A review by emu36
What Came Before He Shot Her by Elizabeth George

5.0

At the end of the last Elizabeth George book ("With No One As Witness") I was a little upset about the death of Helen Lynley who had been one of my favorite characters throughout the series. However this book, while it didn't give a total justification for her murder, at least showed how and why it occurred. I liked this book because it was a little outside of the usual Lynley series recipe and it also delved into the "dark side" a little bit. It was very interesting to see things from the point of view of a black 12 year old boy from a bad area of London and the trouble that he had to deal with. The most interesting part of the book to me was the relationship between the police and the juveniles of the area especially towards the end when Joel is brought to justice. The irony of it all was how corrupt they were, yet how angry they were that "one of their own" had been affected. The story portrayed how a gang shooting like the one that took Helen Lynley's life might have been stopped if the police in the neighborhood had been trying to end the problems that were there to begin with. This is probably true of most cities of course and not just London. Other than that, interesting and an overall good book.