Rating: 
Summary: REVIEWS TELL A TALE !
Review: At last count, 67 reviews of "Traitor" were negative, 48 were positive and 38 'waffled' -- so WHY were 2 positive reviews designated as "SPOTLIGHT"? Someone can't figure the math!You wouldn't be reading this if you were not a fan of the Lynley-Havers-Nkata line-up of homicide detectives. They have long been fictional favorites so why drown them in an encyclopedia-length saga peopled with unappealing bit players? Their secrets, possibly rising from some dark celllar of the author's past, are played out in excruciating tedium. Inevitably there will be inferior manuscripts published because the authors are "established" (aka "income-producers"), or they are celebrities. BUT that doesn't mean the books must be purchased -- or read.
Rating:
Summary: An editor, quick!
Review: Normally Elizabeth George's mysteries range from solid to outstanding. This is the exception--a loonnnggg, dreary, depressing novel of superficial characters, irritating psychobabble, a dead obvious culprit and a dearth of what sustains the series, the wonderful interaction between detectives Lynley and Havers. But what really makes this book bad is the poor editing. Any amateur could easily have cut this down to one-third its size and lost nothing important. And it sure would have saved the rest of some hours we'll never see again. Maybe George's usual editor was sunning herself in the South of France that month, but I suspect this is a symptom of a larger syndrome aflicting many successful authors. Once they become huge bestsellers they think they can do no wrong. What's a few extra 100, 200, 500 pages? After all, every golden word lodged in their word processor is like a drop of nectar from the gods that grateful fans will swallow with pleasure. Or something like that. A more minor quibble but no less infuriating is the shiny cardboard cutout character of Libby, THE AMERICAN. I don't know if George is perpetuating groundless stereotypes in an attempt to apologize to British readers for the fact that she's an American writing London-based police procedurals. But I for one have never met anyone *real* who talks or thinks like Frank Zappa's Valley Girl. And I lived in L.A. for three years. I also lived in London for a while and know that even the British don't believe that crap about us. You may love the rest of the series, but do yourself a big favor and avoid this one. I wish I had.
Rating: 
Summary: A miracle of a book
Review: I will agree with previous reviewers that it wasn't too difficult to figure out who the guilty party is in this novel. But the joy of this book is not in the mystery, but in the writing. I've read several of Ms George's Thomas Lynley novels prior to this one, and I have to say that I've never learned as much about Lynley, his wife Helen, and the other principal characters in this series as I have after finishing this entry. She describes their emotions and their lives in extremely intimate detail, and were it not for the fact that the main plotline of the book involves a series of murders I would seriously consider thinking of this as a novelization of a high-class "Eastenders". And even though the murderer's identity was clear from about the midpoint of the book I have to confess that some of the red herrings George inserted did throw me for a while. The insertion of Gideon Davies' diary/notebook was also a nice touch, though the timeline of those sections was a bit confusing at times. If you're looking for a well-done mystery, I would suggest you look at one of George's earlier books. But if you're looking for a well-rounded, well-done novel of any kind, then even at 1000+ pages I would heartily recommend this entry in the series.
Rating:
Summary: A Cheese Puff Ending Tacked on to an Otherwise 'Okay' Book!!
Review: Foul! The ending was dreadful and compromised the integrity of at least 3 major characters (Gideon, Libby, Richard) - as if a Publisher on a Deadline handed it to her and said "End It - Now!" I felt thoroughly taken advantage of having followed it through 1,000+ paperback pages. I'd tried Eliz. George after seeing one of the Inspector Lynley stories on PBS - they make a better job of it. Her writing's very uneven. I never believed the bookseller from the "Over Sixties" - he wasn't drawn very well: he's a mouldering old man one minute who sounds like he's positively green with mold in places - like his clothes are tinged with it or his walrus moustache, his conversation is so fusty - and chapters later he's throwing a fit worthy of a six-year-old (you can just see him kicking a wall! George is NOT at her best when she shows her characters throwing fits) -- but then, as a character, his dog was convincing!! Trash. I'm not sure I'd waste my time on another of her novels -not when they are so poorly resolved.
Rating: 
Summary: She hit a strike this time out
Review: I'm usually astonished by the quality of Elizabeth George's novels, particularly given their length and complexity. With "A Traitor to Memory", though, she went too far. About a third of the way into this mammoth tome it seemed like she was treading water -- the same characters were acting out the same scenes, again and again. Usually George juggles all her characters expertly, carefully revealing their secrets and connections to keep the reader hooked. This time they all seemed to spin about at random, with readability further complicated by the flashbacks and the different points of view. I applaud George for attempting something this complex, but next time keep the poor reader in mind! On the plus side, there are some fascinating, expertly drawn characters, but it's all too much. Where was the editor on this one?
Rating:
Summary: A Failure
Review: I'm a great fan of Elizabeth George. I've read every book she wrote, with great interest. But, she hit the wall on this one. I fought halfway through the book - disjointed plot; way too many characters; endless, boring letters to the main character's psychiatrist; constant backtracking; 800 pages; and on, and on. My reader boredom grew faster than the plot, and I put the book in the recycle bin. I didn't want to leave it in circulation to bore someone else.
Rating:
Summary: Some unnecessary parts in book
Review: I must admit that this is the first Elizabeth George novel I have read. I hear many of you say that much of her other stuff is much better, so perhaps I will take a chance and read her other mysteries.
As for "Traitor to Memory" I just felt it should have packed a bigger punch, particularly at the end, for a book well exceeding 1000 pages. After reading, I honestly had to go back and make sure that really was the ending.
Another annoyance, at least for me, was the unnecessary trashy lesbian and love scenes. (Spare me this, there are many other trashy novels in the romance section at Barnes and Nobles).These appeared to be put in just for the sake of putting them in; who knows, maybe part of this book was suppose to be a soap opera.It did little for the characterization and could have been deleted from the book.This book could have been edited further and been written effectively in say 600 or so pages.
Still, I did enjoy reading much of this book. You probably wouldn't figure that, since I'm giving it 2 stars. There was a great deal of intrigue and, unlike many others, I did like the journal entries that got us into the mind of Gideon. I just suggest that if you buy this book, that you will have to have some patience in getting through it. Although I felt it read rather quickly, getting through 1000 or more pages will take some time, especially with some of the "nonsense" included within the book.
Rating: 
Summary: Paying by the word...
Review: I confess to being a fan of Elizabeth George. I have read the majority of the books in this series so clearly, something draws me back. However, I also confess to being disappointed overall with this effort. First, and foremost, it is TOO LONG at over 1000 pages. Second, the mystery is quite minimal here and I'd figured it out by page 200 or so. It was pretty much a task to slog through the rest of the book just to confirm what I already knew. As usual, her writing is lucid... maybe too lucid if it was not much of a mystery. I was also disappointed also in the character development in this novel. Usually, such great attention to detail is spent on describing even the slightest of characters in her books. But incredibly, given the length of the novel, few of the characters were fully realized. Last, the returning characters... Lynley, Havers, Nkata, et al were all pretty much ignored with regard to development. Hoping the next one is better!!! KSK
Rating:
Summary: Gab, Gab, Gab!
Review: First of all, like most books this one started off slow, but not just slow, ungodly slow. I think the overall point in this book was to make it just as long as possible! For 1000+ pages, there is about 5% content, the rest is 2 detectives not coming up with anything. You could seriously read the first 50 pages and last 10 and wash out the rest of the 900. It's to say the least FRUSTRATING. You keep thinking it's going to get juicy, but it just sits there and people keep TALKING. The worst of all, the ending is just horrid. Smart girl that wrote the book, likes to show off her fancy vocabulary, but Please do yourself a favor and save your money.
Rating:
Summary: Very disappointed this time around
Review: I am usually a big fan of this series, but I was annoyed and disappointed when I finally slogged through to the end of the book. The author's usual gripping style and intense characters were missing from this effort, unless one counts intensely unlikeable, narcissistic people. None of the characters were really interesting, and I really couldn't care less what happened to them. The flashback chapters were confusing (for example, starting off with one crime and only mentioning it briefly a few hundred pages later, and to find out it was only a very minor character) and didn't always add up. The story was far fetched, and the "journal" to the therapist too hokey. Like someone is going to write all this stuff to someone they don't like or trust? The premise was just too thin. The "surprise ending" didn't ring true, and just added to my annoyance. I'm sorry, but one could just skip this book and not feel out of step with the series. I would greatly recommend other books by this author, and hope that her next offering will be her usuall "can't put down" mystery novels, and not an overly long, annoying effort. I feel that the time I spent reading this was a significant waste.
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