cover image Silent Witness

Silent Witness

Charles Wilson. Carroll & Graf Publishers, $18.95 (0pp) ISBN 978-0-88184-755-0

Wilson's ( Nightwatcher ) rambling, disjointed tale has few credible characters and gives no real sense of its Southern setting. Mark Ramsey's ex-fiancee begs him to get a status report from his stepbrother, Ray (the chief of police of Belle Colline), who suspects Jack, her husband of six years and Mark's ex-best friend, of the slashing/rape/murder of their teenage neighbor. When Jack commits suicide after claiming responsibility for the girl's death, Ray, with hardly a faretheewell, immediately gives Mark undercover cop status, the use of a police car and orders to prove Jack didn't do it by finding the real killer. Mark checks out glaring red herrings and overlooks golden clues while Ray and the real police force assist only when Mark needs either a favor or Ray's clout. Hints of devil worship, snuff films, child molestation and voodoo seem pivotal but are never firmly anchored to the plot. The reader will be hard-pressed to fathom Mark's obsession for his strident ex-fiancee, much less to credit his instantaneous rise to policeman, the identity of the murderer and why so many subplots are left dangling. (Mar.)