Rebecca Forster

I received this book at no cost on Amazon Prime.

Thanks to [a: Rebecca Forster|2518|Rebecca Forster|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1360533397p2/2518.jpg] for making [b: Hostile Witness: A Josie Bates Thriller: The Witness Series #1|25070022|Hostile Witness (Witness Series, #1)|Rebecca Forster|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1425494282s/25070022.jpg|111166]. It is still available as a free e-book at the time of this review. 01/07/2017

There are seven books in this series. If you want to jump into a new series and not have to wait for the next book this is your lucky day. This is a fast-paced legal thriller.

The main protagonist Josie Baylor-Bates is an athletic, attorney who lives in a home on the beach in Southern California. She has just earned her partnership in a cozy and well-established law firm.

Josie's life is on an even keel until an old "friend" Linda Sheraton commands her help in defending her daughter Hannah. Teenage Hanna is charged as an adult in the death of her step-grandfather. The other sticker is the victim is a well-respected judge.

Using her friend, Linda knows the buttons to push to guarantee the cooperation of Josie.

Josie sticks her neck out and could lose everything she has worked for her whole life.… (more)

The beautiful old home in a rich gated community, gives the reader no idea as to what had taken place on the second floor. Soon we learn that the nanny lay in a pool of blood, dead from a gunshot wound. The two girls were butchered with a knife and bore no resemblance to the laughing, carefree kids that they once were. Detectives Finn O'Brien and Cori Anderson were called to try to make some sense of the chaotic mess and above all to find whoever had committed this atrocity. As the lead detectives O'Brien and Anderson investigate the case and soon discover that it is anything but cut and dried. The parents, Sam and Elizabeth Barnett, are wealthy upstanding people in the community so the murders make no sense. They wondered if it was retribution for something that the killer perceived that the parents had done or perhaps it was simply a horrible, random act of violence. O'Brien is just one false step from losing his job because he'd been ostracized by his fellow community of cops for killing a fellow officer. It was justified but that didn't seem to matter. Anderson is a single mother and grandmother who has her problems as well. As they each fight their own demons, they work to solve this case. Eventually the supposed killers are caught but something doesn't fit right about the case to Finn. Soon another suspect, and one that I thought was the killer from the start is looked t much closer, This person had dirty dealings that resulted in him becoming a millionaire. The surprise ending will catch you off guard even when you think you have it all figured out. I want more.… (more)