[book Review] The Sunset Witness by Gayle Hayes

Title: The Sunset Witness

Author: Gayle Hayes

Publication :  February 2012

Genre: romantic suspense/ thriller
Format: ebook – 76 pages
Violence: strong
Langage: normal
sex: mild
Public: 18+
Source: Free copy provided by the author for review
 


Description from Smashwords :

When Rachel Douglas moves to Sunset, Oregon at the invitation of her estranged childhood friend, Sarah, she discovers Sarah was not truthful about her reasons for abandoning her beach house. Rachel is determined to stay even after someone tries to scare her away.

Then Rachel meets Michael Archer and says that only a serious character flaw would prevent her from falling in love with him. Wouldn’t you know it—he has more than one, but she falls in love with him anyway.

Michael’s complicated past threatens their hopes for the future. After a double homicide, Rachel must choose either to run with Michael or to live without him.

My opinion:

          I was at first intrigued by the form of the story: a report of investigation by a detective about the disappearance of a witness. I didn’t know what to expect but the result is excellent; we have the story from Rachel’s point of view thanks to a flash drive given to the detective Josie Gannon whose report fills the gaps and gives the conclusion of the investigations.

The characters are interesting and their past is as important for the plot as their present. I was immediately hooked, I wanted to guess the culprit and it wasn’t evident at all.  All the characters are keeping something secret and it’s often not what we could expect. The story is short but very complete and the writing style is good.  We can see how the events took place and the interactions between the characters give us a lot to think about. I appreciated the reflection about love and passion and their results positive or not, it’s well thought and well written.

The romance is there but in a way it’s secondary in the story, I was more concerned about the plot, the murder and the threats than the love part.  As for the end, it gives you matter to think about and it’s quite fun.

I would recommend it to people who want to spend a good time with a suspense book of quality.

Score:  4/5

Interested in this book? You can buy it at Smashwords,  Amazon or Barnes and noble

You can find the author Gayle Hayes on her blog or on Twitter

Source: a copy in exchange for a honest review, no compensation was received.