What Came Before He Shot Her

By: Elizabeth George

Narrated by: Charles Keating

Don't miss Lynley, a new series streaming September 4 on BritBox!

#1 New York Times bestselling author Elizabeth George delivers an explosive, ""absolutely riveting"" novel (Entertainment Weekly) that delves into the events leading up to the shocking murder of Inspector Lynley’s wife.

The brutal, inexplicable death of Inspector Thomas Lynley’s wife, Helen, has left Scotland Yard shocked and searching for answers. Even more horrifying is that the trigger was apparently pulled by a twelve-year-old boy.

That story begins on the other side of London in rough North Kensington, where the three, mixed-race, virtually orphaned Campbell children are bounced first from their grandmother to their aunt. The oldest, fifteen-year-old Ness, is headed for trouble as fast as her high-heeled boots will take her. That leaves the middle child, Joel, to care for the youngest, Toby. No one wants to put it into words, but something clearly isn’t right with Toby.

Before long, there are signs that Joel himself has problems. A local gang starts harassing him and threatening his brother. To protect his family, Joel ends up making a pact with the devil—a move that leads straight to the front doorstep of Thomas Lynley.

The anatomy of a murder, the story of a family in crisis, What Came Before He Shot Her is a powerful and emotional novel, full of deep psychological insights, that only the incomparable Elizabeth George could write.

Absolutely Absorbing

I listened to this bit by bit while I walked and could not wait to get back to it every day. Charles Keating is phenomenal. The voices of the characters are so real. This book is full to the brim, with much going on, many layers, complex, rich, dense with all kinds of love and pain.

unexpected

The entire story was unique from all previous writing by Elizabeth George. It was well done from a completely different perspective. It was hard to stomach this reality but an excellent read.

What Came Before He Shot Her

Oh my, what a great story. I have been promising myself to read this book for a long time. How awfully sad it was.
A shattered family to begin with. Each one of them trying desperately to right all the wrongs in their life. Reaching out to a greater betterment for their future, only to be brought down again because of their place in society. It is heartbreaking, and what made it more so, it probably is happening everyday in community's such as theirs. I will never forget this book. A huge eye opener for me into real life.
I love Elizabeth George, but by far this was one of her best.

Unsatisfactory ending!

Liked the story and great development of characters but extremely unsatisfactory ending!
Stayed connected to all the characters and then don’t know what happened to all of them.

lifetime

This reminds me of a lifetime movie. If you have mindless worked to be done great listen, but overall story c+.