Before he Kills (A Mackenzie White Mystery—Book 1)
Written by Blake Pierce
Narrated by Elaine Wise
4/5
()
About this audiobook
From #1 bestselling author Blake Pierce comes a heart-pounding new mystery series.
In the cornfields of Nebraska a woman is found murdered, strung up on a pole, the victim of a deranged killer. It doesn’t take long for the police to realize a serial killer is on the loose—and that his spree has just begun.
Detective Mackenzie White, young, tough, smarter than the aging, chauvinistic men on her local force, finds herself called in grudgingly to help solve it. As much as the other officers hate to admit it, they need her young, brilliant mind, which has already helped crack cold cases that had left them stumped. Yet even for Mackenzie this new case proves an impossible riddle, something the likes of which she—and the local force—have ever seen.
With the FBI called in, together, an intense manhunt ensues. Mackenzie, reeling from her own dark past, her failed relationships, and her undeniable attraction to the new FBI agent, finds herself battling her own demons as her hunt for the killer takes her to the darkest places of her mind. As she delves into the killer’s mind, obsessing over his twisted psychology, she finds that evil truly does exist. She only hopes it will not be too late to extricate herself from it, as her entire life collapses around her.
As more bodies turn up dead and a frantic race against time ensues, there is no way out but to find him before he kills again.
A dark psychological thriller with heart-pounding suspense, Before He Kills marks the debut of a riveting series—and a beloved new character—that will leave you listening late into the night.
Blake Pierce
Blake Pierce is author of the #1 bestselling RILEY PAGE mystery series, which include the mystery suspense thrillers ONCE GONE (book #1), ONCE TAKEN (book #2) and ONCE CRAVED (#3). An avid reader and lifelong fan of the mystery and thriller genres, Blake loves to hear from you, so please feel free to visit www.blakepierceauthor.com to learn more and stay in touch.
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Related to Before he Kills (A Mackenzie White Mystery—Book 1)
Titles in the series (28)
Before He Covets (A Mackenzie White Mystery—Book 3) Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Before he Kills (A Mackenzie White Mystery—Book 1) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Before he Kills (A Mackenzie White Mystery—Book 1) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Before he Kills (A Mackenzie White Mystery—Book 1) Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Before he Sees (A Mackenzie White Mystery—Book 2) Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Before He Covets (A Mackenzie White Mystery—Book 3) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Before He Takes (A Mackenzie White Mystery—Book 4) Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Before He Takes (A Mackenzie White Mystery—Book 4) Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Before he Kills (A Mackenzie White Mystery—Book 1) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Before He Takes (A Mackenzie White Mystery—Book 4) Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Before He Feels (A Mackenzie White Mystery—Book 6) Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Before He Covets (A Mackenzie White Mystery—Book 3) Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Before He Preys (A Mackenzie White Mystery–Book 9) Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Before He Needs (A Mackenzie White Mystery—Book 5) Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Before He Hunts (A Mackenzie White Mystery–Book 8) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Before He Lapses (A Mackenzie White Mystery—Book 11) Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Mackenzie White Mystery Bundle: Before He Needs (#5) and Before He Feels (#6) Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Before He Sins (A Mackenzie White Mystery—Book 7) Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Before He Envies (A Mackenzie White Mystery—Book 12) Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Before He Stalks (A Mackenzie White Mystery—Book 13) Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Before He Longs (A Mackenzie White Mystery—Book 10) Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Mackenzie White Mystery Bundle: Before He Feels (#6) and Before He Sins (#7) Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Before He Harms (A Mackenzie White Mystery—Book 14) Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Mackenzie White Mystery Bundle: Before he Sees (#2) and Before he Covets (#3) Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Mackenzie White Mystery Bundle: Before he Kills (#1) and Before he Sees (#2) Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Mackenzie White Mystery Bundle: Before he Takes (#4) and Before he Needs (#5) Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Mackenzie White Mystery Bundle: Before He Sins (#7) and Before He Hunts (#8) Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Mackenzie White Mystery Bundle: Before he Covets (#3) and Before he Takes (#4) Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
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Reviews for Before he Kills (A Mackenzie White Mystery—Book 1)
258 ratings18 reviews
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5This takes place in Nebraska and the narrator is heavily British. It was distracting from the story.
3 people found this helpful
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I’m giving this 4 stars because I enjoyed the story for the most part, even though the narrator was a very bad choice. That being said, she’s definitely not a bad narrator (aside from the couple of times she tended to shriek a bit in the narration of one side character), she’s just not the right narrator for this tale set in Nebraska. She is very British. VERY British. Her accent would be well suited for story set in the U.K., but not the U.S.
Regarding the story itself, overall I enjoyed it. I liked the main character for the most part, but her immaturity at times irritated me. It’s possible that she was written this way on purpose. She was young, and that may have been reflected in the grating parts of her character. She wanted to be taken seriously in her position as a detective among her older male colleagues. Not to be looked upon as a child or an object, yet she had no issues objectifying the male FBI agent. I found myself eye rolling frequently.
I continued to listen to the audiobook because I really did enjoy the story itself, despite those few issues.
Recommended for folks who enjoy police procedural mysteries.2 people found this helpful
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Too many conveniences to make the plot work, too much explanation, and an utter and complete lack of character or plot development. Also, the narrator was very good, but the British accent made it extremely difficult to lose myself in a story taking place in the American Midwest. One detective had a cockney accent that made him sound like he was straight out of Scotland Yard. Just wrong. This will be my first and last book in this series.
2 people found this helpful
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Great story. Strange hearing a Brittish accent reading a story about USA.
2 people found this helpful
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I would do 5 stars for the story and 3 for the narration. Avg of 4 stars. Just don’t understand the British voice for a novel that happens in America.
1 person found this helpful
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Not the most engaging serial killer mystery, because it seemed to be more about the female detective and her everyday life. You were never really fully within the killer’s mind, or held to attention by how he stalked victims, etc. I found the British accents to be annoying and distracting. Why? The story starts in a cornfield in the heartland. Why choose narration with almost a cockney accent? Skip this one, many better out there.
1 person found this helpful
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5I’ve only listened to 6 chapters and it already feels like another Riley Paige mystery. Both main characters seem to have the same personality; the only difference seems to be their ages.
I also don’t like the narrator’s accent; the stories are based in the US not England.1 person found this helpful
- Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5English accent in Nebraska was awful and took away from book.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Excellent, it kept me on the edge of my seat!
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5This was a good book. I liked how it ended.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Easy to listen to. Same story has been written a hundred times, but still entertaining!
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Couldn't make it through chapter 1 due to the fact it's set in Nebraska and the British narrator(good narrator; but not for Nebraska) just gave me a headache.
Don't they have cornfields in the UK?
The grammar alone was un-cornbelt and just annoyed me. - Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5This is one of the best series with a female detective that I have ever read! Blake Pierce is one of my favorite authors and has several different series out, all of which I love. This is a solid five star book. The main character, Mackenzie White, is absolutely real to me. She is working on her ability to get into the killer's mind, which helps her work on cases. But I like that she also has her times of self-doubt, makes mistakes, and breaks rules. In other words, she is a real person, not a superhero-type character. You'll find that the author creates some of the most amazing plots and each books makes the reader wonder how in the world the case can ever be solved.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Good story, decent character development. There were several times when a special echoing effect was added- pretty cheesy. I’d definitely remove that special effect.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5While somewhat entertaining, I felt like I was treated to 50 reasons why men are idiots. Seriously pretty negative for the first half of the book. However, in the end, the author seems to decide that we must live with men anyway, and that some of them are sort of okay. Meanwhile, while it's nice to have a strong female character, she ends up being a little too superhuman for reality, in my opinion. It wouldn't be so unbelievable, but the man-hate made me almost quit in the middle of the story. (Yes, in spite of the author being a man. )
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Another great book by Blake Pierce. I've read several series' and this seems to be one of the best.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The plot takes place in Nebraska and so it seems quite strange to use a British narrator.
Interesting plot but the characters seem a bit “unnatural “. - Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I found the detailing fascinating and author's explainations to all situations interesting!