Mute Witness

WARNING: This is an extremely hard book to read. The author has handled the issues here in a very responsible way ... but the emotional upheaval remains high from start to finish.

Eight-year-old Jason has gone missing. His father, along with his partner, only have weekend custody ... the rest of the time he spends with his mother and stepfather.

After a few heart-breaking painful days of not knowing where he was, the boy miraculously turns up. He's been abused and lost the ability to speak.

The primary suspects? The boy's gay father and his partner. The stepfather who only tolerates the boy. Or is there something else at play here? Somebody close wants to make sure the boy remains mute ... at any cost.

This is the dysfunctional family of the year. His mother would like nothing better than never having her son see his father. The religious grand-parents hate his father. The boy's father's live in boyfriend .. who seems to tolerate the boy only because he's not there full time.

It's an intense plot, with a lot of characters, many of their voices being heard through alternating points of view. Some were tremendously hard to read. The characters were deftly drawn, some I found I really liked .. and some I felt profound dislike. It's a well-written book that can induce those feelings in a reader.

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