I received this book at no cost on Amazon Prime.

Thanks to [a: Rebecca Forster|2518|Rebecca Forster|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1360533397p2/2518.jpg] for making [b: Hostile Witness: A Josie Bates Thriller: The Witness Series #1|25070022|Hostile Witness (Witness Series, #1)|Rebecca Forster|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1425494282s/25070022.jpg|111166]. It is still available as a free e-book at the time of this review. 01/07/2017

There are seven books in this series. If you want to jump into a new series and not have to wait for the next book this is your lucky day. This is a fast-paced legal thriller.

The main protagonist Josie Baylor-Bates is an athletic, attorney who lives in a home on the beach in Southern California. She has just earned her partnership in a cozy and well-established law firm.

Josie's life is on an even keel until an old "friend" Linda Sheraton commands her help in defending her daughter Hannah. Teenage Hanna is charged as an adult in the death of her step-grandfather. The other sticker is the victim is a well-respected judge.

Using her friend, Linda knows the buttons to push to guarantee the cooperation of Josie.

Josie sticks her neck out and could lose everything she has worked for her whole life. ( )

Well done detective/lawyer novel. Enjoyed the pace and developed enough interest to care about Josie and Archer and want to see where they go. I will probably read the rest of the series first free time I get. ( )

it was ok. a good regular mystery. Not a book club book ( )

I've never read a legal thriller, and this was a nice diversion from my usual historical fiction and women's fiction genres.
The fast paced courtroom drama, family dysfunction and suspenseful twists made this novel a fascinating and quick read. Josie Bates, for the most part, is a flawed and unlikable protagonist. But, she's interesting enough to make me want to know more of her story.
This book was the perfect change of pace I was looking for. I'll definitely be coming back to read the rest of the series. ( )

- but a superior one. Not so much a whodunnit as a whydunnit (or, as later becomes apparent, whynotdunnit) the plot follows the efforts of a defense attorney committed to doing the best for her client no matter what the cost to herself, the client or anyone else. The courtroom drama is handled expertly, although, for this reader, the delay of any forensic evidence until the last act strained the patience. Though the dialogue is well done, the characters and their relationships are from straight from central casting and the Ladybird Book of Writing for Dummies, but then that's not what we read this stuff for. A real page turner, the denoument is more satisfying than surprising. ( )