#BlogTour The Lonely Witness by William Boyle

It's a pleasure to take part in the BlogTour The Lonely Witness by William Boyle. It's a very character driven story. Noir and realism with a pinch of crime.

About the Author
William Boyle is from Brooklyn, New York. Boyle is also the author of Tout est Brisé, a novel recently released in France by Gallmeister, a book of short stories called Death Don’t Have No Mercy and the CWA John Creasey (New Blood) Dagger nominated Gravesend. He lives in Oxford, Mississippi. His third novel, A Friend is a Gift you Give Yourself, will be published by No Exit Press in 2019.

Follow @wmboyle4 @noexitpress on Twitter
Visit williammichaelboyle.com
Buy The Lonely Witness

About the book
Amy was once a party girl, but now she lives a lonely life. Helping the house-bound to receive communion in the Gravesend neighbourhood of Brooklyn, she knows the community well. When a local woman goes missing, Amy senses something isn’t right. Tailing the woman’s suspicious son, she winds her way through Brooklyn’s streets. But before she can act, he is dead. Captivated by the crime she’s witnessed and the murderer himself, Amy doesn’t call the cops. Instead, she collects the weapon from the sidewalk and soon finds herself on the trail of a killer.

Review
Amy is a multi-layered character and that makes for an interesting conundrum for herself and the reader. She starts out as the supposedly reformed character, has found religion and become a paragon of the community. All her vices have been folded up and locked into a box, which includes her sexuality. As part of her daily duties she delivers communion to parishioners who haven't been able to attend church, during one of these visits she encounters an elderly woman who is very distressed.

A strange man keeps entering her home and searching through her belongings. At first Amy isn't sure whether the woman is imagining things, so she decides to wait and find out for herself. This leads to her meeting a man with dodgy intentions, and whilst trying to figure out what he is up to she witnesses a brutal murder.

This event, and the re-appearance of her alcoholic deadbeat father, seem to send her into a tailspin of sorts. The reinvention of Amy deteriorates within the blink of an eye, as she falls back into old self-destructive patterns and the life of the silent witness.

At times it felt as if the story was drifting along without a real intent or purpose, however I think if you view the story as a noirish Polaroid moment, as opposed to a contemporary happy-go-lucky piece, the lack of intent is more understandable.

Not sure if it was the intention, but there is this pull to take off each individual layer to discover why Amy acts the way she does and felt the need to change. The biggest question being why she feels the need to hide her sexuality, and why she links that with what she considers to be less than stellar behaviour.

It's a gritty crime novel with a noirish slant. It doesn't offer up shiny hopeful characters, instead it features the stark reality of life. It's a very character driven story. Noir and realism with a pinch of crime.

Buy The Lonely Witness at Amazon Uk or go to Goodreads for any other retailer.
Publisher: No Exit Press, Pub. date 25 October 2018