Reviews

What Came Before He Shot Her by Elizabeth George

jlady's review against another edition

4.0

Very well written and compelling.


Spoiler (if you haven't read "With no one as Witness"

Hard to read though, because you know from the start that it ends badly.

emjay2021's review against another edition

So strange...I could have sworn I had written a review for this when I read it. Oh well. This novel provides back story for the murder that happens at the end of the previous book in the Lynley series. Therefore, it's not a whodunit but rather a whydunit, and man is it ever grim. I found it quite compelling, if depressingly believable. Joel is a nice kid from a poor family of colour who is enmeshed in the system that will eventually lead to the aforementioned murder. I found it very moving and hard to put down--I read it while travelling and it occupied me through a long train journey. I know some Lynley fans didn't like this one but I thought it was very good.

samstg's review against another edition

I honestly was only reading this book because I was saying at my parent's house and finished the book I had brought with me. Nothing against the book, just haven't gotten around to continuing it and know that I won't bother. 

saidahgilbert's review against another edition

5.0

I cried at the end of this book. Reading this book, you know what is going to happen at the end. The twelve-year-old boy revealed in the book is going to be charged for murder of Inspector Lynley's wife. However, I could not believe the circumstances. The book is written in omniscient third person so we can see where certain decisions can affect the characters but the characters themselves cannot see because they can only consider what they know.

pianorunner421's review against another edition

1.0

Okay I give up. I am half way through and I just don't care what happens to these characters. I am bored and don't feel as though the plot is progressing anywhere. Unfortunately for me, I picked this up on paper back at the same time I picked a snooze Fest on cd for my car. I finished the one in the car, but I am ready to pick something I really want to read in bed.

booklady100's review against another edition

4.0

I have always enjoyed the mysteries of Elizabeth George. She writes the types of stories that are more about the characters than the mysteries. She invites you into the lives of the detectives, the victims and even the perpetrators. In this novel, she leaves the mystery genre to explore the life of the 12-year old boy responsible for the murder of one of her primary characters. She takes you deep into the live of North Kensington, a poor, working-class neighborhood in London and shows the struggle for survival that is the daily life of millions of children in urban settings all over the world. It is a gut-wrenching reminder of the impossible choices that face so many people as they seek to negotiate the complex social layers of life in the city. She brings the characters of Joel Campbell and his family to life and makes their struggle real and immediate. You will not forget them or their stories.

lori_loves_reading's review against another edition

4.0

I really didn’t realize that this book would not have Lynley and Havers in it so I was a bit disappointed at first. In the end I quite enjoyed it even though it was very depressing and made me mad at times.

tilted_back's review against another edition

3.0

Good, but not a true Lynley book. Not at all what I've come to expect from the series or this author, so I was disappointed.

allison0931's review

Did not like that it wasn't really a Lynley book. Did not love the dialogue being written in "inner city vernacular" as it did not feel authentic. 

tasmanian_bibliophile's review against another edition

4.0

This is neither an easy nor a comfortable read. It is peopled with those who are both victims and villains and there are no happy endings. Nevertheless, I recommend it to those who are interested in reading about 'what happened before'. Here's a link to the review I just posted on Amazon.com:

http://tinyurl.com/ywpsya