Rating: 
Summary: great way to start a series
Review: A great book to get lost in. One reason a book is always better than a movie is the fact that we get character developement. In this book we not only get that, but great characters. From beginning to end the complexities of the people involved grow and grow. Ms. George has woven a beautiful, yet very disturbing tale, in which each element of each individual slowly yet absorbingly falls into place. From this book I eagerly look forward to the continuing explotis of Lynley and Havers. Simply put, this is a must read.
Rating: 
Summary: Good, but doesn't stand out
Review: actually, this is probably the worst in the series, to be blunt. It's admittedly very well written, and a good mystery, with an unexpected solution (of the "you think you knew it, but you really didn't", variety) But the book is a little short, i felt. I know i am probably comparing this to her later, longer books. But having read them, and also having read this, this book stands out as feeling a little underdeveloped compared to her others. the plot could be a bit more complex, and the character development is of good average standard, but it isn't really anywhere near that of her later books. In comparison, this pales with many of her others. The mystery is a nice one, the setting also well evoked, and the main detective are well drawn (but are probably about the only two ppl who are). The depictions of english life seem a bit...old-fashioned, but seeing as she is american, that is forgiveable. All in all, this is a good novel by anyone's standards, but by Elizabeth George's, its not quite as worthy as some of her others. COudl do with being longer, but still comes reccomended as the start to a great series, and as such, you should give it a go.
Rating:
Summary: A terrific debut
Review: After reading an article in the New York Times lauding George, I picked up this, the first in her Lynley-Havers series. It's an astonishing debut, beautifully written, intelligent and complex. If I have any reservation, it may be that the story is just a tad too complex, with some messy plotting that exists -- after all is said and done -- simply to provide red herrings. Also, there are so many surprise revelations (even involving secondary characters) in the last 20 pages, that you almost expect to find out on the last page that the whole thing was a dream, a la "Dallas." It's as if George, not knowing if there'd be a Book #2, threw into this one volume every plot development and twist she'd ever wanted to write. In addition, it's simply unbelievable that Havers would speak to her superior officer in such a demeaning, insulting fashion and still be kept on the job. All that said, it is to George's immense credit that none of this seriously detracts from the pure pleasure of this First Class mystery, one that ranks up there with the best of P.D. James.
Rating: 
Summary: Deliver Us From Evil
Review: All Elizabeth George books are beautifully written, but this first story takes on life, snatching will from the reader and compelling him to keep reading. The characters of Lynley and Havers and their prickly relationship with each other are defined with razor clarity. The murder they investigate is far more murky, until the murderer and the motivation dawn on the reader, who wants to shout, "Please, please, please don't let this be the solution!" Horrifying, realistic, finely crafted.
Rating: 
Summary: Silly
Review: All I can say is that this is not a very satisfying read. I realize now that most people would consider this a good book--from the good reviews here and the awards--but I simply could not even begin to like this novel. First of all, when I was reading it, I kept thinking this hefty novel could have been a few chapters stretched out to the max. The characters of Lynley and Havers were flat. By themselves the two characters could possibly have been interesting. But when you put an unattractive (most physically unattractive people in novels can make up for it with another, more important attribute such as a witty mind, etc. but not she!), shrill (Wow! She ups Kate in shrewishness) and mentally unstable woman (though I'll grant in this respect she garners some sympathy points) with a suave, handsome, titled aristo--though he is also tortured by big, dark, past--you get an unbelievable combination. Barbara Havers could have been likeable. However, Havers was just single-mindedly dumb! I haven't read the rest of the series--and I'm sure the rest of the George's novels are fantastic because her name IS big. I think "A Great Deliverance" had the potential but is marred horribly with an annoying female protagonist.
Rating:
Summary: Great conclusion!!
Review: Although many readers may guess the explanation behind it all well before the end, George's conclusion still comes as stunning and riveting. Beautifully written. As usual, readers may need a dictionary close at hand if they want to parse every word she writes. How many know the definition of these words: diablerie, antipodal, termagant, etiolating, mullioned, contumacy, bolection, furze, sapient, frangible, atavistic, stertorous? Or how about her word "monosyllabically"? The meaning is clear, but try pronouncing it out loud once or twice! One word to persons considering starting Elizabeth George. Start with the earliest, and work onward. Her development of the Simon/Deborah/Thomas/Barbara relationship is skillfully done.
Rating:
Summary: Mediocre "mystery"
Review: An O.K. book, with some good elements and some glaring weaknesses. Some of the characters are well-drawn (specifically Lynley and Havers) and others are almost pathetically two-dimensional (the brash annoying American couple, the tortured artist, the anguished priest, etc.) The plot is not much, but was enough to keep my interest. One annoying thing (and this pervades the entire series) is the misapprehension that rich, beautiful, (titled, in England) people are more interesting and really, better, than us working class slobs. George isn't the only one who makes this mistake; about half of all thriller writers do this, and most Hollywood producers do too. I guess if you like to read books about rich, beautiful, titled people, then this wouldn't bother you, but I find it tiresome. Overall, a so-so book, fine to read on an airplane or at the beach, but not a substitute for P.D. James or Ruth Rendell.
Rating:
Summary: George- read them in order
Review: As a long-standing, diehard Christie fan, I'm finally wandering into other authors after years of sabbatical. A few PDJames and Grafton and such enjoyed recently, but not the quantity of reading I used to do. But I've started into George, and am enjoying her work. I've only read Payment in Blood and Great Deliverance (in reverse order of publication) and have the following comments: 1) read her books in order of publication. The characterization is rich, and the flow of events adds value. 2) I have found these two books a little slow to hook one in for the first 60% of the text. After that point, however, they take off with a flourish. Good English mystery writing.
Rating:
Summary: Dark and disturbing
Review: As the first book in the series, A Great Deliverance is a marvellous introduction to Thomas Lynley and Babara Havers. In Lynley, we catch a glimpse of the compassionate human being behind the insightful detective; a side of his character that is not so evident in later novels. We also get a window into Haver's background and the demons that plague her life. I think Havers has developed very well along the course of the series, much more than Lynley who often gets too mired in his obsessive self analysis. Instead of the trailing the conventional footprints, this novel probes the darker recesses of the human psyche. A hidden photograph, a cache of food and an enigmatic epitaph on an infant's grave are some of the elusive hints that point to the truth behind a gruesome murder. A truth that is perhaps even more gruesome than the deed. A deep and disturbing novel, A Great Deliverance goes far beyond just a murder mystery.
Rating:
Summary: An Interesting Amalgam of Mystery Genres
Review: Elizabeth George has managed to meld the standard genres of cozy and police procedural (with a dash of hard-boiled thrown in for spice) into a marvelous series-opening mystery. Sergeant Barbara Havers is from the East End of London and bears resentment against the priveleges of the upper class. Ironically (and to her chagrin), she is teamed with Inspector Thomas Lynley, who also happens to be the Eighth Earl of Asherton, to solve a gruesome axe-murder in rural England. George takes the cozy setting of the English countryside, brings in the inner workings of Scotland Yard, and drops in a few grisly murders to create one of the most readable mysteries I have encountered in years. I intend to read all of George's Lynley-Havers novels.
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