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E.G. Michaels

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Before The Clock Strikes: (A Kyle Simmons Thriller - Book 1) Kindle Edition

by E.G. Michaels (Author) Format: Kindle Edition

3.7 4,393 ratings

Book 1 of 6: A Kyle Simmons Thriller

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Two Random Murders, Somehow Connected...

An innocent teenage sleepover turns tragic as a hail of bullets rip through a sleepy neighborhood.

Philadelphia Homicide Detective Kyle Simmons is assigned one task: Catch the killer before someone else decides to take matters into their own hands.

He's barely begun to investigate when another body is found with nothing but Simmons' business card on it. This evidence is crystal clear: Simmons' contact was the victim of a cold and calculated hit .

As Simmons starts to work both cases, a disturbing thought keeps popping up in his head: What if the two cases are somehow connected?

In a matter of hours, Simmons finds himself in a desperate race to solve both murders before the carnage continues.

E.G. Michaels delivers a debut action-packed thriller with white-knuckle twists and unexpected humor that will leave you wanting even more.

It’s like "24" meets "Prey" with a healthy dash of "House, M.D." style humor blended in.

*** This is a 36K length novella. It precedes "The Countdown". ***

Kyle Simmons Thriller Books
Book 1: “Before The Clock Strikes”
Book 2: “The Countdown”
Book 3: “On The Clock”
Book 4: "Time's Up"
Book 5: "Every Minute Counts"
Book 6: "On Borrowed Time"

Cole Hutchinson Thriller Book
Gone Too Far

KINDLE WORLDS
Extinction Cycle: Operation Freedom (Kindle Worlds Novella)

Editorial Reviews

Review

"... a good read, with believable characters and quickly moving action. I can't wait to start reading the next in the series."-Pat Bernasconi

"...starts off with a bang, literally, and closes with just the right mix of action and tension as it builds to its conclusion. This book was a quick read, an action-oriented thriller that was a welcome distraction from my usual reading fare, and I recommend it to anyone who is looking for the same." - Tracey5200

"Well worth taking the time to read.... As a thriller this novella comes out well and I look forward to more adventures for Kyle Simmons." -J.R. Webber

"...Great detective story. It was fast paced. I couldn't put it down. I wanted to see what would happen next. I would recommend this book to all my friends and family." - Jodie Boyer

"While this is the first book of the series, it was the third one I read. Like the others, it is a fast-paced, stand-alone "mile-a-minute" police thriller. The characters are well drawn, the plot has an interesting twist and the action is non-stop. This is definitely an author worth following. I highly recommend this series. I especially enjoy the fact that each plot carries a surprise as I hate predictable books where I can guess what is going to happen. Yes, in the end the bad guys get their just desserts, but what happens along the way is what makes these books so good." - Keeler

About the Author

E.G. Michaels is a full-time marketing professional (but don't hold that against him). He was content to write marketingall day long. At least until Detective Kyle Simmons showed up in hisoffice one day and would not shut up or leave until E.G. started writing down everything Kyle had to say.

When he's not busy writing down Kyle's latest crime-solving adventures, E.G. can frequently be found drinking coffee, playing video games, and other stuff that 40-somethingyear old married guys think is probably still considered cool. Herarely thinks about tackling the never-ending to do list that his lovely wife has created for him even though he probably should.

E.G.lives in the Philadelphia suburbs with three dogs, two kids, and a wifewhere he frequently has to solve the mystery of who ate the last cookie.

To be contacted when E.G. releases a new title, please sign up for his"Most Valued Readers" list at his website.

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B00NTN7M4C
Publisher ‏ : ‎ E.G. Michaels Books (September 22, 2014)
Publication date ‏ : ‎ September 22, 2014
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 2265 KB
Simultaneous device usage ‏ : ‎ Unlimited
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
Print length ‏ : ‎ 149 pages

Best Sellers Rank: #1,579,886 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #1,885 in Pulp Thrillers
- #14,067 in Police Procedurals (Kindle Store)
- #19,420 in Crime Thrillers (Kindle Store)

Customer Reviews:
3.7 4,393 ratings

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E.G. Michaels

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E.G. Michaels is a full-time marketing professional and indie author. When he’s not busy writing something, E.G. can frequently be found drinking coffee, playing video games, and other stuff that 50-something year old married guys think is probably still considered cool.

He rarely thinks about tackling the never-ending to do list that his lovely wife has created for him even though he probably should. E.G. lives in the Philadelphia suburbs with three dogs, two kids, a cat, and a wife where he frequently has to solve the mystery of who ate the last cookie.

To be contacted when E.G. releases a new title, please sign up for his "Most Valued Readers" list at http://www.egmichaels.com (just copy and paste the URL into your browser).

Customer reviews

3.7 out of 5

4,393 global ratings

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William B

A good first book to a series...quick read.

Reviewed in the United States on March 7, 2018

Verified Purchase

“Before the Clock Strikes (A Kyle Simmons Thriller, Book 1)” by E.G. Michaels is the first book of a 6 book series. I was hesitant at first to begin this read as I wasn’t sure I wanted to commit to a series this size. I was glad however when at the end of this book there was closure. I think, and I’m only speculating from reading a short blurb from the next book that this is not a continuing story type series, but it is a series that deals with the same main character and location. It’s more like a new day and a new case for Detective Simmons type series. So I think this is really a standalone novella. It was a quick, fast paced read. Relevant and well written suspense/thriller. I don’t think however that it is gritty enough to considered “pulp fiction”. It was a good read and I can see myself moving on to the next book sometime in the near future. As a debut it was well worth the read.

E.G. Michaels is the author of numerous crime novels and resides in the community he writes about, which I think gives the story some authenticity.

From the back cover: Two Random Murders, Somehow Connected...

An innocent teenage sleepover turns tragic as a hail of bullets rip through a sleepy neighborhood.

Philadelphia Homicide Detective Kyle Simmons is assigned one task: Catch the killer before someone else decides to take matters into their own hands.

He's barely begun to investigate when another body is found with nothing but Simmons' business card on it. This evidence is crystal clear: Simmons' contact was the victim of a cold and calculated hit .

As Simmons starts to work both cases, a disturbing thought keeps popping up in his head: What if the two cases are somehow connected?

In a matter of hours, Simmons finds himself in a desperate race to solve both murders before the carnage continues.

Helpful

cr0ak

4 Stars - due to a number of errors in the book - UPDATE: NOW 5 STARS

Reviewed in the United States on August 9, 2015

Verified Purchase

UPDATE:

Mr. Michaels has corrected most of the errors that were in the version that I had purchased. I'm thrilled and delighted to see so many of them GONE. (Is that really grammatically correct? How can I SEE something GONE? LOL) Whatever.

I've changed my rating to a 5 because I truly think this book deserves that high a rating, and I'm looking forward to reading more of Mr. Michaels' books in the very near future! (As soon as I get my fall/winter veggie garden planted! LOL)
*************************************************************************
Original review follows:

I finished reading this book just a little while ago. I can honestly say that I did enjoy it. Probably not as much as I would have had there been fewer grammatical/punctuation errors in it.

There are missing words such as in this case: "Simmons looked the manager's nametag." (And, btw, it should be name tag.)
Then there are added words such as in this case: "Wants to everyone to think he's a big man."
And this: "That you lit up his crib up."

I know that in the two latter examples, these are characters speaking, but I just highly doubt they'd make those kinds of grammatical mistakes.

There are a lot of instances where words are missing spaces between them: notrouble; hepointed; lyingon, etc. And then there are the instances where after a full stop (period), there's no space between it and the beginning of the next sentence. (e.g. "JD.H e's always on this corner dealing at night." No... I didn't type that wrong. That's the way it is in the book. In fact, at that same location, there are six other errors.)

It makes me wonder if someone actually proof-read this book. If so, Mr. Michaels should fire that person (or ask for a refund of his money!) I don't expect a book to be perfect. What I do expect is that the book has so few errors they don't distract from the story. Unfortunately, there are way too many errors in this book to give it a higher rating than 4 stars. (If Amazon allowed us to give half-stars, I'd have rated this a 4.5.)

As for the story itself, I found it to be entertaining. Not too much gore, a few vulgar words (but not so much that I was totally offended), some tension/suspense that made me want to keep reading it.

I'm hoping that Mr. Michaels' other books aren't as poorly proof-read as this one, because I would really like to add him to my "Favorite Authors" list.

8 people found this helpful

Helpful

Biggle Bop

Good and Entertaining, But Lots of Proofreading Errors

Reviewed in the United States on February 13, 2015

Verified Purchase

I probably would have given this book a higher rating if there hadn't been so many blatant grammatical errors, irritating typos, and sloppy proofreading issues to contend with. I'm not overly nit-picky, nor am I a hard core perfectionist; it's just that I prefer writing that flows across the page without interruptions due to the aforementioned peeves. The story itself was good, down to earth and even humorous in some instances. The characters are some what rough around the edges, but all in all, the book was fun and entertaining.

45 people found this helpful

Helpful

cree

Good, quick read. Updated editing is a huge improvement!

Reviewed in the United States on August 6, 2016

Verified Purchase

This is book 1 in a developing series revolving around the main character, Detective Kyle Simmons. He's a detective, he's a bit of a jerk, he's a poorly dressed divorcee, but he's good at his job.

I really enjoyed the pace of this book. Often this genre seems to drag for no reason. Like authors think they need a book to be a certain length, so they add unnecessary stuff. I didn't feel that way at all in Before the Clock Strikes. Everything moved along quickly throughout the entire book. I read the entire thing in about 90 minutes.

I had the updated edited version of this book, and I didn't really notice any typos or grammatical errors (which drive me INSANE with all these digital books). So kudos to the second edit version.

This is an entertaining, quick read. Kyle is a good character and could continue to be developed in subsequent books.

One person found this helpful

Helpful

Top reviews from other countries

Jean Williams

BEFORE THE CLOCK STRIKES

Reviewed in Spain on March 22, 2017

Verified Purchase

quite a gripping story. Simmons and Russo have a couple of killings to deal with. Russo has to go on compassionate leave . Simmonds gets a rookie partner who is shot during a shake down. Simmons get his old partner back and they start to track the two adolescent gun toting killers. Fast action thriller.

JC Richard

Good story! enjoyed!

Reviewed in Canada on July 28, 2015

Verified Purchase

Enjoyed it. As a former cop, I could relate in a lot of ways with Det. Simmons and his ''not always by the book'' method. The interaction with the new rookie had some good humor and will hopefully continue in future story. Will look forward to more stories from EG Michaels!

Chuck

Ok

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 6, 2016

Verified Purchase

Good read, few typos. Good pace with some humour and interesting characters. It did sometimes jump from scene to scene on the same page. All in all, definitely worth a look.

Tuhina Agarwal

Four Stars

Reviewed in India on August 27, 2015

Verified Purchase

Nice one..

audrey

A good little read

Reviewed in Australia on June 25, 2015

Verified Purchase

A good little read. Starts out with a bang but then plods along. Will probably read more from this author

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Before The Clock Strikes: (A Kyle Simmons Thriller - Book 1) Kindle Edition

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