Randy Singer's False Witness ~ Reviewed

FALSE WITNESS
By Randy Singer
Published by:
ISBN#978-1-4143-3569-8
409 Pages


Back Cover:

Clark Shealy is a bail bondsman with the ultimate bounty on the line: his wife’s life. He has forty-eight hours to find an Indian professor in possession of the Abacus Algorithm—an equation so powerful it could crack all Internet encryption.

Four years later, law student Jamie Brock is working in legal aid when a routine case takes a vicious twist: she and two colleagues learn that their clients, members of the witness protection program, are accused of defrauding the government and have the encrypted algorithm in their possession. After a life-changing trip to the professor’s church in India, the couple also has the key to decode it.

Now they’re on the run from federal agents and the Chinese mafia, who will do anything to get the algorithm. Caught in the middle, Jamie and her friends must protect their clients if they want to survive long enough to graduate.



Review:

Brilliant story! Randy Singer has written a masterpiece that I’d like to see on the Big Screen! False Witness is filled with an array of multi-dimensional characters. Some of them I felt for and others were nerdy but fun. There were also a few bad guys that I loved to hate! Randy helped you not to feel bad about their demise!

Randy hooked me from the first page and never let me go! I liked how the author paced this story by breaking down the book into sections which helped build the suspense, and drama while letting the reader get to know his characters and their situations well. I was spellbound.

It starts out with the epilogue called The Professor. I loved the quote Randy starts with, it definitely describes the professor, “Courage if fear that has said its prayers. By Dorothy Bernard."

Part one called Bounty Hunter, kicks the story into high gear when Clark Shealy – bounty hunter and his wife Jessica, find themselves in a life and death situation. Clark goes to repo a client’s car at a plastic surgeons office. This is the beginning of Clark’s horrible, no good, bad day at the surgeons’ office. Their world changes forever when Clark discovers is wife is kidnapped and he’s willing to do whatever it takes to get her back.

Randy writes, “Clark was not the same man who crawled out of bed yesterday morning, focused on chasing the American dream while living on the slippery outer slopes of legality.

He had a killer’s mentality now…There was no question if he had the guts to take someone’s life in order to save his wife. The only question now was whether he’d be able to stop.”

Part two was called The Law Students – In enters three law students hoping to practice law and make a difference in peoples lives, as they fight for justice. Their lives are forever changed when they take on a case at the legal aids office that has them in harms way. They wouldn’t read about a case like this in the text books they had for school. Who could they trust to help them get out of this mess? Quickly the drama turns surreal! Never in their wildest dreams did they think their first case would involve the Chinese mafia, U.S. Marshalls and the FBI! Would they all live to see another day?

Part Three – The Code – quote, “Where there is mystery, it is generally suspected there must also be evil.” Oh my, he’s so right. Why all the drama, suspense and murder? What do all these people have in common and want? The Code! The code to what you ask? The code to the master key – the key to every lock to every thing encrypted on the internet! Who is the keeper of the Code? How can they find the keeper and get the code at the same time? Now that is the question?

Part Four – The Deal – quote, "There are two tragedies in life: One is not to get your heart’s desire. The other is to get it” by George Bernard Shaw."

Randy shows this in a powerful way. Oh, the deals people are willing to make to obtain the most powerful key of all – the code. Riveting!

Part Five – The Witness – “There is no honor among thieves – Who can you trust?”

No one but God! “A false witness will not go unpunished, and one who utters lies perishes.” Proverbs 19:9.

Randy brings this scripture and quote to life in this intricate, compelling drama in a race against time and bad guys to find the code before it gets into the wrong hands and destroys life as everyone knows it.

Each segment builds onto each other until the reader is mesmerized, has their heart-racing and up late reading to reach the stories climatic conclusion. I also enjoyed these characters moral dilemma’s as the searched to find the code and save our way of life. Did the ends justify the means? The spiritual thread was naturally woven into his fast paced story line. I loved every second of this book I couldn’t put down.

Who better to give the reader the inside scoop into the legal world than Randy Singer, who is an adjunct Professor at Regent University Law School, has his own law practice and has tried numerous cases in State and Federal court! Randy lifts the veil for a peek into the inner workings of the court system, law school and everything in-between.

Thanks Randy for a book I couldn’t stop reading, for characters I cared about and a story that brought me outside myself and had me look at life through a scope I didn’t realize could affect the world at large. This was such a true to life story, moving and powerful in every way. Now that I know the ending I’ll definitely read this book again to catch the things I know I might have missed. I’ve read several of Randy’s books so far and this one is his best! Definitely a book to read!

Reviewed by: Nora St.Laurent
The Book Club Network
Finding Hope Through Fiction


Bonus Review:

“I’ve got some advice for you…Until this thing is over, don’t trust anybody.” (p. 263)

This advice is true for both the character in the story – Jamie – and the reader who is following the suspenseful tale in Randy Singer’s latest legal thriller, False Witness! What an awesome thrill ride, indeed! A Chinese mob called the Manchurian Triad, a fast-talking con-man who makes one too many deals, an algorithm that unlocks the encryption code for the entire internet, brilliant lawyers and savvy law students – this book has something for everyone! There are even irresistible pets, strong family ties, persecuted church members and a story so fascinating tying everything together you will not be able to put it down!

I’ve read all of Randy Singer’s novels, and I don’t know but that False Witness may just be my favorite!! Singer has so skillfully blended so many elements that readers will find themselves not only entertained, but challenged to live more aware of the price that many in the world must pay in order to practice their faith. Singer also includes a scene where one character finally realizes his need for a Savior, and I thought it was one of the most natural, realistic and moving scenes of a spiritual re-birth I have ever read! Truly, this is one of Singer’s best works, and I am thrilled to recommend it to you!

Reviewed by: Kim Ford

Bonus Review:

If you want to enjoy an intriguing legal thriller, Randy Singer is a sure bet, and his recent stories just keep getting better and better. False Witness is a repackaged edition of this story, originally published in 2007 and I have to admit it shows. It still contains the many twists and turns I have come to expect from Singer but the characterisation is not up to the standard of his more recent works. Clark and Jessica Shealy felt distant to me, as opposed to Jamie and her friends, which had an impact on my investment in the story. If this had been my first Singer book, I may have felt differently, but admiring the skills he displays in his more recent works, made me a little more fussy with this story. That said, there is plenty to enjoy in False Witness, as the Chinese mafia pursue an Indian professor who holds the key to crack all internet encryption codes, student lawyers battle it out against experienced attorneys and the FBI decides to stop at nothing to ensure the Algorithm does not fall into the wrong hands. So when you pick up False Witness, make sure you get your hands on By Reason of Insanity, Directed Verdict, Fatal Convictions and more from this talented lawyer/pastor.


Reviewed by Rel Mollet