Parker House is aware that his grandfather emigrated to the U.S. from Switzerland shortly after WW2, but Frank House, formerly known as Franz Haus, is reluctant to tell about his life before coming to America. In The Witnesses, Robert Whitlow tells the story of Franz's life as a young soldier during the war, and Parker's growth in a gift that he has inherited from his grandfather.
During the war, Franz had an uncanny ability to anticipate troop movements and in other ways had knowledge about things in the distance or in the future. This was a great boon to his usefulness as an officer's assistant, but the guilt he bore for the times it cost the lives of innocents stayed with him for decades.
As a young lawyer, Parker gets glimpses of this gift and uses it to his advantage in researching and trying cases. When a successful lawyer comes around offering Parker a dream job, and when a German journalist comes around seeking Franz Haus, the lives of Parker and Frank are forever changed.
I enjoyed the frequent flashbacks to WW2 and Frank/Franz's early life. Whitlow brings things around to the present nicely, and demonstrates that a gift such as Parker and Frank share is not without its burdens. Whitlow's storytelling style shines through in The Witnesses, with hints throughout the book coming to a big, unexpected (and, admittedly, maybe a little implausible) head near the end. As his fans know, Whitlow's stories are fun to read. Like his other books, Whitlow incorporates the characters' faith journeys into the story without preaching or detracting from the plot.
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