Before I Left is quite an atmospheric story. It's the 1960s and the party scene in Brighton is in full swing. The era comes through quite strongly with a real sense of the carefree times that young people were experiencing, possibly for the first time. We meet Ruby Baker and her best friend, Mary Evans. They're new to Brighton after running away from home in Croydon and a life of domestic violence.

Ruby and Mary instantly fit in with a group of existing friends and find themselves with jobs and a place to live almost instantaneously which is ever so slightly implausible. But even if this is a little hard to believe, I think one of the strongest elements in this book is the friendships. Not just Ruby and Mary, who are incredibly close, but also the other members of their group. I particularly liked Johnnie, the hairdresser, who I thought was a really interesting character and sort of a fairy godfather to the girls. All the friends looked out for each other which I thought was a lovely aspect to the story.

There are two strands running through the story. One is that a mysterious man is watching Ruby. What does he know about her reasons for running away from home? The other strand is a series of what appear to be sacrificial murders. I must admit that whilst one is wound up quite well, I wasn't entirely sure what the point of the other strand was. Apparently this is the first in a series featuring Ruby so perhaps it's explained in the second book.

Before I Left is an easy book to read with some very engaging characters and a storyline that is fairly unique and not quite what I was expecting. ( )