Sarah Hart never meant to become a witness.
In Canberra, power does not shout… it edits, delays, re-frames, and waits for silence to do its work. When Sarah uncovers a chain of decisions buried beneath procedure and polite language, she does what the system least expects: she records it exactly as it happened.
What begins as documentation becomes testimony. What becomes testimony demands a price. As pressure mounts, allies withdraw, narratives fracture, and institutions close ranks, Sarah is forced to choose between safety and accuracy, between survival and the truth as it stands. Each word she speaks tightens the room. Each silence carries weight.
Witness is a psychological and political thriller about memory, accountability, and the quiet violence of omission. It asks what it really means to tell the truth in a world designed to absorb it… and what remains when the record is closed, but the consequences endure.
Some stories want resolution. This one insists on being remembered.
John Berry was born in Rhodesia. He lived there for six years and then emigrated to Durban, South Africa. He went to Marist Brothers College. After matriculation, he did national service as a paratrooper and fought in the Angolan war in 1975. He traveled extensively, lived in England for two years, then emigrated to Brisbane, Australia. He spends his time researching and writing fiction stories.