Blog tour

http://lianareads.home.blog/2021/07/24/the-witness-by-john-ryder-blog-tour/

What a ride!
I was craving some good thriller and this book came at the perfect moment. From the beginning I got so invested that I had to finish it in one sitting.
I’m always intrigued by witness protection program and finding out what Savannah witnessed was a huge puzzle in the making that the author managed to build so flawless and interesting.
So many secrets and who to trust and who not, so many twists and turns kept me on the edge throughout the chapters.
I liked Kyle’s character arc and he was a trustworthy guy in my opinion.

If you want a great thriller, look no further than this one!
4.5 stars

Thanks to the publishers and NetGalley for theARC in return for an unbiased review.
This turned out to be exactly my type of book.
Gripped me from the very start and kept a tight grip on me all the way through to the very last page.
Haven't read anything else by John Ryder to date but will certainly be looking at his back catalogue very soon.
Highly recommended read.

“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.”
This is the phone call that Kyle Roche received. He fixes people's problems. He has to find a woman who doesn't officially exist anymore as she is in the witness protection program. He is the oly one who can find her and he has less than 24 hours. The daughter’s name is Savannah Nicholls. She had to go into Witness Protection because of a tragic mistake.
When I first started the book I thought Savannah was ok. Maybe she can take care of herself, seemed a little quiet and reserved and constantly looking over her back. The moment Kyle showed up she turned into a different woman and she wouldn't follow his directions and it got to the point where I kept yelling at my book "you are such a bitch". A little twist at the end that I didn't see.
Thank you to Bookouture and NetGalley for the ARC to review.

The Witness by John Ryder is a stand alone thriller introducing us to Kyle Roche, a man whose job it is to stay invisible, a fixer for the right price.
He is hired to save a woman whose life is in grave danger. Twenty five year old Savannah Nicholls is in the in United States Federal Witness Protection Program. Everywhere she goes she has to weigh up the risks and doesn't trust a single soul, meaning she lives on constant alert. With the knowledge that someone somewhere wants her dead just for speaking out and giving her testimony, Savannah frequently has to remind herself that the people she is distrusting are just getting on with their lives, just as she needs to do. Meanwhile, Savannah's mother, Ursula Parker-Nicholl, is attending a fundraising event. Majority of the other attendees are known to her but when someone comes up behind her and Ursula instantly feels their presence on the back of her neck. They whisper: “Your daughter will be dead by noon on Monday". The whisperer is Ignacio Perez, the father of a man killed by Savannah’s boyfriend in a fight that happened after him accusing Savannah of leading him on. She speaks to the Mayor who just tells her to trust the witness protection programme .She makes the decision to hire Kyle Roche. Finding a missing person is hard enough, but one in the witness protection? Nearly impossible.Can he locate and save Savannah before her time is up?
Another high action, pulse pounding read from John Ryder. I delighted in his previous books and I am so happy to say this book is as riveting as the Grant Fletcher series. A rollercoaster ride from page one with a character that is ruthless in his determination to get the job done while having a slightly softer side at the same time. Kyle is a character who is alao likeable and I wouldn't mind another instalment and see what he was up to. A fast paced, action filled thriller that grabs you and keeps you there until the last word.
Thank you to Bookouture Books-On-Tour and NetGalley for the copy of this book.

This is the first John Ryder book I have read and i was hooked to the very end.

The story is well paced and flows easily. All the characters are well fleshed out and each bring something to the story.

It is action packed and full of Twists and turns that it had me on the edge of my seat the whole time

Thank you to Bookouture and NetGalley, too
For my copy of this book for which I'm sharing my honest review.

Into witness protection Savannah Nicholls is sent
After testifying as a witness to a murder event
However now her life is still in great danger
So her Mum calls for help from a total stranger.

Whilst Kyle is willing to search for, find and protect her
He has less than a day in which to get there
Will killers en route fulfil what was said
Can he really stop them leaving Savannah dead?

This story is a well written and enthralling read,
An edge of your seat thriller, yes indeed!
A story with twist, deaths, danger and revelations, too
A brilliant read for me and for you.

If gripping thrillers set your pulse racing,
With a well written plot, characters and action-packed pacing
Make sure you read this enticing book
It is worth so much more than just a look!

The Witness is a fast paced,thrilling story that will keep you guessing til the end.

This is my first book by John Ryder and it will not be my last! I really enjoyed these characters and the story itself.

Thank you to netgalley and the publishers for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

All thoughts and opinions are my own.

What a read. This action-packed novel features a hero that is described as looking like a “weathered gargoyle” I just loved it. If action and edge of your seat violence are what you are after you will not go wrong in reaching for this book.
This is my first John Ryder book and I was not sure what to expect. While the story is full of action from start to finish and features what appears to be a helpless female victim it soon becomes clear there is a lot more at play. The author sets out with what appears to be a predictable boy saves girl story only to swing around and deliver a revelation you never saw coming. His writing keeps you gripping the book as the punches fly….
When Kyle Roche, a private eye/fixer is hired to find a woman in witness protection that is due to be killed he has his work cut out for him. How do you find someone in witness protection?
But Roche is a man with connections and friends that have all the skills that are needed for the task. However, once he has found and saved Savannah from being killed, he also needs to find out who leaked the information about her location.
As he sets off on the hunt for the guilty party he soon discovers that Savannah is not the innocent spoilt little rich girl he believed. Racing against time he is faced with two mysteries to solve and he needs to do it without leaving any innocent dead bodies in his wake.
This book had me glued to the pages from start to finish as I rushed through it in two days. It features a lot more action than my usual reading which proved to make it an exciting and entertaining read. This book does not feature a single dull moment.
While I did not see it as being realistic, it was fun and I would recommend this if you are looking for something to escape into.
I loved Kyle Roche – the man is rude, insensitive and he makes up his own word which adds a colourful touch to his personality. While Savannah described him as looking like a weathered gargoyle, he has strong morals even when inflicting pain to get what he wants is not beyond him. This hero is far from perfects and his aggression and violence could put more sensitive readers off – I loved his thought process and his moral code.
This book is filled with violence and won’t sit well with sensitive readers but if you are open to a serious action-packed hunt for the guilty person you will find this book has everything you are looking for. I raced through The Witness and found no matter how violent I needed to know where it was going to end. So yes, this book was worth every minute I spent reading it.
Crime, thriller and action fans will love this book. If you enjoy the Jack Reacher series, then Kyle Roche will definitely leave you entertained – but be warned Mr Roche is a lot more violent.
This was a great read and it earned a four-star rating from me.
For more reviews visit the blog: https://featzreviews.com

Thank you to Bookouture for my copy of this book via netgalley and for letting me take part in this tour. I am a huge fan of John Ryder so I was very excited to read this new standalone book.

The Witness follows Roche and Savannah as they try to work out who is leaking information from the Witness protection programme.

Roche is a private eye. I really liked him. He had good morals but would cross the lines he needed to. He wouldn’t harm innocents unless he has no other option. I would actually love to see a series with Roche as the lead. I would easily read book after book following him on his cases.

Savannah is a witness to a crime and has needed to be put into protection due to a threat on her life. Savannah is very smart but sometimes she lacks street skills which is likely due to her upbringing. I have to say on many occasions Savannah was an irritating character. She never listened to Roche and constantly put herself in danger. She is a complex character too.

This book is full of action and mystery which will keep crime fans entertained long into the night. John does well to keep you both hooked and on edge. There were times when I wasn’t sure what was going to happen and how the story would turn out. I was definitely kept guessing until the very end.

As I said I would love this to turn into a series but even if it doesn’t I can’t wait to see what John brings next!

The Witness is a stand-alone action thriller set in and around Texas, about a tough-guy PI-stroke-Fixer commissioned to protect a wealthy young woman who has been placed in Witness Protection. John Ryder is the American pseudonym of British author Graham Smith, and I have read and enjoyed all three of his Grant Fletcher series, as well as his UK based Beth Young series, so had high hopes for this, but ended up liking not loving it due to the unsympathetic main characters.

Kyle Roche is hired by a Houston socialite to track down her daughter Savannah, who entered the WPP after her role as a witness in the murder of a gangster’s son, and is now marked for assassination by the family who blame her for it. With the help of his hacker friend, Roche finds her in time to prevent her being killed, but soon realises that she will never be safe until he can eliminate the people within the program who leaked her details. Savannah, refusing to be a victim, insists on coming along, but Roche starts noticing discrepancies in her story, and must find out whether he can trust her, or will she get them both killed?

I do like tough guy heroes in the Reacher mold, but they can get a bit samey, and Roche isn’t particularly interesting, despite hints at his adventurously shady past, apart from his tendency (which I share) to make up words at whim. Savannah is downright unlikeable - bitchy, reckless, self-pitying and accepting no responsibility for her situation. Roche puts up with her nonsense for flimsy reasons and we do get an explanation for her behaviour, but it’s not that convincing. I liked the action & fight scenes and some of the plot twists, but wasn’t as gripped as I should’ve been for this type of book - it’s taken me nearly a week to finish which is unusual for me. This is described as a stand-alone, but there’s a hint in the afterword that Roche may be back, but the annoying present tense narration would stop me from continuing with this as a series. 3.5 rounded down.

I received an ARC from Bookouture via NetGalley and am posting this review voluntarily.
The Witness is available now.

Kyle Roche is a man who is hired to take care of things who need big things fixed. A mother of a child who is in the Witness Protection Program needs his help as her daughter's life has been threatened and these bad people know where she is and how to get here which means there are bigger fish to fry - within the government and the program. So Kyle is off to first fine the target and then to find the real problem within.

This was an interesting book as it was not just a story about rescuing the damsel in distress, but also trying to find the leak within. For me these two parts of the book were great as it was a lot of cat and mouse and chasing and outsmarting, but the book went south for me when the hunted became the hunter. I don't want to share too much and spoil the book, but Savannah's storyline itself just didn't fit for me in the book. It felt as though too much was revealed too late in the game and I wish the reader knew more earlier in the book to understand her decisions and her motives.

This was my first John Ryder read and while I didn't love all the details in this book, I did enjoy the overall plot and storyline, so I would be intrigued to try his other series and see if I enjoy those a bit more than this one.

Savannah Nicholls was the only witness to her date stabbing another man to death. Since the victim's family blamed her and swore retaliation, she has been placed in the Witness Protection program.

There has been a leak and someone knows where she is and what name she has assumed. A man whispers in her mother's ear that Savannah will be dead in a matter of hours.

Kyle Roche is hired to find and then protect Savannah and as a bonus, find who leaked the information putting her life at risk.

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?

Kyle is a man to be reckoned with. He will do whatever it takes to protect his client. He'll fight, he'll torture, he'll kill ... and he will get the job done. This is a rip-roaring adventure with non-stop action. There are moments of brutality that made my heart clinch. The characters are solidly drawn ... Roche is a man's man and Savannah is not the sweet young thing that her mother stated. In her own way, she is just as deadly as Roche. It's a well-written novel with a riveting plot line. The ending is fast and furious, but oh-so satisfying.

Many thanks to the author / Bookouture / Netgalley for the digital copy of this crime fiction/action. Read and reviewed voluntarily, opinions expressed here are unbiased and entirely my own.

This is something new for me with this author. I have been hooked on his writing and characters but this book is a standalone fully and just what I needed.

Roche is a great character who has problems of his own he has to deal with. On top of that he also has a really tough case.

The story line is amazing as it seems a daughter of his clients who is is Witness Protection is scheduled to be killed by the family that she testified against.

If someone is leaking information out of her whereabouts it's up to Roche to find and to help protect her.

While this is a bit unrealistic it is also amazing. I love the fact that they use parts of American history and brings it to life as well. Witness protection is supposed to be very secure but at the same time I could see this happening as well. In this age of hackers it would be easy enough to do.

The taunting of the family also makes it more interesting for me as well as it makes it really more suspenseful as the mother is waiting to find out if her daughter survives.

Savannah I love that name and I really find that she is a kick ass character especially with what she has lived through. The fact that she sleeps with a weapon shows a lot about her abilities and her character.

I think that this was very good and had a lot in it especially with characters. I love how true the characters feel.

This book if you love action this book is perfect for you. In fact the action is busting out of the seams. I love action and think it makes the story so much more amazing and pops.

Roche drives me nuts for the most part. He has an attitude that just makes me want to smack him. His treatment of people is horrible. However this is the sign of a good character as well as they make you feel something even if it is anger and annoyance.

The book has a lot of twist and turns as you try to figure out the angles. It took me time to start to piece it all together.

The book made me happy as I was able to simply enjoy the book for what it was. Action and adventure without showing the true criminal aspects that a thriller seems to mostly show. I like the unique subtlety with which the story takes place. For most of this book I thought it was an action book but the closer you get to the end you realize just what type of book this is and how well planed out it was.

This is my first John Ryder book and I really enjoyed it, I will definitely read more of his work.

Kyle Roche is not your typical lead character but I think that makes him more interesting. The damsel in distress who he is paid to protect is not quite as he expected and there are a few bumps in the road. It is a good story that keeps you interested all the way through and has a couple of nail biting moments along the way.

100% would recommend, it’s not quite a 5/5 but more of a 4.5/5.

Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture for my advanced reading copy.

The Witness is not my normal type of book but after reading the description I was intrigued and I am so glad I read it. It was an action packed rollercoaster of a book, which had plenty of suspense and thrills along the way.

Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture for my ARC.

“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.”

There is a leak in the Witness Protection Program and they are being murdered by hired professionals taking their revenge on the witnesses. Savannah has only been in the program for a week before Kyle Roche is hired to save her and find out who the leak is. Something is off about Savannah and Roche will need to discover what that is before the leaker finds Savannah and kills them both.

The Witness is a standalone thriller featuring fixer-for-hire Kyle Roche in which the heat is on as a young woman finds her life in imminent danger. 25-year-old Savannah Nicholls' life has changed drastically ever since she was placed in the United States Federal Witness Protection Program. Everywhere she goes she is evaluating the risks, eyeing those around her with intense suspicion and constantly living in fear. It has been eight days and two hours since she had given testimony at the trial before saying a tearful farewell to her mother and two closest friends and kissing goodbye all she had grown accustomed to. Having been relocated from Houston, Texas to the sleepy town of Pagosa Springs, Colorado, Savannah's days are filled with imagined threats, heart-stopping anxiety and overwhelming relief when imagined perils turn out to be nothing more than people going about their day. This is the life of someone in witness protection. The paranoia eats away at her from the inside out, but she must always remind herself that someone out there wants her dead for speaking up. Meanwhile, Savannah's mother, Ursula Parker-Nicholl, is attending a fundraising event at the Marriott Marquis for underprivileged children.

Most of the folks there are people known to her but someone comes up behind her and Ursula instantly feels their presence on the back of her neck. They whisper: “Your daughter will be dead by noon on Monday.” Nine words of heart-stopping threat. Nine words that chill her to the bone. The whisperer is Ignacio Perez, the father of a man killed by Savannah’s boyfriend in a fight that ensued after accusations Savannah led him on. Reiterating the work that goes into making the WITSEC program safe and secure, the Mayor does little to allay her fears. This is when she hires Kyle Roche. But finding an individual enrolled in witness protection is far from an easy task. Can he save Savannah before her 39 hours are up? This is a riveting, compulsive and highly original thriller with an action-packed plot ripe with countless twists, turns and use of misdirection. It reads very much like an enthralling movie and throws you in at the deep end with no padding and never a dull moment. Kyle is a brilliant protagonist who is not only ruthlessly efficient but is compassionate and has a big heart. Traversing the United States and moving from one perilous situation to the next, this is a scintillating read I hope becomes a series. Highly recommended.

A high-octane thriller that doesn't let up on the adventure and adrenaline rush from start to end.

Just a week into the Witness Protection Program, 25-year old Savannah Nicholls has already been identified and targeted to be killed in a few short hours. Out of desperation, her mother contacts private investigator Kyle Roche and charges him with the responsibility to find and protect Savannah. Using a lethal combination of brains, brawns and technology, Kyle manages to locate Savannah and save her from her would-be-attackers. But as they go about eliminating the threat to her life, Kyle doubts whether Savannah really is who she claims to be.

This fast-paced revenge plot felt like the book version of a Tom Cruise action movie, fully packed with high-speed chases, guns, gizmos and power tools. While at first, Savannah seems to be a rich girl caught in a bad situation, it is soon evident that she is a woman on a mission. While the plot was fairly straight forward, the action scenes were quite long drawn out. Though normally this would have added to the thrill of the adventure, unfortunately this time, it did not work for me.

Overall, a decent thriller that is heavy on the action, not so much on the plot twists.
Thanks to Netgalley and Bookouture for providing a digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Kyle Roche is the the kind of guy you hire to find people and fix problems. Savannah Nicholls has been entered into the witness protection program and her family has good information that she has been found and is going to be killed. Can Roche find her before her killers do?

The Witness is a great, fast paced, action packed read that will keep you guessing and on the edge of your seat for the whole ride. This is my first book by John Ryder, but it will not be my last! I really enjoyed the characters and would love to see another book about Kyle Roche and his adventures.

Thank you to net galley and the publishers for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

How did this book make me feel? Well, in all honesty, I had a somewhat difficult time trying to get into the story at the beginning. I struggled, only because I was expecting my hero, Grant Fletcher (Final Second and Third Kill). Upon meeting Savannah and reading about her fears and anxiety, I was trapped. And then, along comes Kyle Roche, who’s been hired by Savannah’s mother to protect her from dangers within the Witness Protection Program.

They both face many obstacles along the way trying to keep away from the line of fire. Kyle faces frustration as Savannah proves to be a very difficult witness to protect. The path to protection is difficult and faced with uncertainty. With no cooperation from the witness, Kyle finds himself puzzled as to her actions/reactions.
I did enjoy reading it to completion. It does pack the suspense necessary to hold the reader’s attention. Thank you #Bookcouture #NetGalley for advanced copy!