Before I Met Him is a dark psychological thriller that will stick with readers long after they put the story down.

Rebecca Smith lived though hell and decided as an adult she would make sure no child would live though the same hell.

Rebecca takes the law into her own hands and hunts the men prey on children. The story gets very dark as she tortures, kills and dismembers the bodies of those who would pray on little children.



While Di Gravel searches for clues he has to ask himself as do readers Is Vigilante Justice ever justified?

Before I Met Him will have readers horrified at what can happen to children and how justices something is just and people are able to slip though the cracks. This story is very dark and won't be for everyone.



The system isn't perfect which will have reader questioning everything they know.



Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher Bloodhound Books for the advance copy of John Nicholl Before I Met Him

Just loved this book, gory, easy reading, gripping and an exciting page turner. Johns's books will appeal to everyone who enjoys psychiatric thrillers.

I cannot fault the skill of this author and I can thoroughly recommend.

An excellent ending and I hope we read more from Grav in the future.

Good foundation story. Strong characters. Not. Many twists in this thriller but lots of gore. Kinda sympathise with the killer.!

You have got to hand it to John he has an amazing mind, a little sick, but amazing, but then again, I read what he writes to that might put me into the same category. This is his best book, they just keep getting better and better, 5 stars for this one.

In a way you can totally understand the woman in the book, Rebecca, after all she went though in her childhood, but that doesn’t justify what she does as an adult. The details written of what she does are quite gruesome.

We welcome back DI Gareth Gavel (Grav) who returns early from a holiday (who on earth does that!!!!!) to solve the case.

This might not be a book for those with a weak stomach, even more so listening to the audio version with Jake Urry as the narrator, he really make certain scenes come alive and they are really scary.

Wow a serial killer story with a twist, you know the killer from the beginning. 6 year old Rebecca was abused as a child, the CPS decided not to prosecute as they felt they didn’t have enough to convict leaving Rebecca and her parents reeling from the injustice. Roll on 17 years and Rebecca is supervisor in the IT Dept in the Police Department. She has never been able to let go of what happened to her, its eating away at her, her relationship with her parents has disintegrated, did they fail in protecting her?

Rebecca poses as a child in different chat rooms to lure the depraved pedophiles' to her door to serve up justice, HER STYLE, word to the wise, make sure and don’t eat whilst reading this, it is very descriptive in the torture department and is not for the faint hearted.

Meanwhile body parts are washed up on the beach and so ensues a murder investigation, with only Junior DS Laura Kesey to head the enquiry, DI Grav is recalled from forced vacation. Grav is not doing so well since the death of his DS and friend Clive Rankin under a cloud, the coroner recorded death by suicide but Grav just cannot accept it, suffering from PTSD from that and his last case and the death of his wife to cancer some years previous.

This book reels you in from page 1, you literally cannot put it down, I felt myself rooting for Rebecca, can two wrongs make a right? But surely what she is doing is saving future victims of abuse, that can only be a good thing right?

A gritty suspense thriller, I love the DI Gravel series, Nicholls leaves you wanting more, so when’s the next instalment due?

Many thanks to John Nicholl, Bloodhound Books and Netgalley for an advanced copy in exchange for my honest opinion.

Before I Met Him by John Nicholl was nothing less than I’ve come to expect from Mr. Nicholl…. an incredibly dark and gritty thriller! Before I Met Him (or really any Nicholl book) is seriously not for the faint of heart or those with a weak stomach!! There are scenes that are conspicuously cringe-worthy… just… very disturbing… yet I was instantly drawn in and could not look away! Nicholl can write a fantastic suspense/thriller.

This book makes you consider the old age question can two wrongs cancel out a wrong and so make it all right? Is it really an eye for an eye? Mr. Nicholl opens your mind to these questions. Is it acceptable to take the law in your own hands when it fails you? When the rules and laws of our country fail us, can we exact revenge? Most people won’t agree with going out and taking care of your unjust. We get to see this type of dilemma through the eyes of Rebecca.

Rebecca was sexually abused as a young child by a pedophile that escaped prosecution. Now as a grown woman, Rebecca is seeking her own type of justice against these sexually deviant men when the system failed her all those years ago. Really though, could you blame any victim if they were to consider an appropriate level of revenge after the law appeared to be working against them? The law is the law but how is condoning a sexual predator acceptable? It isn’t, Rebecca challenges the system in her own way.

We get to catch up again with DI Gareth Gravel, or Grav. The good detective is a bit over-worked these days. He seems to be suffering from burn out and from PTSD. He’s on a long overdue (read mandatory vacation ordered by his superiors). Gray is an angry alcoholic who is barely functioning through life. But, as a detective there is no better (who knew that could ever work)! So when body parts start washing up on the beach, he quickly forgoes his vacation and heads back to work. Grav’s character had so much depth! He was so crass! At times I wasn’t sure if I even actually liked him or not… but it worked for him (and I seriously enjoy him, even when I think he’s a jerk!)!

I totally found myself on the serial killers side… normally on rooting on the detective. I have to say, here, I found myself supporting Rebecca and cheering her on. The suspense was gripping and I couldn't tear myself away from Rebecca's plot for revenge. Just like in most of Nicholl’s other books, there are scenes of graphic torture that might not appeal to everyone.