Before He Kills (A Mackenzie White Mystery - Book 1) - Book Review

Author: Blake Pierce

Rating: 4 / 5 Stars

Review: Amidst the cornfields, in the nowhere lands of Nebraska, there is a woman mercilessly assassinated and strung up on a pole, almost naked, with bruises on her body. This case is investigated by Detective Mackenzie White, a 25-year-old woman, who is not only talented, but swift, and with extraordinary zeal and smartness. She is looked down upon and not taken seriously by her co-workers as well as her immediate bosses. She is struggling to keep herself together in her male chauvinist work world, the brutal murders happening around her at an entirely startling rate. The inclusion of an FBI Agent for the manhunt helps her make progress in the case which she, if alone, would have found it very difficult, thanks to the little assistance from her colleagues. In the quest of finding the killer, Mackenzie realizes that the case is opening up the dark parts of her own personal life that she had shoved deep in her heart; failed bonds with her family after the sudden death of her father, her unhappy live-in relationship with her long time boyfriend, all of which was taking a toll on her. Keeping aside all of her personal problems, Mackenzie with her inquisitiveness tries to put all the pieces together. Will she be able to save more women from being killed, will be very interesting to find out. Will Mackenzie in the future survive with all her personal as well as professional issues, or will they get the better of her in finding the serial killer?

I, unknowingly, got introduced to this book one day when scrolling through GOOGLEPLAYBOOKS. It's my first audiobook and gosh I loved it; I was always very hesitant to try audiobooks; I felt that I would never get that feeling or image one gets when actually reading a book, and I was totally wrong about it. The audiobook gives you as much insight as to reading a book, plus the tonal usage gives an entirely different experience. For those who haven't yet given audiobooks a shot, please go do it, like right now!

This is my first book from Blake Pierce; it is a typical crime thriller, but how the story unfolds is incredible. As the story progresses, you think you can predict the next course of action, but that's when the author takes you by surprise with phenomenal characters and twisted plots. The book cover is eye-catchy, making you get the book to read instantly, especially for those who judge a book by its cover.

The book is addictive, brilliant, and character-driven, and a fast-read. I would recommend this book to all the psycho-thriller and crime thriller genre enthusiasts. Like me, they wouldn't wait to take up the next book in the series. The audiobook takes roughly 7 hours to complete, so I suppose reading the book should take a day at the max.