Witness To The Truth

Novels of the FBI #1

by Paul Lindsay

As gritty and authentic as Joseph Wambaugh, Paul Lindsay is destined to become America's next bestselling police novelist. As a still-active FBI agent, Lindsay takes readers where they've never been before - into the secret worlds of crime fighting, mean streets, and hardboiled attitude. Witness to the Truth opens with a rush of excitement: A G-man nabs a fully armed and dangerous drug dealer single-handedly. Does he get a promotion? No, but an angry reprimand for neglecting "official procedures." That's the way it is in today's FBI, where keeping America safe takes a back seat to brownnosing and backbiting - except for men like Special Agent Mike Devlin. A shrewd, tough veteran of Detroit's war zone, Devlin plays to win - and he plays by his own rules. Which is why he is now assigned to the FBI equivalent of Siberia - midnight wiretap duty. Yet when Devlin gets wind of a Mafia spy inside his Detroit bureau, he springs into action, secretly recruiting a "dirty dozen" squad of FBI renegades to discover the leak while also solving a monstrous kidnapping of a terrified young woman. A novel that only an FBI agent could have written, Witness to the Truth is searing, authentic, and stingingly funny. In its commentary on the Bureau's foibles, Witness to the Truth introduces the saltiest and most winning hero of the year, and a major new novelist, Paul Lindsay.

Genres: Fiction, Mystery, Mystery Thriller, Thriller

Audio Cassette

First published May 1, 1992

About the author

Librarian note:
There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name

Aka Noah Boyd.

Paul Lindsay graduated from MacMurray College in 1968 and served a tour of duty in Vietnam as a Marine Corps infantry officer. He later joined the FBI and worked in the Detroit office for twenty years. He is the author of five other novels -- Freedom to Kill; Code Name: Gentkill; Witness to the Truth; The Fuehrer's Reserve; and Traps. He lives in Rye, New Hampshire.

Reviews

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

The first novel in which Paul Lindsay uses his real name...though the cases are fictional, he provides an insider point of view of the FBI culture that develops between the field and management...His descriptions of the management "Yoda" and their "Jedi" goes along way to explain the "Russian Collusion" facilitation by the FBI and its role in the "Soft Coup" against the Trump Administration...In this, the first of the Devlin novels, we have several parallel stories, a kidnapping of a fellow agent's daughter, a leak in the office that threatens the office's confidential informants and the constant stress of management more interested in self-promotion than the actual mission of the agency which keep the pages turning...liked it a lot and I'm really sorry to hear of the author's passing!!!

[J · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a really hard one to rate ... maybe 3.5 stars?

As Lindsay’s debut novel, there was something fresh & authentic about the work. In some ways, it was my favorite book of his.

However, I felt the story dragging about halfway through and it felt overly long. It also had the typical Lindsay problem of being overly critical of the FBI. It seems a bit unbelievable that someone could break all the rules that Devlin does and keep his job. It is the sort of thing you expect in spy novels, but not from someone that advertises himself as being a real former agent. There was also a lot of sexism and sexualization on women.

[Barbara · Rating 2 out of 5]

Why on earth didn't Mr. Lindsay use a pseudonym for this book!?!?!???? Especially since he finally did with his Steve Vail books.
The story is excellent; the execution, well, he did improve...lots...later. I'll read more.

[Laurie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book has been on my bookcase probably since it came out, around 1993, and for some reason I didn’t actually read it until now. The author is a former marine and FBI agent and weaves those two parts of his life into this book, though the book is fiction.

I think this was his first novel and it’s not a bad way to start. Mike Devlin is an old school FBI agent who believes the truth is everything. He’s willing to do what it takes and go against orders if needed. He’s not looking to be a Yes man and move up in the ranks.

It starts out a little slow and very male chauvinistic, homophobic, a big racist, misogynistic, and so on. I wasn’t sure if I was going to be able to deal with all that crap but after the beginning those issues didn’t come as much into play.

There are basically 2 cases running parallel- there’s a leak within the FBI and whoever it is is about to sell the mob a list of FBI informants and the daughter of one of the FBI agents is missing, his boss blows it off as if she is just a runaway but her dad is distraught saying it might be a kidnapping.

So Mike gathers a group of agents he trusts, gets the permission from ASAC O’Hare to run a semi secret mission about the leak while also on his own without permission looks into the possible kidnapping.

The cases both move along quickly as does the book. It’s a quick read. By the end I’m crying.

[David Burnworth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mike Devlin is an old school type agent and he is an odd fit in the "NEW FBI" staying true to himself and the "old ways" he takes you on a journey that is as action-packed as it can be and on the way he forms a unit that solves two crimes, while the other members of the FBI look lost and act as if they do not care.

[Ben Hirsh · Rating 4 out of 5]

very enjoyable read, bashes the FBI a bit in a humorous way. Good stories within the book, kidnapping, mob, drug trafficking.

[David Freas · Rating 2 out of 5]

An intersting book with several parallel plots--a kidnapping, a traitor, managers more interested in self-promotion than actual work--that kept this reader on his toes and caught up in the story.

However, I found Lindsay's digressions into the past (retelling past cases or backstory on newly introduced characters) to break the flow of the story since the narrative jumped from one to the other with no indication we were shifting gears to 'past' history. Every time it happened, it took me a second to catch up to what was going on.

Also, Lindsay was guilty of head-hopping--jumping out of one character to record another character's feelings, etc. Shame, Mr. Lindsay, shame.

This leaves me on the proverbial horns of a dilemma: while I like Lindsay's stories, I find his writing style needs major help. So, do I read more of his work or pass?

The jury's still out.

[Larry · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't usually read fiction, maybe a few novels a year. (So this is not my preferred genre.) I bought this from a thrift store for a flight. "Witness" was moderately engrossing, it held my attention but it is not something that I would tell my friends that they should read. I found the physical descriptions of the characters to be lacking. I could sense their personalities but I never really had an image of their appearance. The story was plausible enough and there are some interesting characters but there are many better reads out there. Go find one!

[Anthony · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was Lindsay's first book and he used his real name for the first couple of books before using a nom de plume, to wit, Noah Boyd. This first book I found him to be very negative about FBI management. Interestingly, I worked with Lindsay in Cleveland and was his boss in Detroit. His future books were much more tolerant of management and I rated his subsequent books higher and they were very enjoyable. Paul has passed away and I pray often for the repose of his soul.

[David Ward · Rating 3 out of 5]

Witness To The Truth: A Novel of the FBI by Paul Lindsay (Random House 1992) (Fiction – Thriller). Author Paul Lindsay is an actual FBI agent. This is his first novel. An FBI agent finds that a brother agent is selling secret information to the mafia. My rating: 5.5/10, finished 1996.

[Steve · Rating 4 out of 5]

re-read it March 2014.
marvelous team and one does hate the FBI wonks in the office.


i think i've read all of the Mike Devlin stories. This was terrific!!!!
In Detroit, the daughter to a fellow FBI agent is missing and Mike puts together a rag tag team of successful investigators.

[Douglas Castagna · Rating 2 out of 5]

Heavy handed and meandering, this book gets bogged down in detail that detracts from the story. The writer has a great resume, and from what I understand gets better. This first book was hard to get through, slow and plodding, I struggled to get through it.

[Toesnorth's mom]

first novel, good!