Review: A mystery within a mystery
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 03 24, 2013
Our story begins in 1966 war torn Albania, where young goat herder turned soldier, Yilli, sits alone watching for anyone who might be trying to escape the country. He hears a noise, calls out, sees two men, and in fear for his life, shoots and kills one of them. He realizes he knows these men, they are from his village. As the second, younger man escapes, all he hears is the man crying "Blood for Blood".Fast forward to 2013 on Hermosa Beach where Jose and Hannah live. It's the middle of the night and while the two women sleep a storm is raging outside.  Frantic pounding on their door wakes Hannah who in turn wakes Josie. A man tells them that Hannah's young friend Billy is in trouble on the beach. Josie races out telling Hannah to stay and call 911 and Josie's finance Archer and to tell him to meet her on the beach.  After Billy is rescued a furious Josie and Archer go to his mother's house to give her the news, only to find two dead men and a critically injured woman.Who did this, why was Billy alone on the beach, who are the men and the woman looks too young to be Billy's mother, who could she be?  In order to keep Billy out of the hands of the law, Josie must not only take on Billy as a client but she and Archer will find themselves involved in bizarre mystery that reaches beyond the beach of California all the way to the far reaches of Albania.I'm a huge fan of Ms. Forster's Josie Bates series; she gives us a strong woman in Josie who never hesitates to take on whoever it takes, in order to protect the innocent.  The pictures Ms. Forster paints with her words are so vivid we feel the sting of the salt water as Josie battles the waves to reach young Billy. We feel the love between Josie and Archer, two strong people who together can face anything. We ache for beautiful, yet flawed Hannah, a young woman on the cusp of breaking through her own tormented past but still vulnerable and very much in need of Josie's strength.In Eyewitness Ms. Forster takes the risk of giving the reader two stories within a story, moving us not only between time but different countries and characters as well; a very daring move that could have turned disastrous, but she pulls it off and I had no problems keeping up.The reader is given little clues along the way to help solve the mystery, if they can figure them out. Normally, I've figured out the who-done-it long before the end. Ms. Forster never makes it easy, and I didn't know the outcome until I read it.Each book in this series gives us a little more background on the principle characters until by now, we know them well but I doubt we will ever totally figure them out.  All three of the main characters, Josie, Archer and Hannah are so well written that I would be hard put to pick a favorite.While this is the fifth book in a series, it is not necessary to read the previous books to figure out what is going on, it can stand completely on its own.  I'll warn the reader though, if you read this book without having read the previous one's you will become addicted and find yourself running to purchase the previous ones.So for the mystery/thriller lover, look no further, you've found nirvana. Ms. Forster has covered all the bases with this book, history buffs, people who enjoy learning of different cultures, mystery lovers alike will all enjoy this book. She even gives us a little tickle of a cliffhanger, not to worry it doesn't affect the storyline just gives us something to look forward to, I know I am.Member of the Paranormal Romance Guild Dual Review Team