresa likeable (she was dreadfully boring and it was quite annoying how she reacted to most situations) and avoided the inappropriate relationship that makes Twilight seem like a stable relationship built to last.

[Amber · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dear Ms. Johansen,

I liked this book, I did. I found it hard to put down at times and thought the idea behind it was great. It's not my favourite ever of yours, but it was definitely not the worst.

What I would love, in any of your next books, lets switch gender roles. Lets have a crazy intelligent (possibly with some psychic abilities), military trained/dangerous, alpha female come and rescue a male who is unsure of himself but will grow to be powerful and then they can fall in love and all that magic happens. Its not that I don't love watching the women in your stories grow into their abilities and strengths, its just that it would be nice for once to not have the alpha male that controls the situation and she constantly has to fight him to prove herself. Lets reverse it. That's my vote.

Amber

Oh, and PS- I realize you may not have much control over this part, but I hated the cover. It was so far away from your traditional type of covers that I was initially worried this was a wishy washy romance novel.

[Martha Bode · Rating 2 out of 5]

** spoilerish rant ahead**

I like a good mystery.... This one started out fine, and as long as you can suspend disbelief that the main character can read memories, you may like the first half of the book. Past the halfway mark.....oy..... I really hate a lapse in logic and there is a doozy in this plot. Characters on the run from people who are TRYING TO KILL THEM do not go out into the open for a funeral fer cryin' out loud. It is even mentioned in the post-half clunky dialog that they are sitting ducks.... And then they get shot at - to no one's surprise. Shame on this author. Iris, you are better than this.

[AndreaH · Rating 1 out of 5]

I keep saying I'm going to quit Johansen, but the books written with her son get me back on board, but none lately have matched the early Eve Duncan books.
This was worse than most. Besides the off-putting — to me, at least — editing errors throughout, the main characters were boilerplate alpha male, young woman with attitude, stereotypical megalomaniacal villains, with some psychic woo-woo thrown in.
I sped-read through, because I just can't not finish a book, but it was torture doing so.
Glad I got it at the library and didn't fork over $28 (!) for this ill-conceived drivel.

[Terry Audette weiss · Rating 2 out of 5]

Teresa Casali could read people's memories, the reason she considered herself a freak. She is taken advantage of by her father and betrayed by her mother. Her answer? Run away. With the help of Andre Mandak she is able to control her "gift" and help him complete a task he has been working on for many years. An OK storyline but at times the book gets wordy and the heroine becomes somewhat of a whiner. Also very graphic.

[Brodiebert · Rating 1 out of 5]

I wish I'd read the reviews first. Boring, melodramatic, repetitive. I rarely give up on books but I just couldn't get into it. I'm a captive audience too, I listen to audiobooks while driving for 12 hours at work, I found I would rather listen to the hum of the engine than subject myself to this drivel for a second more. I was shocked to realize this was Iris Johansen when I logged on to write a review, I've always liked her books. Save yourself some time and just burn it now.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

I just could not get into this book. I am usually a huge fan of Johansen but from the start of this book it felt like work to read and I found myself skipping to the end just to get done. I was lost from the start and over 150 pages in still lost and either I missed something or you had to work harder for the backbone of this book then I was willing to work.

[Sarah Richardson · Rating 1 out of 5]

Quite possibly one of the worst books I’ve ever read.

[Andrea Bolton · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don’t think I’ve ever read an Iris Johansen book that I didn’t like. Good story, good characters, lots of action.

[Brantley · Rating 1 out of 5]

The book was twice as long as necessary, lots of boring dialogue, flat characters, slow plot, no redeeming qualities.