So I started and have tried to finish "What Came Before He Shot Her" but I can't do it.
I cannot get past the introduction or set up. It is almost as if there are too many suspects to be set up and it seems as if there are three or more actual stories being written. I usually like to have lots of suspects and lots of compelling reasons to consider the mystery. This is coming across as confusion and filler. I'm not excited about the characters. They are boring me to death and they should be more interesting.
The characters as they have been set up so far are a motley family that doesn't tell the truth nor do they really want to be a family. First the grandmother up and moves back to Jamaica, then the three children are stuck with an aunt they don't know and who doesn't want them. One of the kids has some mental issue but isn't defined, the only girl is becoming a hooker, drug addict and supreme liar, and then the story is semi told from the other boy's point of view but the aunt keeps jumping in.
My main problem is I can't get focused on the book. Can't get lost in it. Trust me when I say I open a P.D.James and don't want to put it down but the Elizabeth George has sat on my nightstand.
So I tried it but it didn't fit for me.
It is going back to the library on Tuesday.
2 comments:
Interestingly, this is the one Elizabeth George book I couldn't get into either and consequently have never read. It would be a hard way to like her if this is your first experience of her. I love the characters at New Scotland Yard that she follows, including Inspector Thomas Lynley (who is her main character). This book, however, is about the boy who killed Lynley's wife Helen and how he got to be the killer he ended up being, while still a boy. It had "naught" to do with her usual style and her usual method of solving crimes through her well-established Thomas Lynley-led team.
Thank you for the insight! I will try another one of her Inspector Lynley books.
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