I have to congratulate Laura Scott. I dog-ear pages that have things wrong on them when I read. Some pages I dog-ear top *AND* bottom. But never before have I had to tear the page in order to dog-ear it THREE TIMES. Way to go. You've taken LI Suspense to a new low, Ms. Scott!
Paige marries a slimeball, then divorces him (which is refreshing, in a LI book, actually - mostly that's a no-no). He goes on to sleep around a lot and then get involved with business espionage, and gets dead. The book hints at Paige's 5yo daughter witnessing his death on a ChatTime app, but that's too much for LI, by far. So really, "The Only Witness" witnessed a whole lotta nothing. She didn't see a crime, can't ID a baddy... it's really stupid.
The cop hero's bestie also gets whacked (pre-story) for being involved in the business espionage thing. So he's trying to unravel what happened to his buddy, until Paige is targeted (allegedly because her daughter saw, oh hey, nothing). So the three of them are on the run. Only it's STOOOOPID to the nth, I swear it.
First, we're told they can't get a warrant to search Daddy's condo... but at this point, with him missing for days? They *CAN* do a well-check, hello. Apparently the author never heard of such a thing. I can't even.
Second, what mother IN HER RIGHT MIND let's a 5yo use apps unsupervised?!?!?! What the heck? That would be the same mother who shoves the kid in front of the TV every chance she gets, all the way thru the book. It's terrible parenting.
Meanwhile, we're supposed to believe the kid doesn't hear ANYTHING they're saying, at least until pg 198, when someone mentions a 'dolly'. (((sigh.))) They're talking about her DADDY, who she saw with a masked baddy on her tablet. Don't you think she'd be worried about Daddy enough to listen, even a *little*? Nope.
We're supposed to believe that Miles (hero) has been hung up on his college gf's death for FIFTEEN YEARS and unwilling to get involved until a 4-day sprint getting away from baddies? Seriously? No other woman has been able to reach him. Hard to buy, that one. And he did SO much with Dawn back then. Parasailing. Skydiving. Hot Air balloon. He meant to hang glide, but she died, first. WHAT IS UP WITH ALL OF IT BEING IN THE AIR?!?
The kid won't talk, because she thought her daddy told her not to tell anyone... but she's drawing pictures of it. And that's okay, according to her 5yo mind? More, she warms up to Miles in two days' time, hugging him and asking to be held by him... WHILE HER DADDY IS IN TROUBLE?! Wow, fickle kid. This is implausible.
Miles uses his burner phone to call the bad guy, and then the author repeatedly tells us he hasn't called anyone but his captain and brother on it, so HOW ON EARTH did the bad guys find them?!?! (((sigh.)))
And while we're on the topic, wouldn't it be safer to take Paige and kid to a holding cell at the precinct? Additionally, he spends all of his time relying on his non-cop brothers to help him, instead of his partner (who isn't even MENTIONED in the book), or anyone at the precinct (where they could decipher the papers, check out the chip, etc). The whole book is full of more plot holes than swiss cheese.
And the writing... more than once the author wants to 'bust this case wide open'... what are we? A 70s bad TV cop drama?
The detective is an idiot, too. His brother gives him an SUV under a fake name, they get a hotel room, and then when bad guys are scoping out the parking lot, instead of lying low (which would've worked), he freaks out and makes them all run, catching the attention of the baddies. Why? Because the author says so. LOTS of people have carseats in the back of their cars. And any detective making sure they left nothing identifying in the vehicle would've taken the carseat in with him, anyhow.
He calls Cop Krantz, she asks when she can call him again, and he says she can't - he'll be in contact. Um, HE JUST CALLED HER, SHE HAS HIS NUMBER. Apparently we're supposed to be stupid and believe she has no way to contact him. R'something?
Then we find out that the corporate espionage has no evidence and is all alleged, which makes the whole thing MORE ridiculous...
You know an author is grasping when Paige suddenly develops asthma two-thirds of the way thru the book, for plot embellishment. (((((SIGH.)))))) But we're told she's "one of the strongest women he's ever met." Based on WHAT?! She's hid in a bathtub, wheezed her way thru the woods, relied on him to save her butt at every turn, has a breakdown on page 100, has no knowledge that can help him or any inclination to pitch in with ideas of what to do... HOW is she strong, again?!
Because reasons, they don't even ASK the kid what she saw on the phone until halfway thru the book. KIND OF important, but even at that, they don't ask if 1) daddy was hurt, 2) daddy told her anything important... just ridiculous questioning when they DO bother.
There are better books. MUCH better books. Like... pretty much any other suspense book (so long as it's not Love, Inspired... because Davids' "Speed Trap" is the only LI Suspense I haven't wanted to feed to the goats.