Witness to Death - Dave White

I'm back with another recent crime novel... or is it a thriller? I recently read it is a crime novel if the crime has already happened, and you are trying to figure out the novel, and it is a thriller is a novel if you're trying to prevent the crime from happening.

In Witness to Death, John, a high school teacher inadvertently witnesses one of his friends, Frank murder 5 thugs on a dock in New Jersey. One of the thugs follows he and his friend onto a train, where Frank strangles the final thug. Unfortunately someone snaps a cell phone photo of John, and he has to go on the run because there may be people inside the police who may be trying to kill him.

Along the way, John's girlfriend gets murdered, and we find out that Frank's real name is Peter, and he is actually an undercover homeland security agent who is trying to stop a guy named Omar from bombing an unknown target. There are other, complicated corporate and family dynamic things going on, which are too complicated to go into, and are probably spoilers anyway. The novel ends with a climactic scene that is worth the read in the end.

I have to admit, the beginning of the novel, while it has lots of action, is strangely slow. I think it is partially because there is not enough background info about Frank and John at the beginning, and it is hard to keep the two characters separate in your mind. I almost thought about putting the book down at about chapter 13, but I am glad I didn't, because the story really took off after chapter 15. The story gets even more complicated, it is pretty compelling, so the complication is worth it.

This is a great novel for $0.99 on the kindle, but you will have to work through the first 14 chapters to get the story moving. I really wish Dave White had done a little more character development before he got the action started.

I'm probably going to be out of commission for a while because I am going to try to read Gravity's Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon, which is no small feat. After that, the new Nick Heller novel will be out. Buried secrets awaits!