The Witness
by James Jauncey

Release Date: 4th Jul 2008
Publisher: Pan Macmillian
ISBN: 978 0 3304 4714 0
RRP: Ł6.99

Gritty realism and a village slaughter are the core of this novel...

A dark and unusual story aimed at young adult readers who yearn to learn more about the mysteries of the world in which they live in now - and could own in the future. The Witness is a snapshot of a Scotland maybe one hundred years from now, a potential future that is fraught with danger, murder and the menacing Overlord that is simply 'The Department', or the Department of Land.

Eighteen year old John is living out a meagre existence with his father out in the Highlands. Ferg (his father) is a deerstalker - that is, someone responsible for culling the local deer population on behalf of The Department. Only, the pay cheques have stopped coming and there is disillusionment everywhere and a growing civil unrest as the NLA (Northern Land Alliance) led by a shrouded figure known only as 'the Tod' intensifies its backlash against the government. And when John nearly stumbles straight into a village massacre by government soldiers, he finds himself on the run... only he's not alone.

He finds a small boy, suffering from a condition known as 'fragile X', when he finally sucumbs and picks through the remains looking for survivors. From then onwards, John and Ninian are caught up in a political warfield where both sides have guns and they find they can trust no one.

Socio-political - that may be a new genre - The Witness covers a multitude of sins: Do the ends ever justify the means? When it taking a life acceptable? Are bullies responsible if their victims effectively commit suicide? At what point do you consider the government to have taken so much power that they no longer work in the best interests of the majority - and how far would you go to restore a balance of power?

Thought-provoking, stark and grim; this is not pretty storytelling. Rather is a an ominous warning of how our futures could be and how close we could become to tearing down all sense of civilisation if vast power is allowed to be welded by the narrow-sighted few.

Note: There is occasional bad language, which increases in frequency as the pace intensifies.

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