This was a brilliant and thrilling read that hooked me from start to finish. The twists and turns that kept coming had me devouring every page.

An interesting plot with an action packed story line and characters you can easily learn to love or hate. And don't forget the very obvious differences between Savannah's actions and her mother's description of a young woman who was an accidental witness and must now be in Witness Protection. John Ryder has built the story to immediately grab your attention. He keeps it moving quickly by changing directions and dropping subtle clues to keep you from figuring exactly what is going on and where it's going. As the tension built to a do or die pitch, the reveal was very surprising.

A good read with lots of tension and some really good twists. The action keeps upn throughout and never really lets up.

Fantastic read. It had me hooked from the beginning. Roche is one of those tough characters who you get mesmerised with. Unpredictable leaving you wondering what he will do next. The book was very well written.

Thank you to Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review this book. Lots of plot twists and turns with this one. the action is continuous and exciting. A very good beach read.

I have read a few of John Ryder's novels, and this was a nice standalone read. Once again you are entertained and I enjoyed it immensely. Hope there is more featuring Kyle Roche.

So you think this is going to be a simple book about a man Kyle Roche hired by a woman who has a lot of money to find her daughter who has been put into Witness Protection? This is because she got the information she is going to be killed in so many hours. He takes the job and proceeds to his person who is a hacker and then travels to the person who created the program for the Marshalls. Finding her he only has a short time before he can get her to believe what he says which she does and then proceeds to fight off the attack until he realizes the two men have grenades as well. Ready having an escape route he tells her to leave and then he follows. This all seems fine except that she has either fought or has not listened to him from the time they left the house. He has also noticed that this subject he is protecting is different in that she has two Glocks and knows how to use them after she placed a tight pattern in the grill of the SUV that was following him. It is not until much later in the story that he realizes his mistake when he wakes up in the trunk of a car, now though he knows what he needs to do and this leads you to an ending that is just as exciting as the rest of the book. Which also answers all of your questions as well. All of the characters are good and well thought out and only add to the story even a little old lady. A very good story and one that you won’t want to put down until you finish.

Clever storyline and well written thriller.
Kyle Roche is a fixer who is asked to find Savannah Nicholls who is in witness protection. Her mother has been told that her daughter’s life is in danger.
Kyle uses his contacts to find Savannah and immediately they are in danger. Kyle is a savvy, tough guy who is determined to save her and find out who leaked the information and who ordered the hit.
Pacy, full of unexpected surprises and an exciting climax.
Thanks to John Ryder and Netgalley for allowing me to read this book in return for a fair review. 4.5 ⭐️

From the very first page you are taken on a high octane race against the clock as Kyle is hired to find someone under the witness protection scheme. The book is perfect for those who love a fast action, guns blazing and a man with a mission and who will do anything to complete it. The character of Kyle is one who has grit and determination against all odds , who will do the right thing. The author has created in him a great nemesis for the bad guys he comes up against and one that a new series of books can be written around. So readers hold on to your hats as John Ryder has struck again and gifted us yet another explosive character to ride the rollercoaster of adrenaline with.

I’m not even sure where to start with how I feel about this book. Savannah has to be the most immensely dislikable character I’ve ever encountered in a book. Roche had all the opportunities to be the next Jack Reacher, but didn’t quite make the cut. All in all the story was clunky as hell, and I guess to the right reader would be immensely enjoyable

Now whilst I really wanted to enjoy this one, other reviews really sold it to me... it just wasn't for me.

The beginning was great, it had me gripped and had such promise but then... I just got bored, I ended up skimming the pages which is a really bad sign and a definite no no.

Unfortunately it just didn't keep my interest peaked but I will still give 2* for the promising beginning.

Thanks to netgalley and Bookouture for the ARC.

Savannah has gone into witness protection to save her life but now she is threatened. Her mother hires private investigator Kyle Roche to track down Savannah and protect her. Can he find her and keep her alive past the deadline...?
The Witness is an action packed crime thriller set in the US. There is plenty of tension and anticipation as events unfold. The book does contain violence but at a level that I'd expect from this genre and it was not gratuitous.
Savannah is struggling to cope with the drastic changes necessary once she is put in witness protection. She misses her family and past life and can't adapt easily to her new identity. Her life is in danger after she testifies at a trial and her mother is told that Savannah will be dead by noon on Monday.
Enter Kyle Roche, private eye...!
I loved the character of Roche. He is blunt and has a wonderful turn of phrase using portmanteau word such as 'monutastically'. This makes him human and realistic. He is ruthless when he has to be but doesn't injure or kill unless it is necessary.
Roche's natural instincts make him suspicious of Savannah and believes she is hiding something from him. This adds an extra element to the plot as he muses on her behaviour to try to understand it. He is determined to keep her alive at all costs and is frustrated that she doesn't follow his instructions designed to save her!
The Witness rattled along at a relentless pace, fraught with danger, action and violence.

The nonstop action sequences and fast pace of the narrative aren't enough to overcome the distaste I felt for the main characters in this standalone crime thriller.

A wealthy mother hires Kyle Roche to track and protect her daughter who's been secreted away under the Witness Protection program. Apparently there is a hit team on the way to kill Savannah and mom tells him that he has less than 24 hours to locate and make her safe. Because he's a fixer and has lots of legal and illegal contacts, Kyle is able to find the girl and puts plans in motion to nullify the threat. Soon he finds, however, that there are things about Savannah that aren't making sense. His mission leads to a leak in the Witness Protection program, but more is going on here than he understands. NO SPOILERS.

I'm not sure exactly where this all started going south for me as it started out well and had a good premise. I think part of the problem was the picture of Savannah that starts to emerge and caused me to feel intense dislike. Made me question Kyle's motives in keeping her around and involving her in so many of his activities when he started to be suspicious of her. Some fixer. Between her entitled and whiny attitude while spouting her woke rhetoric and her complete disregard of Kyle's directions to ensure her safety, I just wanted to leave her behind somewhere. Since the ending is a bit of a dangle, I can only hope that things ended for her the way they should. The "fight" scenes went on forever and there's only so much inflicted damage I can handle reading about at a time so those need to be clipped.

I know this author has written a previous series that I haven't read, but I don't imagine I'll be reading a second book to feature Kyle Roche. At least there was no romance.

Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture for this e-book ARC to read and review.

I received an eARC of The Witness by John Ryder from Bookouture and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you!
4 stars! I enjoyed this roller-coaster thriller. Well written and thoroughly entertaining! I can't wait to read more from this author.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

This book is well paced, and the action starts in the first 5 percent. It barely lets up after that. It's a relatively quick read, but the characters are interesting and interact well together. Dont start reading on a night before you have to work because you will not go to sleep until it's done.

The Witness by John Ryder

Fast-paced, action-packed, thrill-ride from beginning to end. This story has an intrepid private investigator that is a whole lot more paid to keep a woman in witness protection from being killed. What will be required to fulfill this task and what will he learn while he is on the job?

What I liked:
* Kyle Roche: middle aged man with mad skills, investigator, team player, protector, lover, honest, and I have a feeling there is a lot under the surface that was not even scratched.
* The writing style – first person present, short chapters, fast-paced, hooked and kept my interest beginning to end.
* That Roche was willing to do what it took to get the job done BUT wasn’t indiscriminate.
* Roche’s ability to clue into the more than what met his eye
* The way the twist grew from beginning to end
* Thinking about Savannah and what it might have been like to be her.
* Xandra: computer savvy, hacker, associate of Roche, intrepid, intriguing
* Wanting to know more about Kyle…hints and more were given but still want to know more.
* Wondering if this might be the first book in a new series with Roche as the star.
* The way Leigh did all that he could to save innocent lives
* That Roche was not “perfect” but that he was perfect for the job
* The unearthing of The Whisperer
* Wondering what happens AFTER the book ends

What I didn’t like:
* Knowing that there are corrupt people like those in this story
* Pretty much what and who I was supposed to dislike

Did I enjoy this book? Yes
Would I read more by this author? Yes

Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture for the ARC – This is my honest review.

4-5 Stars







BLURB

“I need you to find and protect my daughter. I can’t even tell you where she is. All I can say is that I’ve been told she’ll be dead by noon tomorrow.”

Kyle Roche is a man who people hire to fix problems. But this time he’s been hired to protect a woman who doesn’t officially exist anymore. And he’s the only man who can find her and keep her safe in less than twenty-four hours…

The daughter’s name is Savannah Nicholls. She had to go into Witness Protection because of a tragic mistake. She moved to the small town of Pagosa Springs nine days ago but even hidden as she is, she’s in mortal danger. Savannah’s mother says her daughter is just a nice girl, from a good family, that she’s never gotten in trouble in her life.

But she also says someone knows where she is. And they want to kill her. Within minutes of making contact with Savannah, as Roche feels a bullet whistle by his ear, he knows instinctively that she’s right.

But who is after Savannah? And how can Roche protect her when he isn’t allowed to know anything about who she is—or who her enemies are?

I thought I would enjoy this book much more than I ended up doing. The pace is fast and there are two interesting plots going on but I didn’t take to Roche orSavannah the two main characters plus I found the relationship between Roche and his IT expert Xandao quite infantile and it could have been so much better.

Thrilling. Fast paced. Packed with suspense. A well written, gripping, extremely addictive read. Loved it.

The Witness is a standalone action thriller from John Ryder, I have enjoyed the author’s previous books so knew I was in for a treat.


Kyle Roche is a private investigator/fixer who operates in the no man’s land between the cops and the criminals. In this book he is tasked with locating Savannah Nicoll who is in The United States Federal Witness programme after testifying against her boyfriend.

The whole point of going into witness protection is to disappear but a leak has revealed her location…

Ignacio Perez blames Savannah for leading his son on and had openly made threats before the trial, he then approaches Savannah’s mother Ursula at a private function and informs her that her daughter will be dead within thirty nine hours. Ursula is given Kyle’s name and told if anyone can help it’s him.

Kyle is a man with a particular set of skills but this case is going to be tricky – how can he protect someone when he isn’t allowed to know anything about her or who her enemies are?


The action and intrigue starts from page one and ramps up with every chapter! I enjoyed getting to know Kyle Roche and even though this is billed as a standalone I can imagine plenty more scenarios for this new action hero.

Meet Kyle Roche, fixer and private eye. Now he’s set the ultimate challenge – find and protect someone who shouldn’t be locatable, someone who is meant to be hidden without a trace, someone in witness protection. Can he do it? Will he find who is at the centre of the threat to Savannah’s life?

And so ensues a seriously fast paced chase across the States. Roche has so much at his disposal, he has people in the know, his bag of plenty and what seems to be a wealth of real life experience. He knows what to do. He’s a man I need to know!!!

I love Xandra – she’s bold brash and takes no sh…. her banter with Roche is brilliant kind of a cross between siblings and platonic friends. Her skills are amazing!!

Wednesdays are when I read bedtime stories to kittens and orphaned dolphins.”

Yes again Ryder’s sense of humour adds a glimmer of light heartedness to this fast paced thriller. He throws in his made up words which make me smile every time – his word-smithery is cracking to the extent I knew exactly what he was saying despite it being a nonsense word!

The Witness is a brilliant read that once you start, you keep running with it. The pace pulls you into the rapid flow of the story, only letting you go after one almighty climax. Ryder has crafted an action thriller to take your breath away.