To the Max: Maxim Jakubowski on New Crime

Feb 18, 2020

http://www.crimetime.co.uk/to-the-max-maxim-jakubowski-on-new-crime-11/

S.E. Moorhead/WITNESS X (Trapeze)

A futuristic crime thriller debut with much to admire, WITNESS X is set in the near future where neuroscientist Kyra Sullivan has developed a technique that allows her to delve into the mind of others, accessing their memories. Somewhat implausibly she had previously been a policewoman whose life had been shattered by the devastating case of a killer, fourteen years previously, who killed and butchered victims every February. Even though the culprit is now safely behind bars, the same modus operandi has occurred again in what might be a copy cat series of killings and the only possible way to solve the new murder spree and rescue its latest, still alive victim, might be to enter the mind of the silent, imprisoned killer. However, the company she works for has plans to make her technology exclusively available to the military so Kyra has to use subterfuge to access her equipment and work undercover. Well-paced and with a fair few twists added to the suspenseful cocktail, this is not quite a SILENCE OF THE LAMBS, as the publisher would like you to believe, but a promising, solid and imaginative thriller with a marked difference.