A single chance event and the two women it unintentionally brings together. In Before She Finds Me by Heather Chavez we see how exactly Ren and Julia are brought together. Julia is with her daughter, Cora, registering her for college and dropping her off at the dorms when the shooting starts. Due to past experience Julia quickly protects Cora to the best of her ability. Shortly after the shooting Ren discovers that her husband, and father to her unborn child, Nolan is behind the shooting. Each woman, being desperate to protect their child and family, tries to discover what exactly led to the shooting and what was the intended purpose behind it. Ren delves into the seedy underworld of hired assassins, something she herself is part of, as she tries to find out why her husband might have broken the only standard they had, only kill the truly guilty. Julia starts investigating as she believes her daughter might have been the target of the shooting and not an innocent bystander. Each one finds themselves confronting their own past and truths about themselves and their families that they probably would rather not have to face.
This book did an incredible job of keeping the reader on the edge of their seat as they waited to find out what would happen next in the increasingly interconnected lives of these two women. These two women seem to come from radically different spheres of life and yet ultimately they are motivated by the exact same thing, protecting their child and ultimately their family. What was interesting is how this shared motivation allows for the reader to sympathize with both women even though one of them is the type of person that would not typically engender sympathy due to her profession as an assassin. Ren is the stereotypical female assassin who enjoys using poison and relies almost entirely on being stealthy and unnoticed. However, due to her morals and standards, along with her fierce desire to protect her family, we end up sympathizing with her over the course of the book as she deals with the concept that not everything is as it seems and people you thought you could trust might not be trustworthy. Is she a nice person? Probably not and yet she still ends up able to garner the reader’s sympathy. I have to admit that this is rather incredibly well done as the story tugs on just the right strings to make the readers able to see Ren’s point of view. At the same time and in contrast we see Julia, a woman who is hiding secrets from just about everyone, including frequently herself it seems like, but still a woman who is able to gain sympathy as she is also ultimately a woman trying to protect her child. Something that many readers will be able to agree with. This dichotomy between the two narrators creates this incredible tension over the course of the book, a tension that only heightens as their stories gradually grow more and more intertwined as they investigate the events of the shooting. While ultimately this book deals with a lot of rather difficult topics it seems to handle all of them rather well and with a deft hand. Overall, a great read and a book that I would give four out of five stars.
This is definitely one of the better stand-alone thrillers that I have read. If you happen to enjoy that genre than I would recommend you consider trying this one as it was superb. I will state in warning that it does contain some violence and deals with other potentially mature themes related to the violence, such as hired assassins, betrayal and loss. If you don’t necessarily like thrillers or struggle with books containing a lot of violence then this book may not be for you. In terms of age range this book is primarily aimed at adults, probably due to the violence and other mature themes. This is something that I would agree with as I am not sure how well younger readers would handle some of the subjects and themes present in the book. I really don’t think anybody younger than their late teens should consider reading this book. All of that being said it is still a pretty good book and as long as you keep these things in mind I would suggest you consider trying it out. As always feel free to share your thoughts about this book or any similar books in the comments.