Before & Gone

by J.M. Pierce

The future, no matter how dark, is still unwritten. Most eighteen year olds would run if they found out their girlfriend was pregnant, but Shiloh Winter embraces the news and prepares for life as a parent. Then his normal life takes a sharp turn. A work related road trip, a vividly frightening dream, and a visit to the emergency room culminate in the end of life as the human race knows it. Unknowingly becoming a vessel of death, Shiloh is soon to find out that everything that was before, in a fraction of time, is gone.

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction

224 pages, Paperback

First published October 12, 2011

About the author

J.M. Pierce is a simple midwestern man with a creative side who has found writing as his primary outlet. He lives happily with his wife and two children in rural Kansas and finds happiness in a good cup of coffee, a Kansas sunrise, a good book, the sound of his daughter singing, his son's laughter, and his wife's eyes. Everything else is gravy.

Reviews

[April · Rating 3 out of 5]

The life of a young man fresh out of high school is tough, especially when he is faced with being the father of a Down’s syndrome girl. Shiloh Winter finds himself juggling the responsibilities of working and trying to care for a family. But one day, in a flash, all that is stolen from him.
It’s interesting to see something different from the zombiepocalypse stories out there. This one is about alien abduction. It’s a quick, fun read, but it didn’t really grab me as much as I was hoping it would.

I can’t compare this novel to any of Pierce’s earlier works, not having read them, but my biggest problem with the story was that I didn’t like the main character. He’s one of those “nice guys finish last” kind of people. He was believable as a man, which speaks to Pierce’s abilities, but I found it hard to root for him until the shit really hit the fan later in the story. He seemed whiny and immature, and it didn’t surprise me as a reader that his girlfriend cheated on him: I think that fact would have been obvious to anyone who has ever been broken up with.

Still, what Pierce was able to do with a relatively unlikeable character was pretty impressive. The build- up to the plot is a little slow, but towards the end I was looking forward to seeing what happened next. There are some sad moments that really will pull on your emotions. Whether the next books are good or not will depend on how the author deals with the issues of how, what, and who the aliens are. What are their motives? That will be interesting to see.

Overall, I recommend this book for anyone into conspiracy theories or alien abductions. I received this book from the goodreads first reads program, and J. M. Pierce was kind enough to send me another copy after the first was lost in transit. A huge thanks to him for a second opportunity to read his novel.

[Harim · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting set up but took too long to do.

[mj Hangge · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another great book by JM. Couldn't set it down, but that's nothing new from this not-so-new writer. I only hope that JM gets to writing more books because I only have one more to read.

[E]

Had to stop reading. The Kindle formatting was off and pages were missing.

[Cheri · Rating 1 out of 5]

This story just lacked the "catch" or "pull" that made you care about the characters. Unfortunately, characters were added too late to be useful to a fully developed plot. Not one I could recommend.