THE WITNESS by W.E.B. Griffin

Finished  Fr 3/13/15

Author's wikipedia entry-

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W._E._B._Griffin

This is one of my paperbacks and the author is know for his series 'Brotherhood of War'. After scanning his page on Wikipedia I see that he has many collections that concern the armed forces, the secret service, and police procedurals. This novel is set in the late 70's in the city of Philadelphia.

Major Plots-

Goldblatt's Furniture store is robbed by a group of Blacks claiming to be members of The Islamic Revolutionary Army. The nightwatchman is killed and only one witness will testify.

Officer Mathew Payne was with a newspaper reporter covering the roundup of the suspects of the furniture store robbery. They are attacked by one of the militants and Payne returns fire and kills the man.

Mathew Payne is very rich. He is a cop, although his family is against the decision because several member of the family have been killed in the line of duty.

The novel concerns the internal politics of the various agencies within the Philadelphia police department.

Payne is also involved with the wife of one of the assistant district attorneys. This man wants to become mayor and is kind of a sleaze.

This is not a bad novel, and if Police Procedural is your thing, this is the book for you. I'd definitely try another by this author, and I would also give his military books a shot.

(When I was at the YMCA a retired officer from The Illinois National Guard noticed that I was reading this book and he said that he loved everything that this author has written). I was surprised to see this man at the Y since he has worked out at Fit Club for many years. He was probably surprised to see me as well)