The Missing Witness is the fifth book in the Quinn and Costa thriller series, and finally closes out a subplot that’s been running through since the first book. While I felt lukewarm towards the first couple of books, I’ve gradually warmed up to them, and I’m glad I stuck with it because I really liked the way this subplot was wrapped up. I wouldn’t say this was my favorite in the series, but I had a great time reading it.

In the first book, The Third to Die, the reader is introduced to Kara Quinn, an LAPD detective who has been placed on leave due to the fallout from her most recent case, as she gets tangled up with the newly created FBI’s Mobile Response Team, especially their leader Matt Costa. But it kicks off her time as a member of the team, something that now might be put into jeopardy as the trial she’s been waiting to testify during has finally arrived. Back in LA with two of her colleagues, Matt and colleague Michael, she finds herself faced with another crime scene when the defendant is shot, and the only witness, a whistleblower on a different matter, vanishes. Now Kara, Matt, and Michael race to find the witness and untangle a ball of corruption that might be at the heart of everything.

I adore Kara and Matt, and they’re the main reason why I keep reading this series. Their relationship has shifted from something casual to something with questions around it as they both want similar, yet different things. The emotions they have when they’re around each other and when they’re apart from each other suck me in every time as I continually wonder where they’re headed. I love how they’re drawn to each other, but are also a bit prickly as their end goals differ. But I also love how well they work together professionally. There’s so much trust between them, but it’s also fun to watch when they care a little more than they should about each other. I love how by the book Matt is, and it contrasts so well with how Kara can be more reckless, trusting her instincts. They work well together, though, bringing a much needed balance to each other and the team.

The Mobile Response Team is fantastic. I love most of them in different ways. They each have their own expertise, so they work well together. The Missing Witness, unlike the other books, only brings in a truncated team, with just Kara, Matt, and Michael on the ground in LA. I adore Michael. He’s steadfast and just so good at what he does. He’s probably my favorite member of the team, and he and Kara just work so seamlessly together. Watching him alone is fantastic, but I do love when he and Kara work together. And I think one of the reasons why I enjoyed this novel was because Catherine, the psychologist, didn’t really have a role to play. She and Kara don’t see eye to eye and, while the tension can be fun and amusing like in the third book, it really doesn’t paint Catherine in a positive light, so I always appreciate it when she isn’t a main player in the story. So I loved that this book really just brought in my favorite three members of the team.

The Missing Witness doesn’t just truncate the team; it also takes it out of its typical setting. The MRT was established to help small towns solve crimes, and the other four books do just that. The Missing Witness is the first that takes the team into a big city: Los Angeles. It gave the book a bit of a different feel because that small town feel was missing. This is a big city with a lot of space and a lot of people. While it sometimes felt a little small world since they were mostly in the circle of the court, the local FBI office, and the LAPD, it also offered a much bigger canvas for the characters to work with. With so many nooks and crannies, not to mention large open spaces, there are a lot of places to hide and, when you’re looking for one person, it’s not easy to find someone. So I appreciated that this one was a little different and took the team out of what they’re used to. It was fantastic to see them adjust, but also be able to showcase everything they do best.

But this book also made me a little cross-eyed. There’s so much corruption (which, as a resident of Los Angeles myself, makes me a little queasy to think about) it was practically impossible to get through all the layers and try to figure out what was going on. I got confused so many times, and then it spun away from the whole case Kara was in town to testify for that sometimes I felt like I just lost track of what was going on. At the same time, I do love this series because it’s always about something greater than what the team was brought in for. There’s always something bigger, and that was definitely true in this case. It was just really confusing and maybe a little too much. I like that it did made sense, what I could piece together, at least, but trying to keep track of everything felt a little taxing. I think I might be happy to get back to the small towns after this.

Finally, I really liked the way this book ended. There were choices that were going to have to be made, especially when information that was kept hidden from Kara came to light (and, really, that was kind of painful to read as she learned about it). I spent the entire book trying to figure out which choice she was eventually going to make, and I liked that she really didn’t deviate from who she was and who she had become.

The Missing Witness isn’t my favorite book in the series, but I really enjoyed it. It was often more confusing than I’m used to with these books, but it also felt really in-line with the whole series. I love that it wrapped up the story that was underlying the whole series, and I’m excited to see where it’ll go next.

Thank you to Justine Sha at MIRA for a review copy and the opportunity to take part in the book blog tour for The Missing Witness. All opinions expressed are my own.

I was originally interested in The Missing Witness after reading Allison Brennan's The Sorority Murder. What I didn't realize was this was the fifth book in a series! With that said I would have benefit from reading them all before but it wasn't necessary to enjoy the book.

Detective Kara Quinn returns to home to LA to testify in the case that took her former partner's life. The problem is the man is murdered in broad daylight and the only witness runs in fear. Quinn is desperate to solve this mystery but trusts no one. Corruption is suspected and she doesn't know who she can turn to. With the help of FBI agent Matt Costa, she will do whatever it takes to find the witness and solve the case.

The Missing Witness was so fast paced and interesting. I loved the crime solving aspect but the procedural side was more involved than I have read before and I truly enjoyed it. The twists were fun and kept me guessing where would we go next, which is a huge plus for me.

The Missing Witness, a Quinn & Costa Novel by Allison Brennan, offers a thrilling ride. As a newcomer to the characters, starting from the beginning of the series with book 1 might enhance the overall experience. Once settled, the intricate plot and dynamic characters make for an engaging read, showcasing Brennan's skill in crafting suspenseful narratives.

This was a really well done police procedural. I’m glad I could enjoy it as a stand-alone but I enjoyed it so much I want to read the others in the series. So many twists and turns I really had to focus to keep up with the plot.

This book can be looked back upon as what has been going on in Southern California.
There is a lot of language in the this read.
The suspense and twists and turns kept an interesting story line.
I received a complimentary copy of this book. My opinions are my own.

I started with book 1 of this series to prepare for this ARC and I am so glad I did! I love this series so much! I am totally here for the Quinn & Costa love! I love that she is a strong female that kicks ass but isn't just a total bitch to everyone. And is trying to work through her demons even though she also tries to push Costa away. He's on to her though! Can't wait to see what happens next to all the crew in this series!

#TheMissingWitness
#NetGalley

I didn’t realize going into this book that is part of a series. So it took me a while to catch up and understand the novel, but it worked as a standalone as well. Love the mystery and intrigue that this book provided

I adore this author and the plot and pace of this book was great. The main character is awesome! The story was a rollercoaster start to finish and kept me reading way too late. The ending was explosive. Overall this is a great must read if you like heart pounding suspense!
My one critique is there are WAY too many “main” characters and departments and trying to keep the who is who straight detracted from the story.
But over all great

Allison Brennan is a must-read author. Her books always pull me in and keep me turning pages. The Missing Witness is part of a series that does not have to be read in order, but I think you will get more out of the series if they are read in order. If you do read this as a stand alone and then go back to read the others, there will be spoilers in this book from the other ones.

This book focuses a lot on the homeless population in California and the misuse of funds. I felt like that part of the story was eye opening and I am curious just how much of her story is based on real life. I liked how real she kept it. She did not cover up how horrific it can be to be homeless and how they can be treated. It felt like she was living right there in the camp with the homeless.

Quinn and Costa is a series that I have read from the beginning. The Missing Witness ties up many of the loose ends and still sets the reader up for another book in the series.

Thank you Harlequin Trade Publishing for a copy of the book via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

excellent series and one of my favorites by Allison Brennan to the point that I'm planning to do a re read of this entire series this year , which says something because even though I love doing re reads I usually wait a while before doing them ,but not with this series , in fact I've been telling me friends they need to check out this series .

Another excellent title in this excellent series!!! Two excellents in one sentence must tell you I enjoyed this story. Book #6 in the Quinn and Costa series finds these two law enforcement officers working together again. This time they are trying to find a witness against a human trafficker. Allison Brennan sets her characters into a tense community of actions that will keep this story racing to keep any more people from dying and a criminal from going free. There's no slow chapters and there's clues around every corner but you'll have to wait as the detectives figure out which clues are real and which diversions. I thought I'd figured out the end, but no, Brennan fooled me again.

I had a hard time follower this book. It felt like I was dropped in the middle from the start. It just kept getting more and more confusing.

Brennan is a master storyteller and I really enjoyed this wrap up to the initial Quinn and Costa underlying storyline. The strength is always in the characters and this gave us new insights into both Kara and Matt. While this does stand alone, start at the beginning because there is a big reveal that needs to be worked up to.

I have always wanted to read one of Allison Brennan's novels so I jumped into the fifth book in her Quinn & Costa series, The Missing Witness. While it can be difficult to join an established series without having read the previous books, I was able to catch up, though it did take awhile to place all the characters relationships.

The book begins with LAPD Detective Kara Quinn returning to Los Angeles to testify against a dangerous human trafficker she went undercover to catch. Kara Quinn has been on loan to the FBI in Washington DC where she works closely with Agent Matt Costa, and with whom she has a more than collegial relationship.

Kara is eager to testify, and threats against her life by the trafficker's people have given her LAPD and FBI colleagues concerns about her safety. When the trafficker is shot and killed on his way into the courthouse, there is one witness to the killing- Amy, a civilian IT consultant who has been working undercover to get information on white collar financial crimes that may implicate people high up in the city government as well as the trafficker.

Amy disappears following the killing, and there are questions as to whether she is a witness or the killer. Quinn and Costa and Quinn's former unit in the LAPD have to work together to find Amy and unravel the white crime syndicate that has now turned to murder to protect their secrets.

Brennan does a good job explaining the complicated scheme that involves nonprofit organizations that have contracts with the city to build housing for unhoused people, and the web of deceit that has created millionaires out of people high up in the government and their family members.

There are some truly tense scenes in this fast-paced novel, including a few shoot-outs, a rooftop chase, and Kara racing away on a motorcycle from killers on her trail. I was biting my nails on these scenes.

I found it interesting how Brennan built her story around a real world problem, the homeless issue, and dealt with it from the perspective of people living in the middle of it. She clearly did her research on it. (Here is a link to an essay Allison Brennan wrote about this.)

For people who have read the previous Quinn & Costa novels, they will no doubt enjoy seeing what their favorite characters have been up to in the interim, and there are a few surprises for them. After reading The Missing Witness, I will be looking the first four books in the series- Kara Quinn is a badass.

I was incredibly excited for this book when I saw it on NetGalley. I have really been in the mood for thrillers recently, but unfortunately this book was not for me. In the very first chapter, the character's internal monologue consisted of an entire diatribe about homelessness and the messed up system in place to handle the problem. I pretty much immediately lost interest from that moment on. I read about 25% of the story before I gave up. It was simply not for me. I never got invested in the story and did not want to continue.

This is simply a reflection of my taste in books, characters, and stories. I hope this book finds the readers that will love it, but I am not the target audience for this particular one. For that reason, I will likely not post about this on any other platform.

Thank you, NetGalley, for the review copy in exchange for an honest review.

“Oh what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive” or so Sir Walter Scott claimed – even if the quote is generally and erroneously attributed to Shakespeare. It does rather sound like one of his, after all.

The Missing Witness, both the person and the case she’s caught in the middle of, is all about those practices of deception, and the need for the FBI’s Mobile Response Team to get to the heart of those deceptions. Bloodily if necessary.

Because the case in this fifth book in the series, after The Third to Die, Tell No Lies, The Wrong Victim and last year’s Seven Girls Gone, takes LAPD Detective Kara Quinn’s temporary membership in the MRT all the way back to where it began, to the case that made LA much too hot a place for her to remain, putting her on an unwelcome vacation and pushing her straight into the path of the FBI – and into the arms of the MRT’s Special Agent in Charge, Matt Costa.

Kara has been dragged back to LA, possibly because the human trafficking case that sent her out of town is finally being brought to trial. Or, more likely because the villain of the piece wants her back in town so he can send his goons out to eliminate her – just as he’s done with all the other witnesses to his many, many crimes.



Not that both of those things aren’t true – they’re just not anything remotely like the whole entire story or any of its moduses and/or operandis.

This is a case that has always been about deception. Including covering up the fact that the case is much bigger on the inside than appears on the outside. But also because Kara’s participation at the beginning, misplaced guilt in the middle and exile at the end are all about, not the deceptions that all the perpetrators have perpetrated in order to keep the dirty deeds on the down-low. The biggest deceptions in this case are the lies that the cops who were supposed to be on Kara’s side, on her team, the people that she trusted to bring her back home to her city and her job, have been lying to her all along.

And that’s one betrayal that she has utterly no capacity to forgive.

Escape Rating A: The case in The Missing Witness was solid and compelling and confounding, all at the same time. Because it’s wrapped around something so huge, so monstrous, and so easy to hide and obfuscate, that it’s nearly impossible to see the whole of it at once.

When Kara Quinn opened this case and this can of worms not quite a year ago, it was about sweatshops and human trafficking and scum who are so rich and so well connected it seems like they can even buy forgiveness from the FBI

But Kara tipped over a huge, gigantic rock, and the things that crawled out from underneath it have tentacles reaching from the Mayor’s Office to the County Board of Supervisors to the LAPD and the LA Office of the FBI – and that’s just for starters.

So Kara left town so that the case against one human trafficker could get pulled together without her body ending up in the middle of it. But that’s not the case her friends and mentors at the LAPD are investigating. They’re investigating the much bigger monsters that crawled out from under that rock – and they’re keeping Kara out of town for her own good – or so they believe.

Their cause is righteous, but their methods are not. To the point where the left hand doesn’t know what the left hand is doing – or who the left hand is killing along the way.

At its heart, this is a case about political corruption, greed and graft, and the way all those things have intersected within the morass that has been called the Homeless Industrial Complex.

But white collar corruption and fraud cases are huge and complicated. There are so many moving parts that it’s difficult to get people to understand what’s at stake and who has been staked. So an awful lot of bad has happened but it’s been hard to even get the public’s attention OR to get a District Attorney to prosecute.

Murder cases, on the other hand, are easy to reduce to the soundbite of a gunshot.

What makes this story so compelling, is the way that Kara’s pursuit of the original murder and trafficker is used as a vehicle to get us inside, to get us to care about the larger but much more amorphous corruption case that has been hiding in plain sight all along.

And the way that even though a measure of justice gets served, we still feel the depths of the betrayals Kara suffers, that the people she once believed had her back have been lying to her all along in their belief that she wouldn’t have been willing to serve the same justice they were.

Which leads to the epic conclusion of The Missing Witness, a conclusion that is certainly the ending of the story arc of the first five books in this thrilling, suspenseful series, but hopefully will lead to much more to come. Because I’ve loved this whole series and I absolutely do not want it to end!

So many twists and turns in this book will have you turning page after page. I loved this book and thought it was a perfect addition to the series. This book ties up a lot of Quinn's past and so many answers come out. We meet a new Agent who I hope will be joining the team. We also meet a lot of Quinn's former police department. I did not want to put the book down as I needed to know everything that was going to happen next. I can't wait for the next book to come out.

The Missing Witness by Allison Brennan
Quinn & Costa #5

Excellent addition to the series ~ wrapped some issues up and opened doors for many more wonderful books to look forward to ~

What I liked:
* Kara Quinn: LAPD police officer on loan to FBI’s Mobile Response Team, has worked many times undercover, parents were con artists, has trust issues, bright, quick, impulsive, street savvy, can hold a grudge, in a relationship with Matt Costa, has some big surprises and issues to deal with
* Matt Costa: FBI special agent, team leader of the Mobile Response Team, bright, team oriented, calm, sees the bigger picture, protective, traditional, not impulsive, in love with Kara and “sees” who she really is, good with and for Kara
* Violet Halliday: IT savvy, works for Los Angeles City Hall, volunteers with First Contact NGO, had difficult childhood, has trust issues, tends to shy away from people, central to this story, might have a future with Will
* Will Lattimer: military veteran, started First Contact NGO, has a nine-point plan he believes would work better for the homeless than what is in place in this story, bright, aware, compassionate, realistic, might be interested in Violet
* Michael: Kara’s work partner, strategist, tactician, protective, difficult childhood, would like to know more about him
* Sloane: FBI newbie undercover in LA-FBI office, ex-Marine, bright, calm, family oriented, intriguing, hope to see her in future books
* The look into corruption, fraud, homelessness, and the impact it has
* The plot, pacing, setting, character development, and how it all was wrapped up at the end
* Knowing/hoping that there will be a book six to read in the future

What I didn’t like:
* Who and what I was meant not to like
* Thinking about how callous, selfish, corrupt, and evil some people can be and then thinking about the impact their behavior has on others. Won’t name names but there were quite a few I would gladly see behind bars in this book

Did I like this book? Yes
Would I read more in this series? Yes

Thank you to NetGalley and HQN-MIRA for the ARC – This is my honest review.

5 Stars

This was a fantastic thriller. I liked the plot and the characters were a lot of fun. Very much recommend this book.

Rating - 4/5 stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Date Read - January 8, 2024
Publication Date - January 23, 2024

*I received an E-ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review* - Thank you @abwrites, @htpbooks and @netgalley!

There are many twists and turns, like mini mysteries within the bigger mystery, which I enjoyed. It made it harder to predict the answers to each mystery. I got lost sometimes but so did the characters, which made it feel like we were figuring everything out together! You might guess who did something and still be surprised about what happens next. I also enjoyed that there were hints of romance, even though it was not the main plot.

I do not agree with many of the opinions on homelessness and addictions that are held by the characters in this book but I was able to put that aside and still enjoy the story. I found that it does play into myths and misconceptions held by society, so please be aware of that when reading. I think it creates a good opportunity for readers to do their own research and learn more about why those beliefs are not necessarily fact.

Overall, The Missing Witness is a great thriller that will keep you on your toes and even has some romance to reach a broader audience!

Get excited to read The Missing Witness, available January 23, 2024! 🎉

*Please check trigger warnings*