Varietats: Witness by Caroline Mitchell

Rebecca had been victim of domestic violence 10 years ago, but now, her worst nightmare had return making her a silent witness. What would she be able to do to keep her family safe?

"I wish I could dive into your buttermilk pages and disappear where no one would ever find me. Such an escape would be preferable to recounting the horrors of the day. I can't stop my fingers shaking as I set down my thoughts with my pen. As painful as it is, I've got to record them while Salomon's words and gestures are still fresh in my mind. I prepared for confrontation in my last entry, but I could never have imagined the depth of Solomon's deceit. And I can't believe what I'm about to say."

We start this book reading about the past, how Rebecca and Solomon fall in love and how things turned wrong... and intersperse there's the new Becky, with a husband and a little daughter, that don't know that someone is watching and ready to kill...

It was quite interesting seeing how was the relation between Rebecca and Salomon in the beginning, how Solomon uses Rebecca's mother death to control completely her, and I think that everyone in her situation would feel the same, "He is just trying to help, keeping me safe and don't want me to worry..." But when do you know if it's too much? When is the moment to tell the partner to stop?

It has to be difficult to suffer domestic violence, someone you trust and love that attacks you and makes you suffer with words or beats, it doesn't matter, it's horrible and there's not a possible explanation for this. But I have to admit that I didn't connect very much with the pain Rebecca feels, I can understand her past and her actions, but now, being a silent witness while her loved ones are suffering and not facing it, is something I don't believe it. Maybe I really don't understand the fear and control that a manipulative person can have on their victims, but I think Rebecca prefers to keep her secrets than keep her daughter or husband alive...

It didn't surprise me very much the ending, it was something I guessed since the beginning, but I made a lot of conjectures wanting to know which would be the next Solomon's move, not knowing which were his true intentions or what did he really want from Rebecca, kill her or returning with her?

I liked how Caroline Mitchell made us emphasize with Rebecca's past and understand her fear of her abusing fiancée and trying not to be frighten of his next move...