Reviews for What Came before He Shot Her (Inspector Lynley Series #13)

The average rating for What Came before He Shot Her (Inspector Lynley Series #13) based on 2 reviews is 3 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2008-05-11 00:00:00 Lee Gandolfi Given the negative reaction to this novel from many of Elizabeth George's long-time fans, I fully expected not to enjoy this. Perhaps it was the lowered expectations, but I found this novel to be engrossing and extremely well-written. I've enjoyed EG's previous novels (all of them) and have always been impressed by her character development; what I hadn't realized is just how incredibly skilled she is at this. Following EG's extremely bold (an very ill-received) killing of one of her main characters in "With No One As Witness" EG takes a number of further bold steps: 1) Her very next novel deviates entirely from the story lines her readers have been following for over a decade 2) She has the audacity to ask us to immerse ourselves in the world of Helen's killer 3) She has the further audacity to make us sympathize with him 4) This white, well-to-do American author writes a novel about a poor mixed-race family living in a crime-ridden London neighborhood. Not only that, she writes the dialogue entirely in the vernacular. By all accounts, this should make for an awful novel. Not so. Somehow Ms. George pulls it off beautifully, giving us a rich environment peopled by complex individuals who are not always what they seem. It's been so long since I've read "With No One As Witness" that I didn't know going into this novel who the "he" was in the title. I'm not sure if that was made clear in the former novel, but I truly appreciated not knowing until the event occurred. It enhanced my enjoyment to get to know the characters and develop my own feelings for them without knowing their ultimate fates. I highly recommend letting the memory of "Witness" fade before delving into "What Came". I think the character of Ivan is Elizabeth George inserting herself into the story. EG certainly know how to "wield words" (I'm not so sure about her ability to wield weapons, or to fix a clock). Ivan certainly provides the more literary aspects of this novel, especially as his mandate to "Wield Words Not Weapons" is completely turned around by the end, in which weapons are wielded and words are deliberately withheld.

Review # 2 was written on 2007-04-27 00:00:00 Nicole Drolet-russell Let me start by saying that I am a loyal fan of Elizabeth George. I started reading her mysteries in high school, and even had the fantastic opportunity of interviewing her for a high school research paper. I have been to her readings a half-dozen times in a number of different cities. I will read anything she publishes. This is the second book of hers that I just didn't like. The other one was a collection of short stories called I, Richard. I was completely onboard to love this book. In her last installment of the Lynley series, she killed off a main character, and this latest book was going to go into the killer's mind and background. Instead of tying up loose ends, George tried to write a social commentary on race and class in London. She also took the opportunity to add a lot of racy scenes into her repertoire. I hated her attempt on every level. The sex scenes were over-the-top unnecessary, and the race/class breakdown dragged on. I had trouble finishing the book, and I *love* this writer. In the end, not much was revealed, and what was required some tedious research into the minutia of what happened in the previous novel.