Review of The Witness by Henderson
Book #1 of the Shield of Honor Series by Dee Henderson
The back of the novel The Witness by Dee Henderson contains the following blurb about the trials that the main characters are going to confront “And it’s going to take a faith deeper than any of them currently knows to stand and confront the danger still to come.” Unfortunately, the promotional blurb reveals more depth than is found in the book.
Fast Paced
Dee Henderson’s first book in the new series Shield of Honor is described as fast paced. The description of fast paced is certainly accurate when it comes to her book The Witness. The book is so fast paced that the reader is given very little insight into the depths of the characters in the book. Granted, suspense books are generally plot driven. However, the back cover suggests that faith is an important component of this book too.
Faith cannot play an important role in a book if the characters are not complex characters that require the reader to delve deeper to understand them, their motivations, and their actions. The fast pace of the book is similar to that of a modern action movie and would probably benefit from being seen on a screen. On the screen, the actors could fill in the blanks and create the missing emotions and motivations because Henderson left the characters and their faith wide open to interpretation.
The Faith Bandage
Because the characters in The Witness are so shallow, faith doesn’t seem integral to their lives or the book. In fact, faith seems to be treated as a stand-alone event separate from daily life. After a certain number of pages, Henderson brings us back to the fact that this is a Christian book by having one of the characters think a prayer to God or have a brief ‘God’ discussion with another character.
Henderson’s approach to religion in the novel is not unlike the attitude of an individual living in a ‘Christian’ community where individuals don’t think about their faith except on Sunday. On Sunday, they are reminded that they are Christians when they go to church, just like we are reminded that The Witness is a Christian book whenever Henderson brings Christianity back into the story.
Abrupt Endings
Unfortunately, Henderson seemed to run out of steam near the end of the book. The case builds and builds until page 354 when suddenly it breaks. The resolution of the case will probably surprise many readers. Henderson is skillful at setting up her crime and resolving it. However, the abrupt and anti-climatic closure will disappoint many readers; the book ends on page 378 only 24 pages after the big break in the investigation.
Another unfortunate detail regarding the end of Henderson’s novel is that many of the characters suddenly resolve complex emotional issues during the last 30-40 pages without any real insight given to the readers as to how the resolution came about. Life is that way—people get over grief or anger and those in their life don’t necessarily know or understand how or why. However, readers are invested in characters and want to know what causes them to change.
A Genre Choice
If you like to pick up easy books to read at the beach, on the plane, or during vacation, in addition to liking suspense, The Witness by Dee Henderson is a quick read, without sex or foul language, and with an interesting plot. However, if you demand more from your books than brainless entertainment or if you like well-integrated themes of faith grounded in complex characters then avoid The Witness.
Henderson, Dee. The Witness. Tyndale House Publishers, Inc. 2005. ISBN-13 978-12-4143-0812-8 ISBN-10 1-4143-0812-4.
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