Disappearance

by Julien Ayotte

WITSEC, the witness protection program run by the U.S. Marshals Service, has been in existence for forty-six years. In all that time, WITSEC has never lost a witness who remained in the program, a total of 8500 witnesses in that time. What if, suddenly, two witnesses were murdered, execution-style, and an attempt was made to assassinate a third witness but barely failed…all in a span of two weeks?There is a leak in the U.S. Marshals witness protection unit, or a massive breach in their computer system. Paul O’Malley, the director of WITSEC, must stop the killings before many witnesses lose faith in the program, and seek new sanctuaries on their own. O’Malley, with the keen help of a long-time ally and friend, retired FBI agent Harry Esten, team up to identify the leak and stop further killings.Esten’s years of investigations significantly contribute to unfolding the assassin and the former marshal who is providing him with the names of victims who have continued to commit crimes while in WITSEC.The trail of both villains becomes clearer to the bumbling O’Malley, while Esten’s thorough research gets O’Malley back in the chase more often than not.There is non-stop action throughout, leading to a climactic confrontation between the two villains, and an ending that will surprise everyone.

296 pages, Paperback

First published November 7, 2017

About the author

B.S. in Accounting
MBA
PhD

College Graduate Professor
Corporate officer at Textron
Executive Director at two law firms

married, wife Pauline
three grown children

Reviews

[Julie (JuJu)]

Great read...action-packed, fast-paced and full of suspense! Julien Ayotte is a great writer and knows how to keep his audience captivated, although the pace slowed down some towards the end. There are so many characters and so much happening in this book, it’s hard to review without giving away too much.

FBI agent Harry Esten is retired, living a peaceful life in his beach house, when his old partner—Sean—asks for his help. Two witnesses in the WITSEC program have been murdered and an attempt made on a third witness. Reggie—the third witness—is the only one to survive the execution attempt. For the past 10 years she’s lived in Rock Springs...settling in as a shop owner. But she’s never felt completely safe.

WITSEC, which is run by the U.S. Marshals Service—and headed by Paul O’Malley—has a leak. Harry agrees to do some investigating, and with some help from Sean, he is successful at discovering the assassin’s identity, along with the person responsible for leaking the information.

Paul and his team begin the chase to nab their targets, before the other witnesses in WITSEC become spooked and seek new sanctuaries on their own.

I was provided with a complimentary copy of this book, through Reading Deals, in exchange for my honest review.

[Megan Rang]

I received a copy of this book through voraciousreadersonly.com. A leak in the witness protection program has allowed for a murder for hire to kill some people in hiding after years of feeling they were safe. This book tracks this killer and the leak to the program. A great read.

[Patricia W. Tidwell]

Easy read, reads quickly. Story has some twists but still moved along nicely.


Characters are believable, I wonder if some will reappear in another novel? But mostly I want to go to Honduras!

[Amie]

A true page turner! I found myself rooting for the chasee, not the chaser. 😊

[Julie O'brien]

Another outstanding mystery by Ayotte! A true page turner that kept me on the edge of my seat!

[Karen]

Good read. Kept me guessing who did it! Writing is somewhat simplistic but I did enjoy the book.

[Stephanie Runyon]

See my official review at www.OnlineBookClub.org/reviews/by-mou...