Rating: 
Summary: A Traitor To My Money
Review: This is just as bad as Zandie Smith's "White Teeth".
(Why do I have this rotten luck of picking works by
female writers who are full of "blah" and no substance?)
I can't believed I wasted my money and time on this.
At the risk of giving the plot away (and I'm not sure
there is one.... after ploughing through pages and pages,
I don't care anymore), the one star awarded is for the
end of the book where Gideon's girlfriend destroyed
something of his -- it seemed so hilarious to me that
I laughed out loud.This is my first Elizabeth George novel. And I intent
to make it my only one. I have better things to do
with my time.
Rating: 
Summary: Traitor to Reader
Review: I don't mind complex, I don't mind flashbacks which are not labelled...I can figure it out. But this is one of those books that doesn't bear trying to even find out when the last connection to the present reading was made. If you understood the previous sentence you may be able to keep track of what happens in this book. I don't admire authors who use facile disconnections to appear sophisticated. Ms. George simply tries to put too much into this book. Too many things are glossed over, left unexplained and there is a general lack of character development to hold the reader's interest. I wasn't so much annoyed as weary and gave up trying to figure out chronology and enjoy the mystery. I'm one of the readers who enjoys following the Havers-Lynley-Helen-Simon-Deb-Nkata story lines and was very disappointed with Ms. George's glossing over of elements in their lives. Most particularly, the way she explained a major plot line with Deb. And what about the ending????? One of my pet peeves is the kind of ending which leaves more questions than answers and knowing it will never be answered. It isn't the kind of ending that challenges a reader to reflect on something or look deep within or anything of any kind...its just blah. I know you will end up reading this book anyway, but I recommend taking it out at the library rather than making a purchase - its not a keeper. If you are purchasing the paperback edition, an additional reason is: it is made very poorly - after one gentle read, the book binding is coming apart, several pages have fallen out, etc. I'm looking forward to the next book in the series and hoping for more depth in the usual characters story lines as well as a good mystery.
Rating: 
Summary: A Masterpiece
Review: This is without question George's masterpiece, dense and complicated, gorgeously written, superbly plotted. No-one is as good as she at dropping bombshells (in this case, practically at the end of each chapter) which completely send the story in opposite directions to where the reader thought it was going. George always keeps you on your toes, but at no time in her career has she done so as brilliantly and masterfully as she does here. Could the book have been shorter? Of course. But I loved losing myself in the vastness and complexity of the plot. To be fair, I have found George boring and a little too in love with her own voice at times, but surprisingly not in this, her largest book. Start it, stick with it, you won't be sorry you did.
Rating: 
Summary: Elizabeth George is usually a good read
Review: Elizabeth George is usually a good read, this one is partially an exception. Be ready to slog through even when it gets a little too verbose--and not the least bit interesting. Quite a bit of the book could have gone a little faster or been edited down. Gideon, while interesting, isn't so interesting as to be worth the majority of the book--in fact he only becomes interesting in the last few pages. All in all, the book is worth it if you have a long flight or car trip. It is not the one to choose if you are new to Elizabeth George, nor if you are expecting George's usual level of writing.
Rating:
Summary: A very disappointing, annoying read
Review: This was my first Elizabeth George book, and likely my last. With so many layers, it was a slow and often confusing read. I don't believe I have ever read a book that left the reader with so little hope. I don't require a happy ending, not in this genre, but I felt completely frustrated. Having invested what felt like weeks reading, only to have ends of plot lines left dangling and nearly every character destroyed in one way or another seemed a bit much (not that I'd really had much reason to actually CARE about most of the characters). Call me naive, but I can't remember feeling so peeved by an ending. I feel the author simply overextended herself here. Sometimes too much is just way too much.
Rating: 
Summary: Interesting story in here - really!
Review: Many of the reviewers of this book have complained that the main mystery of the book, namely who drove into Gideon's mother, is not that difficult to suss out. I would agree with that, but I would also say that, for me, this wasn't the real intriguing part of the story. Another complaint is that Lynley and Havers do very little in this book. I would also agree with that, and, while this is disappointing, I didn't mind it so much. And sure enough, Thomas Lynley has to have yet another neurosis crop up in this story (now _that_ is getting tiresome!) For me, this story really is about Gideon and his father. Yes, there are some inconsistencies in the recollections of the Sonia incident - is this so surprising given that the boy has been surpressing memories for 20 years? Inconsistencies in first-person narrations do not reflect plot inconsistencies, but rather inconsistencies in the memory of the narrator. And Gideon is certainly an inconsistent narrator! I found him to be the most interesting George character since the young woman of Playing for the Ashes. The other side story which was of interest was the condition of Webberly's wife, its origin and resolution. So, I would agree that, in this book, the psychology of many of the characters is far more interesting than the main crime which Lynley and Havers are supposed to be investigating. Yes, I would hope that George does not veer off further in the direction of treating the main crime as a relatively uninteresting detail. But I still enjoyed the book a lot.
Rating:
Summary: Hmmmmm......
Review: When I finished Traitor, I wondered if Ms. George was referring to the author. I finished the book last night and couldn't wait to see the reviews. I haven't read them all, but so far, they pretty much echo my sentiments. I'm fairly bright and I was in grey-matter shock over what I was beginning to believe were MY inadequacies. I love detail and more detail, so that was fine. I love Great Big Books. Fine. I love dabblings in the human mind. Fine. But I also like good research and while Ms. George made few errors, they WERE there. I'll be buying her next book -- except for I, Richard, which is merely a duplicate of the same book with a different title -- but this latest novel needed HELP -- and to think I have the hardcover......
Rating:
Summary: A Traitor to Menory
Review: I did not think this was her best book. The last one fourth of the book was hard to follow and at times the pages seemed to be out of order. Onearea of the book the police are the first to tell Gideon his mother is dead. Then later in the book it appears the father is the first. I would be hard pressed to recommend this book to anyone.
Rating:
Summary: An EG fan but more editing please
Review: Although EG is one of my favorite writers this book was a big disappointment. Lynley/Havers are two of the most credible characters in mystery and for that reason the rather small and supportive roles that they had in this story was one of its biggest drawbacks - any avid EG fan would have expected the unexpected but sad to say that the culprit with means, motive and opportunity were obvious in the first third of the book. The biggest disappointment was the ending. However, I look forward to the further development of Lynley/Havers characters in the next EG book.
Rating:
Summary: Oh, the slogging!
Review: A sage piece of writing advice from Elmore Leonard, a man who has earned the right to give such advice, is: "Try to leave out the parts that readers will skip." Oh please, please, next time (and I WILL read the next Elizabeth George book) don't make us slog through so very MUCH detail to find the story. I love character development as much as the next person, but not to the exclusion of plot! Poor Gideon's troubles could have been distilled down by at least two hundred pages. The diary device grew so tedious. E. George thanks her editor, Kate Miciak, at the end of the book. I think Ms. Miciak did the author a disservice by not insisting that she tighten up the novel. But that is the risk you run when you become a successful author, I suppose: you (and apparently your editors) don't believe you need editing.
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