Customer Reviews

Witness to the Truth

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This is the first time I agreed with all the reviewers, whether they panned the book or loved it. No it wasn't well written, the bad guys aren't all going to grovel in front of the FBI, the rookie black agent and his romance are not well addressed, the black characters are either all good or all bad, all characters are pretty stereotypical with the good guys idealized and the bad guys demonized. and yes the plot is more like a series of vignettes that tie together too neatly at the end.

But so what? This is a fun book. It wasn't meant to be the Bard. The characters in the trenches are likeable and the witticisms are often hilarious (they almost steal the book). The FBI doesn't get a lot of respect these days and no wonder since the general impression is the administrators care more about improving their careers than removing crime and in so doing, all too often forget good case solving technique and procedure. However this book gives hope to those of us who want to have good feelings about the FBI, that there are those agents who believe in what they're doing, not solely about career advancement.

This book stayed with me a little longer than the typical 3 books a week that I normally read. I've read Paul Lindsay's subsequent books and they're an improvement over this book in terms of character and plot development. If you like this book, then you should get the rest of them. I've asked Amazon to notify me when his next book is out.

P.S. I hope the former FBI agnt who reviewed this book (and gave it a positive review and whose reviews of other books I enjoyed), had a spell check feature on his computer when he wrote reports in his capacity as an FBI agent.

This book was enjoyable. Don't go into it thinking it is Shakespere it is not. It is a great action book that keeps you guessing....

As a former FBI agent i enjoy reading authors perspectives on the FBI. Lindsay, also former FBI, spent alot of time developing characters and procedural drama. I found the book to be entertaining and very authantic, made me remember what it was like to work for the Bureua. Also entertaining was Lindsays' portrail of the relationship between agents and management was much like the bureacracy i worked under.

Lindsay may have his FBI details right, but he's got a lot to learn about how real people talk and act. Hardened street criminals melt into submission with just a few well-considered tactics from the mighty Mike Devlin. Oh please. This is an ex-FBI agent's fantasy of being the renegade, establishment-bashing fed--earning the respect of the bad guys while at the same time taking arms against the stupidity of the Bureau bureaucracy. The whole effort strikes me as a children's-book version of a crime novel--no subtlety, no ambiguity, no reality.

but found book had a good premise, then went in too many separate directions . . . obviously, did not enjoy it as much as the others.

Written by ex-FBI agent, this book follows a Detroit Irish FBI agent who searches for a serial killer and a leak inside the FBI, all the while battling an uncaring FBI bureaucracy, the Mafia, and various criminals. If you like detailed cops and robbers in a big town and the grim reality of fighting crime in spite of government red tape, you'll love this one.

Witness to the Truth, a glimpse of what the F.B.I. is really like, rings awfully true, especially to anyone with a smattering of understanding of our legal system's faults. Paul Lindsay has told a riveting story and drawn clear and cool characters without succumbing to the temptation to get too much into their innermost feelings. You understand the people well enough -- he doesn't have to tell you why they do what they do. There is no question that the F.B.I. is "exposed" here -- and you can see why this book, which shatters a lot of illusions -- could have cost Lindsay his job. It's a a great eye-opener and a great story.

I don't know why everyone fell in love with this one. Every piece of action, every plot move, and certainly every single thing protagonist Mike Devlin ever did, thought, or dreamed was completely predictable from start to finish. Instead of characters author Lindsay gives us stereotypes and quirks (the talkative Irish guy; the Jewish friend with bagels; the well-spoken black Viking partner who, yes, dies nobly like a good token should). The story is just a lot of macho fantasy with no life or conflict. And the crimes resolve themselves so neatly, so bloodlessly (with the exception of the above-mentioned token) that one wonders why these guys are so world-weary and bitter in the first place. For all Paul Lindsay's vaunted FBI experience, there's little in this book that rings true, or even interesting. It's a gripe-fest, and a tedious one at that.

This probably the best book I have ever listened to about the transition from the old FBI to the new administrative FBI. I was involved in law enforcement during the lat 50's 60's 70's and 80's. Some aspects of the book may have been stretched at little but the basic information was on target.

I retired from the FBI in 2004 after 20 years as a field agent and the FBI managers depicted as fictional in Lindsay's book were so real to me I can almost assign them names. No good work goes unpunished in the FBI, however, I intend to use Lindsey's book in a course I am teaching on "Detective novels and fiction". Great job Paul. We've never met but I feel I know you. This book has languished in "development" too long. It needs to get made.