Rating: 
Summary: She's gone missing
Review: (Paperback version.)
This mystery suspense thriller opens with the kidnapping of Charlotte, a.k.a. Lottie, a.k.a. Charlie, the ten-year old daughter of Eve Bowen, the Undersecretary of State for Britain's Home Office. Lottie, we soon discover, is the result of a brief but torrid romance with one Dennis Luxford while Eve attended a political conference eleven years previous. Now, Dennis is the editor in chief of The Source, a "tawdry and noisome" tabloid that has achieved spectacular gains in circulation by exposing the scandalous behavior of Eve's peers in the Tory government. The kidnapper is demanding that Luxford acknowledge his firstborn child on the front page of The Source. The problem is no one except Eve and Luxford are supposed to know that he is Lottie's daddy, and be it known, Eve's political career will be ruined. Certain that Luxford has staged Lottie's disappearance so he can print her humiliating disgrace, Eve hardly acknowledges that "she's gone missing." But the reader knows Dennis is innocent.Elisabeth George develops this confused situation into an intricate and superbly plotted mystery with well-developed characters and rich dialogue. George writes in the King's (or is it the Queen's?) English, though. You might wonder what's going on when the sprat is told to shut his gob or he'll be gated for talking bosh. But then, it's a mystery isn't it. Whether or not you're a fan of British mystery genre novels, this is a highly recommended read.
Rating:
Summary: "Not her best" is still better than anyone else's best
Review: Elizabeth George is the best living writer of mysteries in the English-speaking world, period. And this book, like all the others in the Lynley-Havers series, establishes her status at the top of the rankings once again. Thumbnail plot sketch: A child is kidnapped. The child was the result of a week-long tryst years before, and the two parents have since both risen to prominence, but in very different ways. The mother (with whom the child lives) is a prominent and ambitious Tory politician. The father is the editor of a scandal sheet. The mother wants nothing to do with the father, and his paternity has never been publicly acknowledged. When the child is kidnapped, the kidnapper insists that the father acknowledge the child or else the child will be murdered. The father is entirely willing to agree to the demand, but the mother is not - and believes that in fact the father himself is behind the kidnapping. To relate much more of the plot would be to spoil it for the reader. But Lynley and Havers eventually get involved in the case, and there is the usual wonderful writing, complex plot, and rich characterizations that we always get in Elizabeth George's books. I actually think this book is slightly weaker than some of George's other work, because to me the fundamental premises don't ring true. The mother's reasons for not wanting the father to acknowledge his paternity are unconvincing (to me, anyway), and the ultimate explanation for the crime has an implausible motive. Furthermore, as a frequent reader of crime novels I get very tired of the constant portrayal of all conservative politicians as hypocritical scoundrels. Some real life conservative politicians may well BE hypocritical scoundrels. But it has gotten to the point where you know immediately upon being introduced to the character, that (s)he will turn out to be a contemptible example of humanity. That sounds like an awful lot of complaints for a five-star book, but George is just too talented, her writing too beautiful and too intelligent, to rate this anything but five stars. And please make sure you read it all the way to the end. If you can get through the last two paragraphs without tears, then you are heartless.
Rating:
Summary: Another good tale
Review: This is another winning volume in her popular series. This time, the theme is dirty politics and journalism, set against a background of despicable, personal crimes. The characters, as is George's trademark, are well drawn and interesting. They are varied, and keep the story moving along as the plot gets ever more complex. And intriguing. Turn follows turn as the narrative follows the slow progress of the investigation into the kidnap of the cild of Dennis Luxford, editor of "The Source" newspaper, who once had an affair with an up-and-coming member of the Tory party, resulting in an illegitimate child which he has never seen. Now, someone steals his child away, and the price? Reveal everything about his first-born child on the front page of his newspaper for all the world to see. The plot is original, and weaved together with George's usual skill. This time, we get to see more of Barbara Havers, which is great, as she is probably the best character. This time, also, she is given a potential love-match... At last, Lynley and Helen move their relationship along another step (after it has been sadly stagnant and going nowhere for about 3 books) which gives fresh input to the lives of the normal characters. The solution is suitably surprising, and there is a good twist right near the end to surprise you one last time.
Rating: 
Summary: Lots of armchair psychology in this.
Review: Ms. George is an intriguing writer. I kept coming back to this, even though I resented her obvious manipulations. One character, Eve Bowen, is portrayed as the most repellent mother who ever lived, a politician interested only in her own career and lacking the least shred of maternal instinct toward her child or affection for her patient, adoring husband. Nasty woman! Doesn't she deserve some comeuppance! Please. We would have got the message without the portrait being so deliberately one-sided, the consequences so utterly ruinous. On the other hand, another principal character, Dennis Luxford, turns out to be more rounded. Luxford is the editor of the sleaziest of tabloids, a former womanizer who has no idea how many illegitimate children he might have fathered, and who lives in horror that his legitimate son might be a sissy. (Luxford, you see, knows that he himself is attractive to men, though he's not "that way" himself, of course, yet it frightens him!) ... Pretty dispicable, huh? To her credit (and my surprise), Ms. George makes us like him. There are 500-plus pages of misdirection, and about 100 more of suspenseful unraveling. I read them all. Ms. George may play her readers false from time to time, but she is talented. If only she could use a lighter hand with her "bad" characters -- and refrain from so much pop psychology lavished on all of them.
Rating:
Summary: ARRRRGGGGHHH!!
Review: I am only 100 pages into what I feel is a GREAT book, made the mistake of reading the Amazon reviews, and here a huge plot feature is revealed! Is it me??! Are we supposed to give surprises away in these reviews?? This is infuriating.
Rating:
Summary: Moving thriller
Review: Although it is two years since I read this breathtaking book, I still remember the thrill it gave me. As a mother of a girl of allmost the same age, as the little kidnapped girl I identified me extremely with the whole situation. But not with the mother indeed! Elizabeth George is a very wll known writer in Denmark, and the reason to this is (to my belive) that she combines every day-life and sentiments very succesfully with a thrilling plot! This book is among her best! And belive me... cause i read them all.
Rating: 
Summary: Intricately Plotted Mystery
Review: I found this book somewhere and was originally put off by its length and its plot that involved the murder of a child. (I've gotten pickier in my old age about what I'll spend my time reading.) However, I persevered and by the end I was hurrying to get home so I could get back to it. Although this is the first Elizabeth George book I've read, it was obvious from several references that these characters had existed in other books of the same vein. She writes with a lot of detail and intricate plotting but instead of getting annoyed and skipping passages, I was fascinated by the descriptions of her characters and of the Wiltshire countryside. My one complaint was that one of her main characters, Eve Bowen, was such a detestable shrew that I could barely stand to read the passages that she was in. Ugh.
Rating: 
Summary: Gripping mystery
Review: Despite the plot flaws (some of which I hadn't really paid attention to until I read other reviews on this site) this book was gripping from start to finish. I found the conclusion quite unpredictable and satisfying. This is the second Elizabeth George book I have read and I will definitely be looking out for more.
Rating:
Summary: Logical flaw spoils good book.
Review: This was my introduction to Elizabeth George and her Linley/Havers series. I found the book to be very suspenseful, but after finishing found what I believe to be a logical flaw in the plot which ruined the overall experience. I did not find any of the characters all that likeable (including Linley/Havers) and found most of the character writing superfluous. I wish I had read the abridged version.
Rating:
Summary: Gripping - but ultimately not satisfying
Review: I thought the book was masterfully written, with excellent pacing and suspense. I really got caught up in it. But like other reviewers, I found basics of the plot seriously flawed. Luxford could have printed his story any time, without permission from Eve - consequently, her reactions were not plausible. Moreover, if someone wanted to press Luxford to print a story, why not immediately kidnap *his* child. And why didn't anyone realize the obvious fact that his child was at risk too and needed special protection? I found the resolution similarly illogical and disappointing. It was like taking a long and interesting journey in anticipation of a marvelous destination. Then the destination turns out not to exist and one must be content with the journey itself.
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