Rating: 
Summary: A Traitor to Memory
Review: I have read all of elizabeth george's mysteries and looked forward with anticipation to this one. Her writing as always is riveting and her book is hard to put down. This book is over 700 pages. The time line takes a while to understand and get used to; eventually it is understandable. BUT; after 700 pages all of the loose ends in the plot should answered. Two of the hit and run attacks are never clearly explained, and the timing of the first seems to have occured too soon to make sense. The reason for Eugenia Davis being sent to the address of her hit and run is also never explained. 700 pages is too long for this good a writer to have this many inconsistencies. And, my God, what does the ending mean?
Rating: 
Summary: This series keeps getting better
Review: I have read all Elizabeth George's books, and this one is one of the best. The quality of the writing is just incredible. The device used of one character writing a journal is very effective. Ms. George truly understands what motivates people to do the things they do. I hated to see this book end, but I felt like I had had a very satisfying, delicious read.
Rating: 
Summary: Sadly...a perfect title
Review: It is with a heavy heart that I write this review. After waiting two years for the next installment in the Lynley/Havers saga, I feel betrayed. This book reads more like a stand alone than part of Ms. George's excellent series. It was as if Lynley and Havers were afterthoughts and really didn't have much to do with the story. At over 700 pages, the book tends to wander, be repetitive, drag and, in total, was not a pleasant reading experience. Perhaps if the book had been written as a stand alone and was at least 300 pages shorter, it might have worked. I read an interview with Elizabeth George where she discussed how she wrote this book in a different style. I can only believe that Ms. George was trying to write a psychological thriller. While I respect her desire to spread her wings, my advice is to leave this genre of writing to Minette Walters, Barbara Vine or Nicci French. None of these authors were able to write the wonderful series that Elizabeth George created ...
Rating:
Summary: Where was the editor?
Review: I've enjoyed all of the previous Lynley/Havers books, but was greatly disappointed with this one. First of all, it is about twice as long as it needs to be. The plot meanders all over the place, with too many loose threads and contradictions. The basic characters, with the exception of Winston, don't show us anything new and are hardly part of the story. The writing on the other hand is pure George, a pleasure to read, except for the growing disappointment and frustration as the plot frays apart. A good job of editing could have turned this into a worthy book. As it is now, I am sorry I wasted so much time on such a frustrating venture.
Rating: 
Summary: disappointed in the last stretch
Review: I love Elizabeth George's writing---so much more in depth than the usual mystery novel---a thorough exploration of the characters and an authentic, albeit American voice behind the curtain. I didn't mind that Barbara Havers had a tertiary role in this one. ..I didn't mind that Viscount Linley showed his feet of clay even more than in recent books. I did mind that, after staying with the book for over six HUNDRED pages that George falsely resolved the book in the last fifty pages---and as a life-long string player, I found the ending almost comical (but I won't give it away here even though I hope that no one starts with this book)
Rating:
Summary: Betrayed By A Favorite Author
Review: Elizabeth George is among my favorite authors and I ordered the book immediately upon being informed that it would be available. What a disappointment to have a book filled with uninteresting, in fact repugnant characters, overly graphic references to the cybersex culture and a frenetic leaping back and forth in time, place and perspective. I didn't like any of these people enough to try to keep track of them and skipped long sections hoping something would grab my attention. It didn't. The real mystery is who wrote this book? It is so unlike Ms George in every way that I have to wonder if SHE were the one murdered and someone is writing in her place.
Rating: 
Summary: Deceptive
Review: This was a pretty good story, except for the fact that it really wasn't about Lynley/Havers, but about a musical prodigy. Lynley and Barbara are peripheral characters. This is very disapointing for the followers of this series and rather deceptive on the author's part.
Rating:
Summary: Disappointed Reader
Review: I have been a fan of Elizabeth George's Thomas Lynley mysteries since the first one. My favorite parts have been the sharp interaction between Lynley and Barbara Havers and my least favorite parts have been the soap opera qualities of the one-note interpersonal relationships between the navel-gazing Lynley/Perfect Lady Helen/Sainted Simon St. James/Pitiful Deborah. Unfortunately for me, there was precious little interaction between Lynley and Havers, and far too many soap opera moments. In this book, Lynley is worried (still) about whether he is a decent man for accidentally crippling Simon all those years ago and to this he adds his nagging belief that he may not have played fair with Deborah and her abortion all those years ago. This causes him to doubt whether he can have, or even deserves, any future happiness. By now, most readers know Lynley's story from earlier books and mentally incorporate it into feelings for the man who solves such heinous crimes by brilliant detective work. While I realize that a major theme of the book was the destructive qualities of secrets from the past, some of us want to move past the soapy aspects, not wallow in them. The story is essentially of concert violinst Gideon Davies' inablity to play and this inability's relationship with a series of murders Lynley must solve. It is told in fragmented narration, in regular time and in the diary Gideon keeps for his shrink, Dr. Rose. This is confusing, especially when events have occurred (like the hit and run with which the book opens)and are not noted by Gideon's diary until much later or are not reacted to until much later. (The hit and run victim disappears until the final third of the book.) The story could have been told in consecutive narration, including the diary if George wished, and left room for more character development. Also, this might have minimized the diary, which I found tedious to read after a while, and might have tied up loose ends like when did Gideon see his mother as she asked for money and not recognize her as he tells Libby he did? So much of the book was spent in recreating Gideon's past through his diary that character development and interaction - the magic of the book and George's strongest asset - was lost. There is precious little of Lynley's upper class interactions with the enthusiastically proletariate Havers, Havers heartbreaking musings about her dead brother and elderly mother, Havers budding friendship with her charming Pakistani neighbor Hidayya, or any other bits that bring the characters to life and make readers love them. The only character who developed significantly was Winston Nkata, who has the potential to become as interesting and loved as Havers. This story did not need Lynley, Havers, Webberly, Nkata, or HIlliers. It was a generic story that could have been told with ordinary characters from a decent detective to his equally pleasant wife. The qualities that have made Lynley books special were utterly lacking and I am terribly disappointed in it.
Rating:
Summary: Much to appreciate...it's worth the read
Review: In line with her previous works (all of which I have devoured since stumbling upon "For the Sake of Elena" some years ago), EG delivers the complex characterizations and multi-layered psychological motivations her devotees have come to expect. Also, she displays yet again her trademark talent for showing how the motivations and flaws of the characters caught up in the crime often differ only in degree and dramatic content from those attempting to solve the crime. In "A Traitor to Memory," one issue with which both sets of characters struggle is what goes unsaid because of one's need to protect cherished ideals, or hopes, or valued connections with others. Another issue is what one is (at some level) aware of in spite of all that may be left unsaid. Between husbands and wives, parents and children, or between partners or lovers--what goes unsaid can have an impact as powerful as something actually said or done. I appreciate and marvel at EG's observant, emotionally perceptive renderings of the diverse range of characters who populate her mysteries. I will always read her novels for this reason. However, in "Traitor," I found myself at times impatient for the pace and tension which I have appreciated in EG's past work. While one would never confuse EG's novels with fast-paced action thrillers, "Traitor" lacked the usual psychological pace I was prepared to enjoy and the punch I was waiting to be "wowed" by. Still, when my friends lined up to be the next to get their hands on my hardcover copy of "the new Elizabeth George mystery" and asked me, breathlessly, "Is it good??" My answer was that it's definitely worth the read.
Rating:
Summary: Long Live Lizzy And Lynley
Review: This was just a fantastic read, as all of her Lynly books have been. Nobody writes a better English mystery than this American writer. The characters, both the regulars and the ones she adds for the plot, are perfectly drawn and the dialogue is crisp and realistic. Even though this book is over 700 pages, there's not one wasted word. In fact, as for the mystery itself, I think this was one of the best she's written. My one nit is that she created such memorable characters in Lynley, Simon, Helen and Deb that I wish she'd go back to some of the early novels and spend more pages on their interaction.
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