The Witness

Shield of Honor #2

by Dee Henderson

Police Chief Luke Granger's witness to a murder, Amy Griffin, has been on the run for years. Her family thinks she was murdered eight years ago, but Amy chose to accept a life in the shadows in order to protect her sisters' lives. Now unveiled secrets about their father have thrust the sisters into the public spotlight. The man who wants Amy dead now sees her sisters as the way to locate her. Luke and two of his homicide detectives are determined to stand in the way. They are each falling in love with a different sister, and it's become a personal mission to keep them safe. But chances are that at least one of them will fail, and facing the future will take a faith deeper than any of them currently knows.

Genres: Christian Fiction, Christian, Fiction, Mystery, Suspense, Romance, Mystery Thriller

378 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2006

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Dee Henderson is the author of 27 non-fiction and fiction titles, including Jesus our Savior and Redeemer, Jesus the Truth and the Life, The Good News Project, Taken and the acclaimed O’MALLEY series. Several titles have appeared on the USA Today Bestseller list; Full Disclosure has also appeared on the New York Times Bestseller list. For details visit: DeeHenderson.com

Reviews

[Olivia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Those who loved her O'Malley series, will find this nearly equal in quality. It is intense, draws your attention from the first page, and makes you keep reading. I really enjoyed this!!

What I liked:
-The first chapter. WOW! It pulls you in right away. I had a hard time putting it down after that.
-The sisters. Love them. I can so understand how it feels being far away from a sister and my throat choked up on the reunion.
-Marsh and Conner. Before their POV's were introduced, I really liked Luke, but after that he didn't draw my attention as much as his officers. I didn't think about Marsh that much until...
-Around page 310. I mean, I hated it, so why am I putting it her? But it moved the story along really well and I liked that. But oh my...talk about emotions! I had to set it aside for awhile after that part and take a deep breath.
-MARSH!!! (just read the book before I give away everything!)
-The suspense. As usual, Henderson makes you sit on the edge of your seat. I kinda guessed the suspect as the end neared, but I still think it was a really neat twist.
-The spiritual content. Good as usual...a few great intense conversations. Church is mentioned, but never any scenes when they attend. No verses quoted (which I would have liked).

What I didn't like:
-I find that the author has relationships move really fast. Like a guy meets a girl and then two days later he kisses her. Hm. But besides that, I think the relationships were sweet and fun to read.
-The end wasn't as riveting as I hoped. I was expecting this huge dramatic ending, but it was just slow. I think a few details could have been cleared up.
-I got so confused with Caroline, Amanda, and Marie. I have no clue why. By the end I had their names sorted out. I think that was just me :)
-Some might find it annoying all the different POV's. I think Daniel's was a little unnecessary, but all the others were good.

A few things to keep in mind:
-Two kisses. Slightly detailed. Also some of the characters talk about kissing. Not detailed.
-Some mentions of a man that had a few affairs. Never detailed.
-At the beginning brief thought that someone might be raped. Not detailed.
-Three scenes mention dead bodies. Mainly talks about blood being splattered, the smell, etc..

Not quite as good as the O'Malley series, but I think it is pretty close in my opinion. Lovers of a good, Christian romance, suspense, and mystery will find this book riveting. Go read it!

[Sidney W. · Rating 4 out of 5]

I must admit this is the first Dee Henderson book I've read so I didn't know what to expect. I bought it because it was said to be a Christian romance thriller. It begins with a bang and I couldn't put the book down for the first quarter or so. Then, it seems to go into slow motion for the next fifty percent or so. Then it kicks in again for the close. I was okay with the resolution of the story, unlike other reviewers. I didn't spot the lack of editing as some have reported, but I was distracted by the use of "couple" without "of" after it. I had never seen that before and it appeared a number of times.

I watched for the Christion view, and felt it was subtle. Not preachy at all. Just a few personal prayers, some discussion of one's belief in God. I noticed that there was no swearing or the use of alcohol or drugs. This I appreciated.

I plan to read more of her books.

[Cori · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty okay. I hate to say that many faith-based thrillers pull their punches and are a lower caliber of quality than their secular counterparts. Although I would have preferred an alternative ending to this one, it was a personal preference. The quality of the book is good and it was a good balance of heavy and personable. I haven't read Dee Henderson in a long time, and this is prompting me to grab a few more by this author in the near future.

I'd rate this a PG for violence, gore, and perilous situations.

[Beth Peninger · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have read two other series of Dee Henderson's and have enjoyed her immensely because she, like Francine Rivers, came to Christian fiction from secular writing. So her stories always manage to stay further away from the sappy kind of Christian stuff that can be out there. Plus Henderson is super interested in heroes/law enforcement/crime solving and as I am too her books become an even bigger draw for me. Unfortunately something has changed with Henderson or her publisher or someone because this title seems to be the start of a downhill trend for her. Her last several books, this one included, have not gotten rave reviews. After reading this one I have removed her newest ones from my "to read" list and will just think fondly of the way she used to write. Should I ever have a craving to read Henderson I will just pick back up one of her series I have already read and enjoy them again. It's a shame.
This book is labeled as book #1 but it was published in 2006 and #2 has never made an appearance. Kelly witnesses a killer leaving the scene of the crime and Deputy Sheriff Luke is on scene to help her. Except she flees and he has to track her down. Once he does a story of her life unravels that seems unbelievable (indeed I am fairly certain it actually is unbelievable) and she disappears. Fast forward three years later and Luke is now the Sheriff and it looks like Kelly is going to arrive back in town once it is discovered her sisters are inheriting a large fortune of money that will put them in danger with the people after Kelly. Elaborate plans are made to keep everyone in potential danger safe while they expect the people after Kelly to reappear. In the meantime some murders happen that connect to recent events and Luke and his officers are up against the clock as time runs out for Kelly and her sisters.
Okay. There's no way. There's no way this stuff would happen. And that was the first thing that bugged me. If a book is written please, I beg of you, make it plausible at least. This book? Not possible. Secondly, this sounds really bad but it has to be said. Dudes aren't as intuitive and sensitive and....chivalrous as the ones in this book. Actually Henderson makes all her male characters have this unrealistic personality. I know a lot of guys - Christian ones - and none of them are like this. Make the dudes real please. All this does is set up women to have standards that are impossible for any guy to reach. I'm just bummed. Either Henderson has really changed or I have or its a bit of both (judging from her reviews I know something has change with her). It's such a shame. :(

[Loraine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dee Henderson has done it once again. This "can't-put-the-book-down" thriller has a strong storyline and well developed characters. The 7 main characters: three closely bonded sisters, their romantic interests, and their cousin are creatively crafted. The story line hooks you from page 1 with numerous twists and turns that keep the reader turning pages.

[Lou · Rating 1 out of 5]

I really enjoy the mystery parts but I felt bored when the romantic scenes began. Male characters were too idealistic and although it's a fiction novel, I felt it too surreal. However, I liked the plot and the suspense had a good pace.

[Joleen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Main Characters:
Amanda (Amy) Griffin: On the run for eight years after witnessing a crime
Luke Granger: Police Chief
Marie and Tracy: Amy's sisters, just inherited $30 million each from Henry Benton, cousins to Daniel Goodman
Connor and Marsh: Detectives, partners protecting the Griffin sisters
Henry Benton: Just died, leaving millions to his nephew and two daughters no one ever knew he had
Sam Chapel: Investigator
Daniel Goodman: Inherited the bulk of his Uncle Henry's estate
Caroline: Retired homicide detective after she shot a cop that went on a shooting rampage

Amy Griffin had been in hiding four years after her accountant boyfriend was murdered and she took off with accounting books, money and damning information about her boyfriend's criminal boss. Returning to work in a mall jewelry shop, and to watch over her sisters for a while, she saw who had just murdered her co-workers, giving a description to Luke Granger (a policeman Christmas shopping at the mall)… then disappeared again for three years.

When it came public that Amy's sisters had just inherited a vast amount of money, Luke had a suspicion Amy would return to town as her sisters would now become targets.

The story takes the reader on a wild ride of murder, protection, threats and a few eye-opening surprises.

The Christian Fiction label for this book really worked. Nothing in your face, but a number of characters lived their faith and one even witnessed to another. That conversation was thought provoking. The book was very clean, however I was saddened by a several year indiscretion by one Christian mentioned in the book. Nothing detailed, only referred to.

For the most part I liked this book, and mostly liked the narrator, Lynn Brooks, except for her often halting reading style.

A number of details seemed to be a bit disjointed, and the conclusion of the investigations seemed rushed, confusing, and unsatisfying…at least to me.

But Dee Henderson is still among some of my favorite authors, especially her work on the O'Malley series.

[Karen · Rating 2 out of 5]

A Christian romance mystery suspense novel...what could go wrong there?
Amy is running from her past and someone who wants her dead. Luke, the chief of police who fell for her instantly and has had a torch for her for years, finally meets up with her again when her sisters inherit a large...I mean huge...amount of money and become targets for someone out to kill them. Conveniently one of the sisters is dating Connor, one of the police working for Luke, and Connor's partner, Marsh can't help but fall for the other sister, ha. It's a Christian romance, so it is also a very chaste romance, no problem there, but I really wasn't buying that plot concept and the guys were just a little too saccharin.
As for the thriller part, there really wasn't much thriller involved. The plot was inconsistent, pretty much all over the place. I don't know that I have ever read such a tame climax and wind down of a thriller before. But it fit with the rest of the novel, bland, long sections of meaningless dialog and action that read more like a mindless filler than integral pieces of the story. The characters were fairly likeable, so at least there was that.

[Whitney · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was the last Dee Henderson book I read. Her earlier books aren't just tremendous but they have some good movement and at least a veneer of characterization. in The Witness the characters were static and had no personality. I actually kept forgetting which girl was which because they were exactly the same. You could pick up the dialogue and drop it into anyone else's mouth and it would fit. The plot itself isn't bad, Ms. Henderson has a knack for coming up with suspenseful and exciting plots, but she just can't seem to pull it together with characters that resonate and isn't a strong enough writer to pull off an exciting plot with terrible characters. If she'd even just have /fewer/ characters it wouldn't be so noticeable. All in all the lack of characterization made this book completely forgettable and uninteresting.

[Samantha · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was really unsure of this book after reading some of the reviews. I had gotten into the O'Malley series and loved the True Heroes series. So I gave it a shot and I'm glad I did. I liked the character development in this book and feel that it is probably the first book of a new series. I think Ms. Henderson was trying to get everyone introduced and page time. I enjoyed the bond that the chief and Amy had together. As others have stated this isn't a preachy book, but I did like how she wove God and how the different characters felt about religion in it. Was shocked about 3/4th of the way through it but it was related to the story. I felt this book was good but not great especially when compared to her O'Malley series. I would recommend it after recommending the O'Malley series first.

[Lynnea · Rating 4 out of 5]

THE WITNESS was very good - hard to put down at times. I liked the mix of mystery and romance, although the romance part was extremely predictable. The "Christian Fiction" category is a bit misleading - it's not Christian Fiction in the same sense as Karen Kingsbury or Janette Oke. Henderson's characters mention God every once in a while but Christianity is not the basic theme throughout the book.

This is the first Dee Henderson book I have read and now I will have to find more.

[Miss Clark · Rating 1 out of 5]

I honestly was not interested by this book and while there was nothing downright objectionable with it, I still would not recommend it. It was plain boring and I did not much care for the characters.

[Mollie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I couldn't put it down. Don't start it late at night.

[Lennese Hepburn · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5🌟

[Joanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was a pretty solid mystery book. I wasn't too fond of the ending, I thought that it was the slightest bit anticlimactic, but overall, I enjoyed reading this book (:

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

I get into a Henderson kick about twice a year and I think this book was a good one to start off with. I'd never read it before and enjoyed the suspense and the sweet (if slightly unrealistic) romances. What I would really like to know, is if we ever see any of these characters again in another novel? I would love to see Caroline again, especially.

[Drew Williams · Rating 5 out of 5]

Superb.

[Mary Eklund · Rating 5 out of 5]

Was good, kept me into it from the very beginning. Some happenings were not expected. So had to read on to see what happened next.

[Phillip · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book, The Witness by Dee Henderson is about Amy Griffin, the witness to a murder has been running away for many years now. Her family thinks that she is dead. She is okay with that because that means her loved ones aren't in danger. The man that has been on a mission to kill her believes that he can use her sister's locations to find her. Luke, the Police Chief, and his other two detectives are willing to risk their lives to keep all the sisters alive. Their urge to keep them alive is not just because of their job, it is now more than that. Will they be able to keep them all safe or will one of them fail to keep a sister alive? Overall, the book was good, in the beginning, it started out very suspenseful and that did not stop until the end of the book. This book kept my attention, and it was always hard to put down. Fans of Covert Justice by Lynn Huggins Blackburn would like this book. Both books are mysteries and are romantic. This book is a romance and mystery novel. Dee Henderson has also wrote the O'Malley Chronicles, Danger in the Shadows, Full Disclosure, Unspoken, Undetected, and many more. Overall this book wasn’t too difficult to read, I sometimes got lost in the story but overall it wasn’t bad. A quote that stuck with me in the book was, “Life flows swiftly by and sometimes through tragedies, but it keeps flowing on.”

[AlixJamie · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book, plain and simple, was boring. I had to force myself to cut through the dialoge, the dull characters and the storyline to get to the "horrific" climax.
I read on amazon.com that Dee Henderson "wasn't afraid to kill off a beloved character in the interest of a compelling plot". Come on, Tracey wasn't beloved! She was hardly even introduced!
I told myself at the beginning of the book that it would be a cop-out if Ms. Henderson killed off Marsh, who was one of the three characters whom I really cared anything about. I was hoping she would salvage herself and kill off Connor, who was my favorite and would have created the closest connection to the "beloved character" bit. But Tracey! Good grief...
Other than that, the whole thing about Amanda moving all over the place, her sisters entering into that whopping inheritance and all three guys falling in love with the respective sisters. Well, cliches come in threes, I guess.
The big emotional scenes with the sisters and Amanda got really long too, only adding to the boredom of the book. The interesting parts were too few and far between to really keep reading for.
And again, Ms. Henderson draws out her investigations and draws out her conversations, and draws out her lovey-dovey mush and inserts her Christianity bits and then thecriminaliscaughtandjusticeisdoneandBOOM! they can all live happily ever after.
This is not a book I will be picking up to read over anytime soon.

[Audrey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Three sisters and more money than they know what to do with. Somebody is after their cash and will kill them to get it. Three cops who are determined to protect them. This thrilling book lingered in my mind and wouldn't let go.

[Rebecca · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5stars
This book was slow and disappointing for a Dee Henderson book. It actually started off well. Even though I am not one for much romance in my novels, I did not mind it here. It was actually kinda fun. It was not a love at first sight thing (something I detest) but grew over time. Not exactly the most believable situation, but still fun.

Now, the mystery. The mystery was quite lacking. It cropped up now and then, but was more of a backdrop to the story. I was supposed to feel that it threatened the characters lives, but I never quite believed it. The end was slow and drawn out. Way drawn out. I already guessed who the culprit was, and the police were stumbling around. There was one point where the police chief makes a discovery that I thought he already knew. *sigh*

The one think that did really surprise me was when Tracy was killed. I really did not see that coming. I almost thought it did not fit the story. When I was reading Henderson’s True Devotion, I truly thought something of the sort could happen in that book, but I never got that impression while reading The Witness. I felt there was less warning and reason for it here.

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was good! Told the story of one sister who witnessed a shooting several years ago and was presumed dead as she was hit, too. Several years later, she is working at a jewelry store and it's robbed and she saw the robber. Turns out, her family has thought she was dead all these years since they hadn't heard from her. She kind of formed a bond of sorts with a police officer and then she disappeared again. He was hoping to see her sometime. Her sisters inherited an obscene amount of money and their sister contacted the officer she dealt with before. He was then helping to give the other sisters a sense of security with all of the publicity about their inheritance.

This book was a clean one with no adult content or swearing. A nice change of pace. I would definitely recommend it.

[Stacey · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was the first (and possibly last) book by Henderson that I have read/listened to. The book started out at a quick pace and I looked forward to the next disk. But 3/4 of the way through I started losing interest and then I was terribly dissapointed with the ending. It was as if she tired of writing and just ended the book. In fact, I listened to the last disk a 2nd time just to make sure I hadn't skipped over a few tracks and missed something.
The love story part of the book was a little hokey as well. It was just too perfect with the three sisters in love with three law enforcement personnel.

[Adrienne · Rating 3 out of 5]

The story is a bit long but interesting to keep you turning the pages. The story starts where the deputy police chief meets a woman who is witness to a jewelry store killing. She is able to identify the shooter and the police are able to close the case. Unbeknownst to the deputy police chief the woman is on the run for the past eight years, surviving a shooting where her boyfriend was killed. The story fast forward where the deputy police chief become the police chief and she comes back into his life because her sister's become wealthy. There is twist and turns, the reporter knowing inside information on the crime scenes and people connected to the sisters.

[K.L. Ditmars · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am a huge fan of Dee Henderson and The Witness stood up to my expectations. About a third of the way through, I got chills thinking how good it was and the reading adventure I had ahead of me. I was sad to finish.
The plot is tight and the research Ms. Henderson has done makes the reality and day-to-day work of the police force on various levels so real.
The author beautifully weaves faith into the life experiences of the characters in her books. And again she did not disappoint. My faith is quite often encouraged reading one of Dee Henderson's books.
I highly recommend this book.

[Michelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

I did like this book but it seemed kind of forced. I have read the O'Malley series and I liked it better. She tried to keep the plot going and then suddenly decided the book was long enough and just wrapped it up. But the characters and plot idea were interesting. It wasn't very realistic and it was a good light read. It is slated as Christian fiction but the inserts about faith feel forced. God didn't really figure much into the book.

[Sara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyable and suspenseful. In regards to the gruesomeness of the details, this book was unlike others of Dee Henderson's and I like that. It was also intersting to have 3 romantic relationships in this book. The story was detailed and had a great twist at the end. I was shocked that a main character was killed off, but it added a new aspect to Henderson's writing. I could see this being a series...if only Dee Henderson would start writing/publish a book again.

[Penny · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the first Dee Henderson book I've read. I read it for my church book club. The book is very plot-driven, little to no character development. It reminded me of a TV crime/detective show. I enjoy watching those kinds of shows, but not necessarily reading them. I rated it with three stars because it was readable with a good story. It was a bit too simplistic for my taste, however.

[Stacy · Rating 3 out of 5]

A book I checked out of the library, as I had read another by this author and liked it. I enjoyed this as much as the first - sort of a Christian based murder mystery/whodunit kind of book. Lots of good relationship stuff thrown in too, so it was right up my alley as a good, easy read. I'll look for more by this author to read...