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    Before He Finds Her
    Before He Finds Her
    Before He Finds Her
    Audiobook10 hours

    Before He Finds Her

    Written by Michael Kardos

    Narrated by Julia Whelan

    3.5/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    Everyone in the quiet Jersey Shore town of Silver Bay knows the story: on a Sunday evening in September 1991, Ramsey  Miller threw a blowout block party, then murdered his beautiful wife and three-year old daughter.

    But everyone is wrong, the daughter got away. Now she is nearly eighteen and tired of living in secrecy. Under the name Melanie Denison, she has spent the last fifteen years in small-town West Virginia as part of the Witness Protection Program. She has never been allowed to travel, go to a school dance, or even have internet at home. Precautions must be taken at every turn, because Ramsey Miller was never caught and might still be looking for his daughter. Yet despite strict house rules, Melanie has entered into a relationship with a young teacher at the local high school and is now ten weeks pregnant. She doesn't want her child to live in hiding as she has had to. Defying her guardians and taking matters into her own hands, Melanie returns to Silver Bay in hopes of doing what the authorities failed to do: find her father before he finds her. Weaving in Ramsey's story in the three days leading up to the brutal crime, Before He Finds Her is a stirring novel about love and faith and fear-and how the most important things can become terribly distorted when we cling to them fiercely. 
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHighbridge Company
    Release dateFeb 3, 2015
    ISBN9781622315932
    Before He Finds Her
    Author

    Michael Kardos

    Michael Kardos is the Pushcart Prize-winning author of the novel The Three-Day Affair and the story collection One Last Good Time. Originally from the Jersey Shore, he currently lives in Starkville, Mississippi, where he teaches creative writing.

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    Reviews for Before He Finds Her

    3.5/5

    59 ratings10 reviews

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    • 3/5
      It was just okay. It had a few gotchas nut nothing jaw dropping.
    • 3/5
      In 1991, Ramsey Miller holds a huge block party for his neighborhood. Then, the story goes, he drunkenly and angrily murdered his wife and young daughter.

      However, that's not exactly the case: his daughter got away, via the Witness Protection Program, and is living in a small town in West Virginia. Renamed Melanie, she lives with her father's close friend and his wife; it's a cautious life, as her father was never found. However, as she nears 18, Melanie is tired of this life of secrets and hiding. Finding herself pregnant, she decides she doesn't want this life for her own child, so she heads back to her hometown to find her father herself.

      The book weaves in Melanie's current life and discoveries with narrative of Ramsey's life leading up to the days of the block party, allowing us to figure out what happened along with Melanie.

      This novel started out really well, and for a while, I was thinking it was going to be one of my favorites read so far this year. However, it soon petered out a bit, and the more I thought about it, I liked it less. There are just some odd plot holes that doesn't really make sense and leave you wondering. Further, even accounting for her upbringing, Melanie as a main character is so "blah" and doesn't stand up for herself, thereby making it very hard to root for her. I really found myself pulling for Ramsey at many points. Lots of potential, but doesn't really follow through.
    • 4/5
      Before He Finds Her by Michael Kardos is a somewhat poignant but very intriguing mystery. This engrossing whodunit is full of interesting and unexpected plot twists that are sure to delight fans of crime fiction.

      For most of her life, Melanie Dennison has been living off the grid with her aunt and uncle in West Virginia. Mostly homeschooled, with very few friends and little social life, Melanie has been slowly spreading her wings since she started taking classes at the local community college. She also has a part time job and a secret boyfriend as well. Now pregnant and tired of living in fear of being found by her father, Ramsey Miller, Melanie returns to her home town of Silver Bay. Hoping to discover the whereabouts of her father, who disappeared after killing her mother, Allison, fifteen years earlier, Melanie's amateur sleuthing leads to a surprising break in the case. But learning the truth about the events of that long ago night might not provide Melanie with all of the answers she is searching for.

      Melanie is a gutsy young woman who finds herself completely out of her depth when she travels to Silver Bay. She is fairly fearless during her investigation and while she sometimes acts before she thinks, she does use a little common sense during risky situations. Melanie is incapable of subterfuge so it is fairly easy for her interviewees to see through her ploys to find answers for her questions. Most of the time, she is fairly clueless about what she doing but she perseveres despite her setbacks. But Melanie also knows when she needs help and she is willing to ask for it.

      The days leading up to Allison's death are revealed through flashbacks. These glimpses of the past are mostly from Ramsey's perspective, and this provides readers with important background information about his dysfunctional childhood. His past is not sugarcoated and this helps readers see how much he changed after his marriage. Ramsey is a surprisingly sympathetic character and it is quite touching learning how much he loved Allison and his daughter and what shaped his decisions in the intervening days before the murder.

      Before He Finds Her is an well-written novel with an interesting and unique storyline. Michael Kardos does an excellent job weaving past and present into a compelling and fast paced mystery. The final plot twist is quite shocking and completely unexpected. Although the characters are left with a few lingering questions, all of those loose ends are completely wrapped up for readers. All in all, Before He Finds Her is a satisfying read that mystery lovers will enjoy.
    • 3/5
      Meg Miller has been living her life in hiding. Fifteen years before, Ramsey Miller, her father, threw a block party for his neighborhood, and then murdered his wife. Meg, his daughter, was believed killed as well, but her aunt and uncle have had her hidden away in a small town.But Meg is pregnant now, and doesn't want her child living her life in hiding as well.. So she sets out to do what no one else has been able to do--find her father, so she can come out of the shadows. This book was not as creepy as I had expected when I chose it for the Halloween Read-A-Thon, but it was definitely suspenseful. The way Kardos weaves in flashbacks really builds up the tension, and the ending has a really surprising twist as well.
    • 4/5
      My 1st Michael Kardos book. Listened on Audible Audio. Story starts with a teenager whose in the witness protection program as 15 years prior her father murdered her mother and tried to kill her too. Everyone thinks she is dead, however she is in hiding - except she is pregnant and sick of hiding and doesn't want her child to grow up afraid and hiding too, so she takes off to New Jersey, her home town where it all occurred, trying to find answers and hoping to find her father, before he finds her. Great mystery, easy listen, I didn't see the ending at all and was surprised which is always a good thing with mystery books! A definite recommendation for mystery lovers.  
    • 5/5
      An engrossing read, Kardos’s second novel captivates both as a thriller and as a character study that asks deep questions about love, family, truth, and the will to change. As anyone who has read The Three-Day Affair might expect, Kardos weaves a complex and excellently crafted narrative that alternates between the the days leading up to the murder of Allie Miller, of which her husband Ramsay is accused and the present where Ramsay is believed to be in hiding and still a threat to his 17-year-old daughter, Meg, even as she goes looking for the truth. Both narratives are full of suspense and revelations that alter our understanding of the crime and the characters involved. Kardos keeps us guessing throughout, and the payoff is satisfying both in terms of what we learn of the crime and what we may learn about ourselves, reflected in the story’s mirror. It is a book you won’t want to put down, even after you’ve read the final page.
    • 4/5
      Melanie Denison has grown up in Fredonia WV. Her loving aunt and uncle have raised her since her mother was killed when Melanie was only three years old. No one knows the whereabouts of Melanie’s father after he threw a block party and then killed his wife and supposedly Melanie. Melanie and her aunt and uncle are part of the Witness Protection Program. Melanie’s real name is Meg Miller. It is believed that her father killed her mother and Meg. The mother’s body was found in a fire pile but Meg’s body was never found. Everyone believes her father Ramsey also killed Meg and threw her body into the lake.Melanie can’t have a normal life. She can’t go to proms, can’t be on the Internet, can’t do anything that might bring attention to her or result in her photo going public.But now Melanie is pregnant and determined that her child will not grow up like she did. So she returns to the town of Silver Bay where she grew up. Now everything that Melanie has believed about her life is questioned.I enjoyed the twists that came in the story and was surprised a couple of times. This was an easy to read thriller that kept me guessing.
    • 4/5
      A nicely written novel about a now teenage girl who is raised in a secret location as part of a witness protection program, protecting her from a father she never knew, who killed her mother when she was a child of 3, and then disappeared. Some very nice writing, but not so much a mystery as at least parts of the mystery seem obvious. Will her father find her? Will she undercover the truth? What did happen that night that her life changed forever? Good storytelling, but I wanted it to go a few steps deeper.
    • 4/5
      Ramsey Miller is a very interesting and flawed character. He had a less than ideal childhood and was often in trouble with the law. All that changed when he met a new friend, Eric, a man trying to stay off alcohol and a man who has a seep faith in the lord. It changed too when he met his wife and they had a child. Or did he change? As I wasreading this it seemed very possible that he had murdered his wife and daughter. He had a terrible temper that he tried hard to control and after meeting a fellow trucker, he really believed from the book the trucker gave him, that the planets were going to align for the first time. This would cause the end of the world. He had also been told something of a personal revelation, one that caused him both deep pain and anger.A very solid story, with constant revelations that keep the story moving. Good characters that often surprise with their actions, and a wonderful newsman, now retired but still haunted by this story, one that never really had a resolution since the police has never managed to lay their hands on Ramsay. Where did he go? What actually happened that night? Read it and find out.ARC from NetGalley.
    • 4/5
      Before He Finds Her – Compelling Crime ThrillerAward winning author Michael Kardos new crime thriller Before He Finds Her is one of the most compelling and moving crime thrillers of the year. There are plenty of twists and turns with plenty of innovation where the prose is clear and crisp a tale of redemption and a life time of fear. Once you start reading you will be addicted to the story and will put everything else on hold until you have finished.September 1991 on a Sunday night Ramsey Miller and his wife throw a block party for all his neighbours in Silver Bay, New Jersey. Events that night would reverberate for many years after and to some would become the dark history that an old school journalist will never forget even on his death bed.That Sunday night Ramsey Miller killed his wife Allie and his daughter Meg and disappeared from Silver Bay to become a fugitive whereabouts unknown. What nobody knows is that Meg did not die that night but was whisked away in to protective custody and cared for by her Uncle Wayne in the depths of West Virginia always looking over their shoulders.Meg is now known as Melanie, for most of her life she has been homeschooled and as she is seventeen almost eighteen and starting to want to know more about her life before being in protection. She is following the blog of a journalist who is now retired who every year writes about the Silver Bay murders and the prime suspect Ramsey Miller. Melanie also now finds herself pregnant and afraid she wants to find out about her father so that he is not a threat to her or her unborn child. Melanie is sick of hiding and wants to live without being prepared to run and know the truth, sometimes you have to be careful what you wish for.She takes herself to Silver Bay to discover the truth about her mother and father what she learns will shake her to the core. With many surprising twists and turns she discovers the life she once had and the people that once loved her before that fateful September evening. As she confronts the past can she really deliver a better future for her child?This is a clever thriller with plenty of surprise spread across three parts and the views of Melanie, her mother and her father. We can see the parental relationship falling to pieces and we can see if from both points of view and it is this that Melanie will slowly become aware of. Michael Kardos leaves enough surprises in the book that you learn something new in every chapter and as the conclusion gets closer you able to say I did not see that coming with the various events.This is an excellent and compelling thriller that you will enjoy from beginning to end, a pleasure to read and always hoping for the best for Melanie whatever happens. Will she ever find her father, will he ever come out of hiding, and you will have to read to find out.