Last Witness

A few weeks ago one of my customers told me that she had just finished reading one of the best legal thrillers she had ever read. The book she was recommending was The Last Witness by Jilliane Hoffman. Before I started reading the book I noticed that Nelson DeMille, one of my favorite authors, had a quote on the cover stating, "One of the best legal thriller writers in the country. Her previous book, Retribution, was the finest courtroom drama I've read in years, and Last Witness is even better." Jilliane is able to draw on her experiences as an Assistant State Attorney based in Miami and has created a main character in this book, C.J. Townsend, who is molded after herself. The basis of the plot in this book is that C.J. was able to obtain a conviction of a man accused of murdering a woman and cutting out her heart. A rookie police officer made a traffic stop and in searching for drugs, he pops the trunk and discovers a corpse with the heart removed. C.J. and the police proceed quickly with this "open and shut" case, and easily obtain a conviction. The killer is very violent during the trial and C.J. is justly terrified of him since he was the man who raped her while she was living in New York City. She had tried to remove herself from this past experience by moving to Miami and changing her name. She has her conviction in a very big case, but there is one problem. The recorded 911 call alerting the police that the killer's car might contain narcotics was not legal grounds for the officer to search the car. The case could easily have been thrown out of court, so C.J. and some of the police brass quietly buried the 911 tape. Now it is a few years later, and the rookie policeman that had stopped the killer and found the corpse in the trunk is brutally murdered with his throat cut and his face shredded with a knife. C.J. is on call and when she views the body of the victim, she is shocked to find that he was the rookie cop who helped her obtain the conviction of the killer. Within a short time, another policeman is found similarly murdered, and C.J. realizes that he was also involved in that case. The medical examiner, while he was performing the autopsies on both of these policemen, finds out that they were both drug users. So now the police are directing their investigation to a possible drug connection, but C.J. starts thinking that it might be going back to the case of the murders several years ago. This book keeps you turning pages one after the other, no matter what else you are supposed to be doing, or how late it is getting at night, or if you get up early in the morning, you just have to reach for this book while you drink your morning cup of coffee. I must agree with Nelson DeMille that Jilliane Hoffman is a great new find for a legal thriller writer. Since this book will be published this coming June in mass market format, I am hoping that she will have a new hardback out around that same date.

Before I even really get into the meat of the review, I just want to caution anybody who did not read Retribution to do so before reading this book. Even though Hoffman tries valiantly to update the new reader on the characters and situations from the previous book, I can imagine just how confusing it would be for a new reader. I would even go so far as to warn you to not reading any reviews so that the whole Retribution novel isn't given away to you. To continue, in this follow up, we see that CJ and Dominick are engaged, but CJ is still grappling with her old demons when a new twisted serial killer arises, known as Black Jacket. This killer starts murdering CJ's co-conspirators from the previous novel. Because of the gruesome way in which they are killed, the task force assigned to these murders immediately suspects a Columbian cartel connection, but CJ is not convinced. In fact, she starts wondering if maybe there were two Cupid killers and the other one is still at large hunting down anybody who knows information that could lead to the release of Bill Bantling, the man who raped CJ and who in retribution, CJ pinned the Cupid murders on despite his innocence. Needless to say, the plot is once again filled with many twists and turns. One of the excellent things about Hoffman's writing is its realism. As a former attorney, she understands the legal machinations of a prosecutor and successfully incorporates them in her book to add credence to the story line. She is also much more comfortable in her writing with this follow up, and the book flourishes because of it. However, there is hardly any new information given about any of the characters, which I find disappointing. We do learn a little more about Dominick, but I felt with this book, she maybe could have brought out more of each character's history. The ending leaves room for another follow up, and I hope it is as good as this one! Grade: A- (4.5 stars)

Jilliane Hoffman made an impressive debut in 2004 with RETRIBUTION, hitting a number of public and private Top Ten lists. A lesser writer would experience a sophomore slump, or perhaps even the dreaded "one and done" syndrome. Thankfully, Hoffman, with the newly published LAST WITNESS, has written a work that exceeds the promise of RETRIBUTION, taking Florida State Prosecutor C. J. Townsend into new and darker territory of the body and soul. One suggestion before you begin LAST WITNESS: Read RETRIBUTION. Though Hoffman does an admirable job of bringing new readers up to speed with respect to what has transpired before, reading RETRIBUTION will not only give you the full backstory but also will prepare you for the even wilder ride that you will experience in this latest novel. LAST WITNESS is full of surprises, to say the least. Someone in Miami is brutally murdering policemen. And not just any policemen. A number of the victims have ties to the investigation of the Cupid killings, resulting in the trial and conviction of William Bantling. Townsend's successful prosecution of Bantling may have been an ugly win, but justice, in its fashion, was done. Now, however, it appears that someone knows of the conspiracy of silence and omission that has sent Bantling to Death Row, and is taking pains to clear up any potential loose ends. Special Agent Dominick Falconetti with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement is charged with investigating the murders and slowly uncovers a drug connection between the slain officers and a member of Miami's high society, unaware that the trail he is following leads back to Townsend, to whom he is engaged. Townsend is in both personal and professional danger. The unknown killer seems to be methodically working his way toward her. Bantling, meanwhile, is seeking a new trial on the basis that the prosecution --- Townsend --- deliberately withheld evidence at his trial, and that this evidence was material to his defense. The problem, of course, is that Bantling is correct --- and Townsend is indeed in grave danger, as an unknown killer moves ever closer to her. Hoffman's work here is astounding --- no other word will do. LAST WITNESS clears up questions left unanswered in RETRIBUTION and provides a fully satisfying reading experience in its own right, while creating an electrifying anticipation for her next novel. While Hoffman's protagonists are interesting and three-dimensional, she truly excels when creating her bogeymen, nightmarish characters who live and think where the buses don't run and where angels fear to tread. Hoffman also subtly utilizes the political and cultural backdrop of southern Florida to great advantage, but never lets the flora and fauna get in the way of her dynamic, suspenseful delivery. Reading LAST WITNESS is a page-turning, terrifying experience that will keep you up all night, not only while you are reading it but also after you have finished it. --- Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub