Rating: 
Summary: You can do better
Review: I truly enjoy reading Ms. George's books, but definitely not this one. The constant flipping between Gideon and his analysis and Lynley/Havens was very annoying. I had to make myself read the book and it was a chore. I agree with others, ending weak. It won't stop me from buying her next book unless she uses same format.
Rating: 
Summary: Convoluted and slow
Review: I found this book to be a very slow read and extremely heavy going.Obviously it still managed to hold my attention as I plodded on to the end but....all that psychological twisting and turning grew very wearisome and by about the 3/4 mark, I was hoping for it to be finished.A brilliant violinist,a former child prodigy,has a nervous breakdown and with the help of a therapist,tries to remember the happenings that lead up to the death of his Downs Syndrome baby sister in childhood.His whole family has neurotic tendencies (for this read "Bunch of Nuts") and the entire book is woven around these rather eccentric and totally unlovable people.I suppose the fact that I didn't like any of the main players in the book,contributed greatly to my boredom with it.
Rating: 
Summary: A trifle heavy on the gimmicks
Review: Elizabeth George is one of my favorite mystery novelists, and it may be that as a result I'm being rather more generous than I might be-- I certainly think that _A Traitor to Memory_ is the weakest of her work to date, but that's not so terrible given how uniformly strong her work generally is.This mystery, which begins with a strange hit and run killing, takes us through the mind (and journal) of a violin prodigy, into the history of some of the familiar characters, and explores the idea of children and the past. Strong points: complex and well-realized characters, generally high quality of the writing Weak points: confusing time flipping and lame ending I, at least, enjoyed the read despite the flaws.
Rating:
Summary: Disappointing but I'm still glad I read it
Review: I agree with almost all the comments here, good and bad! George is a fantastic writer so even her poorer entries, like this, are compelling to read. I found the depiction of the narrowly focused genious without a life or self beyond his art was very thoughtful. I figured out the primary "mystery" very early on as well, which I try hard not to do because I don't like it! And yet, like one other reviewer, I was not smart enough to notice the time shifts until the book was almost done! It would take an entry a lot worse than this, however, to make me abandon my favorite writer in this genre.
Rating:
Summary: An another fine Lynley/Havers mystery
Review: I just finished the 11th book in this series and I think it is one of the better ones in this series. It is very big of course, but that is normal for a Havers/Lynley mystery. The last five are all enormous volumes. Although these are huge books, they all read very nicely.
The book reminded me of Playing For The Ashes, which is also one of her best books. It tells two stories: a detective storie with Haver, Lynley and Nkata, and a tragic storie about a violin player.
I don't understand why may people think this is her worst book, it is what she usually does. The entire series is great (read them in order,by the way), only Missing Joseph was not so good. That book was indeed below her normal standards, but this one is just fine!!
(By the way: I think her best book is In The Presence Of The Enemy)
Rating:
Summary: Still great!
Review: I am a great fan of Elizabeth George and have found all of her books engrossing. Of them all, however, this one is definitely the weakest. For the first time, I guessed fairly early on who the real culprit was. All of Ms. George's books have truly dysfunctional, if not downright crazy, characters in them (in addition to the perpetrator), but she always creates a balance with her continuing characters of Lynley, Helen, Deborah, St. James and Havers - normal, flawed people getting on with their lives. Without the continuing characters, the hopelessness of the rest of the characters would make this book too depressing. All in all, it was a great read and I highly recommend it.
Rating:
Summary: What a disappointment!
Review: It's hard to believe the same woman who wrote previous Lynley/Havers stories wrote this book. Lynley and Havers hardly appear, and when they do their personalities are sadly absent. Ditto Helen, Deborah and St. James. The dialogue seems not quite right in places (if you are violently ill with morning sickness you're not likely to be chatty), and around page 600 the chronology of events becomes rather garbled. I found the time-jumping confusing, distracting and not effective. Still haven't quite figured it out. Don't buy this book! Wait till it comes to the library, and then read it if you feel you must.
Rating:
Summary: Great, but I guessed it!
Review: I have all of Elizabeth George's mysteries, and I'm always waiting for the next one. I'd read anything she saw fit to put Barbara Havers in. I thought this one was a great read, not too long for me - I read it in a couple of days. But I guessed the culprit early on, and since I rarely guess (or particularly want to), I was slightly disappointed because of that! I both loved and hated the ambiguous ending, as well. Very clever to keep us guessing!
Rating: 
Summary: Weakest so far
Review: This is by far the weakest volume in the series; George seems to have completely lost her way with the main characters in the series, and there is virtually nothing of any interest here. The musican protagonist (Gideon) is hopeless, and as for his family, forget it.
Rating:
Summary: Disappointing addition to a great series
Review: Like many of the other reviewers here, I find this novel disappointing after some of the very high standards George has set in previous novels. I was not jolted by the shifts in time or the disjointed narration at all--that worked just fine for me. I was mostly and absolutely disappointed by what I have seen George do very well in the past: really explain characters and their motivations so that everything makes sense. This work, however, has several characters who seem to behave inexplicably and the conclusion is so inconclusive. I mean, yes, there's a conclusion, but one keeps asking Why? So what? What for? How does this make sense? And, finally, what about all those other characters who just quietly dropped out of the story. I agree with other reviewers who suggest tighter editting; although I was never bored and I did not feel myself lapsing into longeurs, I felt cheated at the end by the lack of conclusion. You have about 700 pages and I feel that I want, and need, some sort of conclusion about the characters to whom we are introduced. To the best of my knowledge, this lack of satisfactory closure is NOT a characteristic of George and I have never really felt disappointed before. Her book MISSING JOSEPH was the only one I really got bogged down in; A TRAITOR TO MEMORY did not bog me down, but I tossed it across the room when I was done well and truly disappointed. Also I am not that brilliant and rarely try to guess the outcome of a mystery; this one just seemed very obvious to me from close to the beginning. Everything that seemed obvious turned out to be just that...obvious. I like to be tricked and played with by an intelligent mind. Of course I plan to read the next George book when it comes out. Almost all prolific writers have a tendency to be uneven.
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