Silent Witness

By Michael Norman

Book Overview

Sam Kincaid and Kate McConnell must once again look beneath the obvious in an increasingly dangerous scenario. The armored car robbery went terribly awry, leaving two people dead. One was a member of the gang believed responsible for the crime. Walter Bradshaw, the 45-year-old leader of the Reformed Church of the Divine Christ, is charged with capital murder and aggravated robbery. Bradshaw leads an arch-conservative, anti-government group of Mormon polygamists who were once a part of Warren JeffsA a?a Fundamentalist Church. Captured after a high-speed chase, Bradshaw currently sits in a cell at the Utah State Prison, awaiting trial for the armored car fiasco. The rest of the Bradshaw gang remains at large. Then two days before BradshawA a?a s preliminary hearing, Arnold Ginsberg, one of two witnesses to the robbery, is stabbed and bludgeoned to death in a parking garage in downtown Salt Lake City. That same evening, the second witness, 24-year old AA University of Utah student Robin Joiner, narrowly escapes being kidnapped as she walks across campus to her car.... This is the sequel to The Commission, named one of the best books of 2007 by Publishers Weekly.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1590584988
• ISBN13: 9781590584989
• Release Date: May 2008
• Publisher: Poisoned Pen Pr
• Length: 280 Pages
• Weight: 1.08 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.0" x 1.0" x 5.8"

Customer Reviews

A murderous ride!

Reviewed by Dr. Carol Hoyer for Reader Views (2/08) Author Norman has the uncanny ability of capturing the reader's interest from page one with his vivid descriptions of his early characters and their lifestyle, which happens to be contradictory to the majority of Utah's population - Warren Jeffs' Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Detectives Sam Kincaid and Kate McConnell not only enjoy working together, but they also enjoy their intimate relationship. Neither detective has much concern about protocol and rules - their job is to investigate, prosecute and put in prison. Little did they know when Kate called Sam to help her they would become involved in a gay community, hook horns with the new executive director of the Utah State Department of Corrections and put their own lives on the line. To add further interest to his life - Kincaid's ex-wife has decided that she thinks their daughter would be better off living with her. Not only has Norman given us twisting plots, murders, runaways and a religious group that believes in polygamy - he gives us an in-depth view of life as a Latter Day Saint in the state of Utah. His background information not only adds much needed knowledge but also helps thicken the plot. "Silent Witness" is the first novel the reader has read by Norman; I look forward to reading many more.

enjoyable Utah police procedural

In Salt Lake City, police officer Kate McConnell investigates the brutal murder of Arnold Ginsberg and the disappearance of Robin Joiner; they are the eyewitnesses to a failed armored car robbery. Utah Department of Corrections Special Investigations Branch Chief Sam Kincaid joins Kate on her inquiry because the alleged armored robbery gang's leader, Mormon polygamist Walter Bradshaw awaits trial without any witnesses to testify against him. At the same time as he works on the Bradshaw case, Sam also deals with his former wife filing for custody of their daughter. Still in spite of the distraction in his personal life that tears at his guts, Sam diligently and obstinately works the investigation along side of Kate; both hoping the college student who was snatched remains alive. SILENT WITNESS, the sequel to (see THE COMMISSION), is an enjoyable Utah police procedural that uses the headlines of the Jett case to tell a strong investigative tale. Kate and Sam are competent cops trying to do the job, which entails rescuing a twentyish college coed while the brass hinders their efforts. Sam's personal life also intrudes on the investigation, but it is his new CYA boss who makes the inquiry that much more difficult. Michael Norman provides a fine thriller. Harriet Klausner