Before I Find You by Ali Knight

2.5 Stars

This book started out really well, melding together Helene who thinks her husband has a mistress, Maggie the Private Detective who she hires to follow her husband and Alice Helene's step-daughter.  Information about the 3 main characters is dealt out piece meal and in the format that we have now become so familiar with - start at the end with the cataclysmic result and then jump back in time for the first chapter proper.  We all know how that works and this book follows that tried and tested route.  The main difference being we get to see the tale from 3 different points of view, so the same scene will be described 3 ways.  I presume this is in an attempt to obfuscate proceedings, it doesn't do that but initially it makes for very entertaining reading.

The characters are strongly written and they do each have an individual voice on the page.  None of them are particularly likeable and are somewhat cliched - slightly neurotic second wife, stroppy teenage girl and psychologically damaged private detective.  That I can forgive as they have enough about them to appear as human on the page and the mere fact that the one author can create such distinct voices has to be applauded (makes me feel a little bit guilty for giving this such a low rating).

Unfortunately after about halfway through the book I found my attention being to wane and I stopped caring about what was going on.  In fact, I had actually figured out who Gabe's paramour was and when he fell to his death from Connaught Tower I lost all interest in the story.  It then became more of a skim than a read to get to the end.  What started off as quite a taut thriller that had multiple options and threads became, for this reader, rather farcical.  The final denouement in the Blue and White office was really the icing on the cake as far as stretching credulity went.

This is a real shame as this book had all the hallmarks of being truly great but all sent of realism and subsequent tension dissipated steadily through the story until it became almost unfinishable. 

THIS IS AN HONEST AND UNBIASED REVIEW OF A FREE COPY OF THE BOOK RECEIVED VIA THE PIGEONHOLE.