Death's Witness: A Novel

By Paul Batista

Book Overview

Tom Perini is a legendary American football player and Heisman Trophy winner who became a successful criminal lawyer in New York City. Following his murder, his wife Julie begins to uncover a secret world that her husband kept separate from their tender and trusting marriage.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1402206658
• ISBN13: 9781402206658
• Release Date: January 2006
• Publisher: Sourcebooks Landmark
• Length: 320 Pages
• Weight: 1.10 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.3" x 1.3" x 6.3"

Customer Reviews

Terrific Mystery

Death's Witness is a terrific book. It is a novel in the vein of my favorite mystery writers: Ross Thomas, Elmore Leonard and Patricia Cornwell. Once I began reading it I could hardly put it down.

A gutsy and complex novel

I love it when a book from a new author hits the doorstep, and it turns out to be so good that it seems to be velcroed to my hands once I start reading. I had this experience with DEATH'S WITNESS by Paul Batista. Batista is a prominent defense attorney and, perhaps more importantly in this age of the electronic media, a go-to guy for Court TV and elsewhere. Such a curriculum vitae does not guarantee a work of the quality of DEATH'S WITNESS, but in Batista's case his literary prowess is the equal of his legal reputation. Batista commences the book with an extremely gutsy move: he kills off a gentleman who arguably is his main character. Tom Perini is a legendary football player, a Heisman Trophy winner who turned pro only to turn his back on his instant name recognition and fame to attend law school and become a defense attorney. We are barely introduced to Perini when he is gunned down in Central Park while jogging, an incident that appears to the police to be a random act of violence but is known to the reader to be a deliberate hit. Perini leaves a young daughter and a wife, Julie, who understandably is grief-stricken and baffled by her husband's murder. Disappointed by the police investigation and angered by the attitude of an FBI agent who has interjected himself into the case, Julia begins investigating on her own, focusing on her husband's professional life and specifically on a money-laundering case that he had been trying at the time of his death. Julia slowly begins to uncover a series of quiet deceptions in Perini's life that leads her to conclude that he was living a double life. With the aid of Vincent Sorrentino, a defense attorney representing a co-defendant in the trial Perini was involved in, Julia finds that she and her loved ones are in terrible danger, and that the only way to protect herself and her family is to discover the secrets that her husband hid from her so well. Batista, in a word, is wonderful here, guiding his readers skillfully and assuredly through a complex plot. Though it is not immediately obvious, Batista eschews what would have been an easy path for him --- writing a courtroom thriller --- in favor of presenting a mystery unraveled through dogged determination. While there are courtroom scenes in the book, they add to and enhance the story rather than become the alpha and omega of the tale. DEATH'S WITNESS is Exhibit A for the proposition that Batista is as much a winner at writing as he is at defending. --- Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub

I couldn't put it down

so I read it (300pp) in one night. In the Grisham genre, but much faster-paced. Plot and character development are terrific, and you'll love the denouement! Great read for fans of Lee Child too.

Great novel

An amazingly exciting, beautifully written novel that literally kept me turning the pages from beginning to end. Great work.

Wonderful novel

An amazingly fascinating, wonderfully written thriller, with living, breathing characters and surprise after surprise. Out-Grishams Grisham.