False Witness

False Witness is a psychological thriller that takes a “cat-and-mouse” form. In this genre, one character (the mouse) is always trying to stay a step ahead of the other (the cat). In this case, the sisters Leigh and Callie are the “mouse” and Andrew/Trevor is the “cat.” Leigh and Callie have to anticipate Andrew/Trevor’s moves to keep themselves and those they love safe.

As in many thrillers, threats to secondary characters—Walter and Maddy—elevate the emotional tension of the book and motivate the main characters. While Walter and Maddy’s characters are minor, they are the emotional drivers that motivate Leigh and Callie. For characters in a thriller to act, they need to have something to lose. In particular, the threat of Andrew/Trevor harming Maddy motivates both Leigh and Callie to take drastic action.

False Witness also has many plot twists, another stereotypical trait of the thriller genre. Even the first chapter has a surprise in it—at first, the reader assumes that Callie is Buddy’s wife or girlfriend. It’s only about halfway through the chapter that the reader learns that Callie is Buddy’s teenaged babysitter and that Buddy isn’t an abusive partner but an abusive pedophile. Other plot twists include the revelation that “Andrew” is Trevor, that Maddy is Callie’s biological daughter, and that Andrew/Trevor has a tape of Buddy’s murder.

False Witness fulfills many common conceits of the thriller. One point where the book stands out is its graphic nature. Thrillers are not necessarily visually graphic in the crimes they portray, but False Witness provides extreme details of the various crimes. The fact that these crimes are particularly egregious (e.g., the rape of a child) adds to the shock factor.