Rating: 
Summary: Very detailed, it kept me as much in the dark as the sleuths
Review: A detailed story that kept me guessing until right before Lynley called Havers to tell her. I usually read a book in one night but this one took two (tho, I dreamed about it all night so might as well have stayed up to finish it).
I was troubled by some illogical actions by the characters: i.e., Lynley shouldn't have apologized, he was totally right and the father didn't need an excuse to print the story, he could have done so at any time after the mother acknowledged his paternity.
All-in-all, though, I really enjoyed the book and will try some of George's other installments
Rating: 
Summary: Disturbing
Review: This is my first Elizabeth George book and I'm trying not to make it my last. I am so disturbed by the behavior of the kidnapped girl's parents and all of the adults involved that I can not enjoy the book. The fact that this story is presented as a whodunit rather than as an indictment of criminally irresponsible behavior has bothered me at every page. I don't know that I can finish the book. I expect manipulation in mystery novels, but this is offensive
Rating:
Summary: Add Elizabeth George to my list of favorite authors!
Review: Elizabeth George is going to be on my "Favorite Authors" list from now on. I found myself totally immersed in today's London and surrounding countryside. Her story had me guessing from beginning to end. I was as confused about who the actual murderer was as the characters in the novel and wasn't able to deduce the villian until I was told.
Finally, her characters are real people. Those who are evil are portrayed as such. She may give us the reason for their villiany, but doesn't absolve them of guilt. The characters we love have faults, but it just makes us love them more.
George is a solid "10" on my list
Rating:
Summary: Wow! But call out the SPCC...
Review: If you've never read any of Elizabeth George's novels, this is as good a place as any to start. By the way, she writes novels, not just "mystery novels."
This book works as a novel, as a mystery, as a puzzle, as a soap opera, as a sheer entertainment page-turner, and as a travelogue. You get a lot of bang for your reading buck.
Poor, poor Barbara Havers... I think there should be a society for the prevention of cruelty to characters. I feel so sorry for her.
Fantastic (in both senses of the word) plot twists.
As it happens, I am extremely dense about guessing whodunnit. I just read mysteries for the atmosphere, the characters, the story, the procedure, and the background. But Elizabeth George has pulled off what for me is a very rare experience--I didn't guess whodunnit, but at the end I actually feel that I ought have been able to.
Rating:
Summary: A fast-paced read! Terrific!
Review: Not the very best of Elizabeth George's Lynley-Havers mysteries but a superb one nonetheless. I especially liked the two-part presentation of the story, first with one set of investigators, then with the starring ones. There were a few implausible factors, but I found the characters believable, even the mother so consumed with her career that she's willing to risk the life of her child. I appreciate the fact that Ms. George assumes her readers are intelligent
Rating: 
Summary: The best of Elizabeth George I have yet read !!!
Review: This book is really great! A gripping plot and a lot of suspense! Featuring more of Sergeant Havers than the earlier novels. A very dramatic ending
Rating:
Summary: THE PLOT TWISTS KEEPS READERS IN SUSPENSE TO THE LAST PAGE!
Review: ELIZABETH GEORGE'S NEWEST BOOK WAS MY INTRODUCTION TO HER CHARACTERS. EVERY TIME I THOUGHT I KNEW "WHO DONE IT" ANOTHER PLOT TWIST WOULD TAKE ME DOWN A COMPLETELY DIFFERENT ROAD--SO FAR AWAY FROM WHERE I HAD THOUGHT THE STORY WAS GOING. GEORGE'S WRITING IS DETAILED AND ARTICULATE. HER CHARACTERS COME ALIVE. I WANTED TO GET TO KNOW LINLEY, ST. JAMES, DEBORAH, HAVERS AND EVEN THE PERFECT HELEN CLYDE -- SO I'VE GONE AND BOUGHT ALL OF HER OTHER BOOKS AND AM NOW READING THEM IN ORDER. MY ONLY CRITICISM GOES TO DENTON AND CAROLINE, THOMAS' AND HELEN'S RESPECTIVE "SERVANTS"--TOO UNREAL. I LOOK FORWARD TO GEORGE'S NEXT MYSTERY
Rating:
Summary: A good read, but flawed
Review: Though Elizabeth George's latest novel kept me turning its pages well past
my bedtime, I felt that one of its major plot elements was seriously
implausible. The mystery hinges on a kidnapping/blackmail (no real
spoilers here, I promise). Dennis Luxford, editor of an anti-Tory tabloid,
is told he must publish, on the front page of his own newspaper, the fact
that he fathered a prominent female Tory politician's child. Otherwise
the kidnapped child will die. The girl's mother, Eve, gets a similar
note. Complications ensue when Eve assumes her former lover is, in fact,
blackmailing *her,* his goal to embarrass her publicly and sell more
newspapers. Much of the book traces the results of her stubborn refusal to
imagine any other villain than Luxford.
However, no one in the novel seems willing to point out to Eve with
sufficient force that this makes no sense. Luxford is editor of this
tabloid; he knows he's the father of her child; he could publish the
information, if he wanted to, at any time. Why would Eve have to be
forced into agreeing to publish when Luxford could do this unilaterally if
he chose? Especially when the elaborate purported scheme would only get
him in legal trouble, if he were discovered?
I also found it difficult to believe Eve's career would be so aversely
affected that she'd risk her child's life. After all, the public already
knows the girl is illegitimate; it's just her paternity that's unknown.
Surely Eve would at least get some sympathy points for the horror of
having her child kidnapped, and that would offset news of the real father.
Because the book's central conflict is so unbelievable, the book as a
whole suffers. Unable to enter into the plot's emotional urgency, as a
result I felt detached from the characters--when I wasn't actually
annoyed at them.
George also seems more interested these days in such minor characters
as the music teacher or the Irish maid, rather than her major and
continuing characters. I always like Barbara Havers, and she does have
some good moments in this outing. Others, however, are becoming to seem
one-note: Deborah's childlessness, Simon's leg, Helen's shoes. I would
like to see these characters develop in a more multi-layered way.
Still, despite these flaws, George does have the ability to keep you
reading, and there are some genuine surprises in this well-paced mystery.
Rating:
Summary: Fascinating character studies
Review: Her writing is so incredibly insightful and her characters so realistically complex that it is easy to forget that it is fiction. Brilliant and fascinating explorations of what motivate people (and not just criminals) to extraordinary behavior
Rating:
Summary: This book is superb in both character development and plot.
Review: Elizabeth George has outdone herself in her latest novel, "In the Presence of the Enemy". This novel involves the usual characters - Detetctive Inspector Thomas Lynley, Simon St. James and Barbara Havers as they try to resolve the kidnapping of a young girl. As the reader is drawn deeper and deeper into the plot, Ms. George's talent for creating believable characters becomes apparent. In addition to how each character reacts to news of the kidnapping, there are subplots and twists which keep the reader intrigued. The personality of each character if finely developed and maintained throughout the book. And the ending was a total suprise to me! It left me thinking about human actions and interactions for many days. If you like mysteries which keep you challenged and constantly thinking, then this is a book for you
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