Rating: 
Summary: Can't wait for the next one.......
Review: a little over 2 years ago a friend turned me on to E. George's series. Since then I have read all 11 and found this last one to be just as exciting as the first. I did enjoy the different twist to the writing in this book. In the past I have become bored with a writter because each book although a different story sounded too much like the last. Like a great musican E. George has managed to keep the stories fresh and yet familiar. Keep them coming.
Rating: 
Summary: 3-1/2 stars would be more nearly exact - It's a good try...
Review: I suspect Ms. George has been reading a lot of Rendell/Vine -- and to good effect. I was greatly disappointed in the two prior books and decided this one might be my last, but I'll stick with Ms. George, at least for the time being.I have the impression that George has started writing with TV/movies in mind -- hence the cyber-sex (which goes no place) and the lesbian lovers. There are any number of minor story lines which seem to have been badly edited -- they should have been more fully developed or dropped (Pitchley's family, for instance). Perhaps most of these started as red herrings, but they ended up as distracting detours. We all know how well the BBC does minor characters, and I suspect some of these folks were just stuck in for their character-actor potential. The book could have done with a REALLY good editor -- it shouldn't have been more than 500 pages and Gideon's journal (albeit very interesting) isn't in a consistent style (roaming back and forth between an informal-1st-person style and an omniscient author style). I found this disconcerting. I'm very bored with the Haver/Lynley/Helen/Simon/Deborah cast of 2-dimensional characters, so I was pleased that they're more in the background. As a "technique" they're fine, but they can't stand on their own. The story itself is fascinating and and most of the characters are interesting too. I found the ending inspired. I was grateful that George didn't tie everything up in a neat little package -- I took it as a compliment that she trusted me to make inferences and grasp implications.
Rating: 
Summary: Can't decide if it's a mess or a failed experiment
Review: Elizabeth George's new novel is a difficult, complex and exasperating read. She adopts the multiple narration point of view she used to great effect in Playing for the Ashes, and makes things more difficult for herself (and the reader) by making this book (initially, at least) a double murder mystery. Chronologically, the first murder takes place twenty years before the present; a young baby dies and the nanny goes to prison for the murder. The second murder is that of the baby's mother, Eugenia Davies, who is the victim of a hit-and-run driver - who takes the time to run over her several times to ensure that she is dead. Other elements in the mix would take the entire length of the review to enumerate fully, but they include a child prodigy violinist with mental problems, his stage-father parent, the recently-freed nanny and her lover, a violin teacher with secrets of his own, an American girl who drives for a delivery service, .... etc. It's a huge cast of characters, but wait! there's more! Not only do each of these characters have his or her own story line, but the central character (the prodigy) takes up about a third of the book with his conversations with his counselor, who is trying to find out why he has suddenly lost the ability to play the violin. Add into the mx the fact that the book jumps around chronologically (often without warning; I've never seen so many different levels of flashbacks), and even adds in some dream sequences, and the end result is easily the most complex mysteries, and one of the most complex books, I have ever read. I believe that Elizabeth George is experimenting here. I think that she really wanted to create something new, and not settle into a formula (which many of her fans including myself would be happy with). Like many ambitious artistic experiments, this fails and succeeds at the same time; I can't recommend it because I think it has a lot of flaws, but I admire much of it. ... So, in the end, I admire this book for the effort that went into it, and the guts it took to branch off into areas and styles different from the stock tea cozy. But I enjoyed it less than almost any Elizabeth George book, and was disappointed. I don't want her to be a formula writer, but one can branch into other styles without being rococo.
Rating:
Summary: Whatever happened?
Review: Not only was I was disappointed in Traitor to Memory, mainly because of the drawn-out dialogue between Gideon and Dr Rose, but I had been hoping that Havers' relationship with Azhar and his daughter Hadiyyah (In Pursuit of the Proper Sinner) would develop into something other than "neighbourly". In fact Havers and her boss, Lynley, took a back seat to a procession of awful characters. Saying all that, the book was still brilliantly written and I look forward to George's next one.
Rating:
Summary: Enough murders and mysteries for all
Review: Elizabeth George writes characters with such a gentle humor and firm understanding of their nature that I often wonder what would happen if she directed her pen toward general fiction; but then we would miss her exquisite criminal mind. A Traitor to Memory has been accused of being too rambling and while I agree that at 722 pages it could have benefited from some editing, that detracted from my enjoyment only a little; in fact I almost found pleasure in imagining putting a small X through a paragraph here and there. I especially do not join those who feel shortchanged at not hearing more about the exploits of their favorite detectives, Havers and/or Lynley, for I am confident she will make this lack up to us in her next book. In the meantime George brings us an in-depth example of the therapeutic method for recovering repressed memories, the roots of agoraphobia and the mind set of an ex-con, along with other assorted (and sordid) characters ' sex therapist, cyber-sex junkie, East German escapee, children, war veterans and pregnant women ' to name a few. While not my all-time favorite Elizabeth George mystery (that honor is given to Deception on his Mind), her reputation remains intact as far as I'm concerned. Such a powerful writer cannot get less than four stars in my book just because her editor lets her 'get away with murder'.
Rating: 
Summary: Who wrote this book?
Review: 700 pages of a book in a series defined by Barbara Havers and Lynley and we get a story about Gideon and the murder of his sister 20 or so years earlier. Gosh, was the editor on vacation? A red pen was clearly needed in this book. While I can understand EG trying a new twist on writing, she should have started with a whole new set of characters instead of polluting her great series of Havers and company. I missed Barbara's mussings. They were needed. Also, the mystery was disappointing.
Rating:
Summary: was the editor missing too?
Review: I waited 2 years for the next book in the Havers/Lynley series and what do I get? Simply an overlong, awful boring, simplistic book without the characters that made Elizabeth George's books so fun to read. The interaction between Barbara and Lynley is usually priceless. Lynley's feelings of guilty re. St. James are getting a little dated at this point. The story of Gidon was, well, boring. It went on way too long. Libby, Gideon's sort of weird American girlfriend and the ending were overdown. It was just not interesting. It was easily figured out early on. And EG seemed to incorporate story lines that went no where. What was the point? I wanted to put this one down several times, but did not due to the fact I kept hoping it would get interesting. It does not. I had no issue with Winston getting more play, but the core of her stories - Barbara and Lynley - are what keep readers coming back for more. This really was the story of Gideon, not a Havers/Lynley mystery.
Rating:
Summary: Tedious and brimming with bland characters
Review: I was supremely disappointed by this novel, because Elizabeth George has long been one of my favorite authors. Until now, a new Lynley/Havers novel was cause for celebration, but George is starting to suffer from Stephen King syndrome (overly long novels that are better left unreleased). Lynley and Havers are little more than footnotes in Gideon's journal. The only time this novel ever takes flight is when it focuses on the main characters. For some reason, George chose to thrust a bunch of peripheral characters into the foreground. Are we supposed to care about these people? Because quite honestly, the only characters that touched me in any way were Yasmin Edwards and her son Daniel. I liked the way they interacted with Winston Nkata and I think Nkata's character got some much needed development. Other than that, there is not much point to this novel. It is 400 pages too long and is polluted with a faceless bunch of colorless characters. You can safely skip this book without blinking an eyelash. Save your money!
Rating:
Summary: so disappointing!
Review: I pre-ordered this book before its publication date because I am such a George fan, so it pains me to report that this one falls extremely short of my expectations. In fact, I was surprised at my negative feelings about many of the characters while I read the book. Instead of connecting with any of them on a personal level, I wanted to smack some sense into several of them. Many of the relationships were merely tiresome instead of interesting: Gideon and his father, for example. I didn't like that Havers and Linley were reduced to minor characters, and I missed St. James, as well. Further, I guessed "who" had "dunnit" really early on, which was another disappointment. As to the plot, it was plodding and irritating with its myriad tangents and inconsequential sidebars. George employed the "journal within the narrative" technique with much better success in "Playing for the Ashes." Here, it bogged down the story and read more like self-indulgent drivel. If you haven't read all of George's work, then reach for something else she's written. You won't be disappointed.
Rating:
Summary: Big disappointment
Review: I have enjoyed George's other books tremendously and have purchased and reread them all, but this one is a huge disappointment--in every way. I felt like someone had implanted the brain of some vastly inferior writer into George's skull. As other reviewers said, the book could have been written in less than half the number of pages--most likely with a much better result. I found it hard to care about any of the characters (other than Lynley and Havers, who made only brief appearances). It seemed that many totally unnecessary characters were introduced or introduced only to be dropped without followup. Storylines were introduced and the threads just dropped. The only interesting continuing storyline introduced is a possible romance for Nkata. After wading through nearly 700 pages of extreme verbosity, crude sexual references, and overly whiney characters, the ending was a huge disappointment. I'll be getting the next George novel from the library. If it's as bad as this one, I won't feel bad about returning it unfinished.
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