What Came Before He Shot Her

Inspector Lynley #14

by Elizabeth George

The brutal, inexplicable death of Inspector Thomas Lynley's wife 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. Who is he? Where did he come from? And what were the circumstances that led to his final act of desperation?

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 then 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 makes 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, emotional novel full of deep psychological insights, a novel that only the incomparable Elizabeth George could write.

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Crime, Thriller, Mystery Thriller, British Literature, Detective

560 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2006

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.

Susan Elizabeth George is an American author of mystery novels set in Great Britain. Eleven of her novels, featuring her character Inspector Lynley, have been adapted for television by the BBC as The Inspector Lynley Mysteries.

She was born in Warren, Ohio, but moved to the San Francisco Bay Area when she was eighteen months old. She was a student of English, receiving a teaching certificate. While teaching English in the public school system, she completed an advanced degree in psychology.

Her first published novel was A Great Deliverance in 1988, featuring Thomas Lynley, Lord Asherton, a Scotland Yard inspector of noble birth; Barbara Havers, Lynley's assistant, from a very working-class background; Lady Helen Clyde, Lynley's girlfriend and later wife, of noble birth as well; and Lynley's friends Simon and Deborah St. James.

This Elizabeth George is distinct from the other author named Elizabeth George (Christian author).

Series:
* Inspector Lynley

Reviews

[Jennifer · Rating 2 out of 5]

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.

[Don · Rating 4 out of 5]

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.

[Lisa H. · Rating 1 out of 5]

I may have to mark this one "will not finish" rather than "on hold." Can we say "false advertising"? The dust jacket implies that this book is part of the Inspector Lynley series, and I suppose it is, in a very peripheral way, but about a third of the way into it, having had nary a mention of any of the usual cast of those books, I flipped forward and found that apparently Lynley et al do not feature in it until perhaps the last few pages, when their lives collide with that of the main character.

WCBHSH is the story of a pre-teen British boy, his siblings (one older, one younger), and their aunt, upon whom the children have been dumped by their grandmother on her way out of the country, as she emigrated to Jamaica. The twice-divorced, childless aunt is ill-equipped to handle three kids, the oldest of whom is a willful young woman headed for trouble; the developmental problems of the younger boy make him a target for predators and force the older one into the role of caretaker and protector. Their mentally-ill mother is institutionalized and unlikely to return to her parental duties any time soon, and their father is dead.

A lot of pages are spent laying the ground for this misbegotten little family unit to go inevitably, badly wrong, and to be honest, the fairly predictable story Ms. George was setting out didn't hold my interest enough to slog through another 350 pages or so.

[Bethany · Rating 5 out of 5]

Having advance warning that this book is not part of the Lynley series, but gives a background (or second point of view) of one of the things that happens in Lynley's life, I found this book amazingly brilliant. I should not have been amazed. Elizabeth George is a spectacular writer.

I was so ensconced in Joel's life that I could not stop thinking about the book when I was not reading it. Whenever I had a free moment, I wanted to be reading it. When I had a free moment, and had committed to doing something else, I was disappointed that I was not able to read.

This is the story of three siblings. Quite a few things go wrong in their life, and in their quest to get things right, or improve their circumstances, things continue to go the way things often go in life. Things spiral out of control, often because of the best intentions of the children as well as the adults in their lives. This book rings true. Elizabeth George shows us how these things happen all the time in the real world.

[Pam · Rating 1 out of 5]

At first, pure shock factor carried this book. I got through it, but it was the worst Elizabeth George book I have read. Oh sure, she did her homework and the details were there and all of that stuff she does so well. But I read George for the mystery part of her books. This was more akin to a novel and it wasn't my cup of tea. I guess it all boils down to this: this book was supposed to show the background of a person guilty of a crime and how his circumstances led up to this crime. The reality is that I had no sympathy for him and just really didn't care about his background. Maybe I just don't belive in the fact that your surroundings determine your choices, but rather, that your choices will determine your surroundings.

[Monique · Rating 2 out of 5]

Okay so started this book not knowing that it was included in a series of books she writes involving a detective..I believe I have read another one of her books and loved it and do still appreciate her writing style, I just kinda had a problem with the plot, or lack thereof..In this book you follow the lives of three troubled children whose father is dead and their mom is institutionalized, they are dropped off by their grandmother with their aunt who is forced to uproot her life and begin to raise the children with all their issues.. The kids, Ness a sixteen year old rebel with all the reasons to be surly, streetsmart and tough; Joel the most normal of the three thrust in the role of provider and head of household while he has his own issues and finally special Toby who is not quite a regular kid with developmental and social problems..The book follows their lives and their dramas as it leads up to the shooting of the wife of Detective Lynley, which for a 500+ page book was really no more than five page of crime and four hundred of buildup and tension..I guess it would have helped to know the previous story and how it relates but alas I can only take it for what it was, a look on London's racial and socioeconomic standards and how they mold and influence the three innocent and scarred children..

[Julie Jenkins · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read lots of novels, but I regard most of them as snacks - they don't stay with me very long. This one, however, has. I've read most of Elizabeth George's books, and am familiar with her characters, I think they're even a TV series. But this book was so different. The 'Her' is one of Ms George's well-known characters, but you don't really know that until the last few pages of the book.

The story is that of Joel and his older sister and younger brother. Their dad was murdered, their mum's in a mental hospital, their gran is going back to Jamaica. Their aunt learns she is to take care of them when she finds them, literally, on her doorstep.

Joel's a fantastic kid, wants to do the right thing, wants everyone to be happy and does what he has to to protect his siblings.

That's all I'll say about the plot. I just think the author has done an excellent job of showing how one young boy can get from point A (quite innocent) to point B (under arrest for murder) without ever having done anything wrong but make some bad choices. He's SURROUNDED by people who make bad choices, and, to me, the story really illustrates how a few (or many!) bad choices can have a knock-on effect that can completely change a person's life for good or bad.

It's been nearly a year since I read this book, but it's stuck with me, and it's one of the few novels that I will most likely read again. It would make a great TV drama or possibly film.

[Tanya · Rating 2 out of 5]

**Update**

Finally, after 6 weeks, I finished this painfully slow read.

**SPOILER**

I use the adjuctive painfully sparingly. Althought the pages went on for what seemed like forever, I did become very attached to nearly every character of the book. George did a fantastic job giving everyone a very distinct, yet unpredictable personality. I had a soft spot for everyone--for a variety of different reasons. Ness for the tragic torture she edured at the hands of her Grandmother's boyfriend. Joel for his unwavering love and protection of his little brother. Cal for his permanent attachment to the Blade. Even the Blade...According to Ivan, Stanley had potential when he was young, but chose a life of crime. Was he forced into it?, did he have a choice?.

The story ended with no satisfaction for the hunger I craved of wanting more. I wanted answers. Did the Blade kill Cal?, what happened to Toby..was he sent away from Kendra?, did Dix come back after the kids were gone?, etc..

This book is off to a VERY slow start. Too many adjectives! There's only so many ways to say, "the sky is blue". I'm ready for something more.

[Susan Liston · Rating 1 out of 5]

Elizabeth George is a perfectly good writer and this book is perfectly fine if this is what are you are looking for, but it is NOT an Inspector Lynley novel. The last book ends with a shocking murder of a regular character. I knew she was going to backtrack and tell how that came to happen, but I thought it would be a subplot to the next book, not the ENTIRE next book. I kept assuming we would soon return to Scotland Yard and our main characters, but we didn't, and at page 100 or so I started to look ahead. Doesn't seem that we do, so I read some reviews... and found we don't. I dutifully skimmed the rest and read the last couple of chapters. The whole story is massively grim and depressing. So if you are a series purist and want to torture yourself with this, go ahead, but also feel free to skip it.

[Anna · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is one of my all-time favorites. It's the story of the Campbell children, 15 year-old Ness, 12 year-old Joel, and eight year-old Toby, who are left by their grandmother Glory. She has gone off to Jamaica to be with her boyfriend leaving the children to be cared for by their aunt Kendra. George captures the flavor of this Jamaican family as they struggle to survive in a world that becomes increasingly more threatening especially for the children. The author explores each character's inner feelings, their wants and desires and evokes empathy in the reader. We hope the children will make it yet know so much is against them. Conflicts permeate every page. It is a page turner.

[Beverly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Chilling and fascinating departure for George. She tells a pitifully sad story from the viewpoint of the 12 year old boy who was Helen Lynley's killer. The story is a mystery in its own right as well because of how the theme of revenge plays out. DIehard fans of Havers and Lynley hated this book, but to me it shows how talented George really is.

[Sivvy · Rating 5 out of 5]

My first Elizabeth George book. Terrific, couldn't put it down, although like other readers, I was disappointed by the ending. I had the impression we were supposed to understand Joel's revelations, but I'm not sure I did. Cal disappeared: was he whisked away or done away with? Why were Neal and Hibah outside of the daycare where Ness worked? Why did Ness get into so much trouble for attacking the person who attacked her and appeared to be lying in wait for her again? At what point did Neal and the Blade start collaborating? What was their plan? Because they could not have forseen that Ness would attack Neal and thus be arrested, nor could they have forseen that Joel would so badly botch the mugging of the Asian lady. Why was the attack on Helen Lynley so badly planned, with the poor black boys in the posh white neighborhood, no escape planned? There was no briefing of Joel to help him pull it off, and yet no actual setting him up for certain failure. What was the connection between the serial killings and the attack on Helen Lynley? What was Joel's plan when he visited his mother, and why was she suddenly coherent? Many questions; does anyone have answers?

[Jeff Dickison · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really don't know what rating to give this book. It is well written, much like an old fashioned social history, but it is unrelenting in its' despair. It is the story of three children, mother is unhinged and under care, father is dead from a murder, grandma has abandoned them and ran away to Jamaica. Their Aunt takes them in and tries to help, but she is woefully beyond her depth. The streets take over and lead them to disaster. The older brother (12 years old) shoots and kills Inspector Lynley's wife. The boy doesn't even know why. The real perpetrator's are unknown to the police. And I wonder what was the purpose of the whole damn thing?

[Cat · Rating 1 out of 5]

Sorry !!! I didn't like this book at all. I'm usually a great fan of Elisabeth George, but this time nothing drew my attention : neither style or plot (or the absence of it !!!)I do not recommend it.

[Kathleen Hagen]

What Came Before He shot her, by Elizabeth George. A-plus.
Borrowed on CD from the public library
I think this book is the best one Elizabeth George has ever written. The concept for it is intriguing as well. In her last book, “With No One as Witness” we saw the unfolding of the needless and tragic shooting of Inspector Lindley’s wife. We learn that the alleged shooter is twelve years old. In this book, Ms. George takes us back for an explanation of how this shooting occurred. Hence, “What Came Before He Shot Her” as a title.

The Campbell children are met with bad fortune from the beginning. The three children, Vanessa, Joel, and Toby, are mixed race children. Their father is west Indian, and their mother is White. Their father is shot and killed because he is in the wrong place at the wrong time. Their mother has a psychotic break and is committed to a psyche ward. The children must move in with their grandmother who is more interested in her useless husband, George and his pals. And when her husband decides he wants to go back to Jamaica and offers Glory a chance to go with him, minus the children of course, she dumps the three children, without warning to them, or to her daughter, upon Kendra, the only member of the family who is managing to pull together and make something of herself. There are tensions from the beginning with first Vanessa getting in with the wrong crowd and aligning herself with The Blade. Then, after she leaves him, (something a woman never does, not to mention a 15-year-old girl) the Blade takes it out on their family. Joel and Toby are having their own trouble with Neil Wyatt, who took an instant dislike to Joel, and who threatened to harm Toby as a way to get at Joel. Joel, the one child of the three who had potential, figured out that he would have to align himself with the right people in the street to protect himself and his brother. And therein lies the tragedy of this book. I know it sounds like hyperbole, but the tragedy of this book is of the magnitude of Shakespearean tragedy. The worst of it is that there are people along the way who want to help each of the children, including the police and their social worker, and their aunt. But the help is too little too late. This book describes the harshness of urban street life for mixed race children in London. The haves and have-nots are different in different cities, but this book describes the tragedy of children who must make adult decisions too early, and who live with mistakes that they, or other family members, make. It’s not so much a mystery as a character study. I don’t know if Elizabeth George plans to let us know what happens to Joel and the rest of the family in future books. I don’t know if the Lindley-Havers series is at an end. It will be interesting to see what Elizabeth George does next.

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

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.

[Becky · Rating 1 out of 5]

I was terribly disappointed in this book since it previewed a character I liked -- Inspector Thomas Lynley (the death of his wife) -- but, he barely makes it into the novel. The book is considered a "mystery" but it is a long, drawn out account of a very dysfunctional family set in the slums of London. No spoiler, but the 12 year old Joel is the person who kills Inspector Lynley's wife and the first half of the book is spent primarily on describing his anti social sister who becomes involved in drugs and very unsavory characters. Sure, the other "family" members are mentioned and the family backgrounds is somewhat revealed, but way too much time is on the exploits of Ness, the sullen teenager who is beyond control. The 40 something aunt and her 20 something boyfriend who take care of the 3 siblings are very implausible. The abundance of cockny(?)dialogue adds to the tediousness.

[Pat · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am a big fan of Elizabeth George and will read anything that has her name on the cover.

That said, I was disappointed with What Came Before He Shot Her. First of all, it isn't so much a mystery novel as an answer to the question: "Why would a twelve-year-old boy walk up to a complete stranger and put a couple bullets in her belly?" Second, the story was too noire for my taste. Normally when I'm reading one of her books, I'm incapable of putting it down; this book, I had no choice but to put it down, repeatedly. (It's never taken me three days to finish one of her books before -- I have always devoured them in one single, long, delighted orgy of page-turning.)

George does do a technically masterful job of exploring the motivations of a teenage killer. In fact her ability to work with the dark urges that drive good people to do bad things is, I think, one of her greatest strengths as a novelist. It's just that an entire novel of nothing BUT the generation, development, and fruition of those urges was a little too much for me.

[✘✘ Sarah ✘✘ (former Nefarious Breeder of Murderous Crustaceans) · Rating 1 out of 5]

I must say that this book was quite a disappointment to me! I'm a huge Elizabeth George fan and I've read every single book she's written so far but this was really not what I expected and I just couldn't get into the book from the very beginning. It was very different from the other books and I just couldn't get past the fact that none of George's usual characters were around. It's a complete change from George's previous novels, I found the story too depressing and got tired of the use of slang after a while. I finally stopped reading about halfway through the book... I really hope that George's next book will be more like those previous to this one!

[Jenny · Rating 3 out of 5]

I quite like Elizabeth George so I thought I'd see if WCBHSH could justify the the conclusion of With No One As Witness. Well written and compelling but I found it a little too bleak. And at its conclusion, there isn't the slightest inkling of hope for any of the Campbell children. In particular, Joel (who is so well-intentioned) and Toby. While I wasn't expecting a happy ending, it would have been nice if she could have thrown us a bone for at least one of the kids. Perhaps the problem is that it's too realistic.

[Cherie Waggie · Rating 1 out of 5]

The book is about a frightened 12 year old mixed-race boy who is trying desperately to find a way to save and help his family, which consists of an older abused confused teenage sister, and an autistic younger brother. Their father was murdered. Their mother in a mental hospital. They are dropped off at a spinster aunt's by their grandmother who didn't want to deal with them, and there seems no way out. Joel, the 12 year old, is targeted by a bully who not only beats him and his little brother up, but tries more than once to actually kill them. Joel is terrified and the only way out he thinks is a thug who runs a gang who was spurned by Joel's sister. All through the book, I keep thinking that in the end things would turn aright for these children. A few times it seemed as if they would, but by the end of the book, the teenage sister is in a mental hospital for attacking the bully with a knife because he and his buddies tried to gang rape her, and the thug Joel turned to for help has nicely framed Joel for the murder of a Scotland Yard's detective's wife. The aunt, who has tried her best to help the children, will, apparently lose them to the system, and Joel may end up in prison for a murder he didn't commit. That's how the book ends. I hated the book, because when I take up a book to read, I do so to escape to a world where eventually things go right, where justice is finally served, and where children are saved. When I speak of justice, I speak of real justice, not always and seldom served by the law, for there is no such thing. By the end of this book, justice of any sort was not served and the child, like so many children in real life, suffered needlessly, his family was destroyed, and the real monsters walked free. The police were brutes who descended on the family because of their mixed race. And innocent people die. I see too much of this on the news every day. The last thing I want when I read a fiction book, is to stay in the real world. Some may agree. Some may just shake their heads and laugh at this. In my opinion, this book was too much of a reminder of the world I have to face everyday, and I don't need that.

[Macha · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 & 1/2 stars. i confess i wouldn't have picked this one up if i'd known it what it really was: i did look carefully at it first to make sure it was a Linley mystery. and it is; except not really. it's riskier territory. then i stayed up for two nights running till 4am to read it through, so it was certainly riveting, the way she built the story. the characters come so alive, and the reader is dragged (kicking and screaming, in my case) into the narrative. and the sense of dread carries the novel: the way it grows, the way it spreads, the way it matters. until in the end, it makes perfect sense out of what we like to call a senseless crime. in that context, of course, the indictment's aimed at us. but it still works, in that No Way Out way that this kind of societal/psychological novel tracks.

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am a avid reader of the Inspector Lynley books and although this book was completely different, I thought it was not only well written - but one of her best. It is not easy to read, and the subject matter is depressing; however, it actually tackles and shows how a child can transition into someone who can do horrible things.

The actions this child took were horrific, but his life offered offered poor choices that were difficult to escape. It is too simplistic to say that one thing or another could have changed things - but it is devastating to see how the people in his life could have perhaps shifted his path even a few degrees to present him with other alternatives.

Sad, depressing, heart-breaking - but a sober look at the narrow worlds some children grow up in.

[Oscar Nierstrasz · Rating 2 out of 5]

OK, this is a very well written and believably realistic, but otherwise just depressing and mostly uninteresting tale of what happened before "With No One as Witness" (in which Inspector Linley's wife is shot). This is simply not enjoyable. I gave up after 100 pages. Not recommended unless you enjoy following how one bad thing after another happens to a thrown-together family.

[Lobstergirl · Rating 1 out of 5]

So bad it calls for a bookburning.

[Quetzi Fernald · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is such a sad book also. If you are keeping up with the Inspector Lynley series, you have to read this book. In it, everything changes for Inspector Thomas Lynley & Barbara Havers. Inspector Lynley & his wife are expecting their first child & she's all excited trying to figure out what the baby should wear at it's christening. Should she go along with the clothes her mother-in-law has sent to her, that all the Lords have worn through the generations, or should she start a new tradition & buy new clothes for her soon to be born baby. Caught up, as she is, in her dilema, Thomas is involved in what appears to be a serial killer on the loose in England killing young boys. As events unfold, the climax of the story builds up suspense all the way to the very end. The book closes with a slam-dunk ending that will leave you with your heart in your stomach! It's a "must read" book that will have you buying the next book in the series so you can find out what happens next! I couldn't put this book down! You won't want to miss reading it.

[Lucy · Rating 1 out of 5]

I could write A LOT about this book. Mainly, how much I disliked it. Elizabeth George is probably my favorite crime novelist. I love her Inspector Lynley/Havers books. The first tragic flaw of this book is that neither characters are in the book.

In a nutshell, George takes her last book, With No One As A Witness, and writes a very, very long book with all the background for the criminal in that book. Yes, it humanizes the criminal. Yes, it paints a stark and awful background to the horrors of poverty and neighborhoods that breed crime. But the book becomes part of the horror as it goes on and on in its detail about the ugly.

In the end, there is no beauty to save it. I was just glad to be done with it. It was a hard book for me to read and I feel a little betrayed by George. If you like her too and haven't read this book - don't. Spare yourself the torture.

[lynn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Can a book be worth reading when you know the ending? This one was. In the prior episode of Inspector Lynley his wife was shot in a "random" shooting. This book is the story of the boy involved and what lead up to the shooting. It is a tale of three children who lose their father and mother in different ways and end up being dumped with their aunt. Their fight for survival due to the circumstances which brought them here and the paths they choose illustrate a situation which happens daily results in a frustrating tale of how humans interact, misunderstand each other, fight for control of their lives and, by doing so, the lives of others and in the end often just give in.

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I just knew it couldn't end well. Still, the author's wonderful writing kept me moving forward in sustained interest. I will be pondering for some time to come on what could have been done differently, and would it have had a positive impact on the outcome?

[Martha · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really didn’t like the first half. Became nearly impossible to put down in the 2nd half.