Rating: 
Summary: Worth the wait!
Review: I love Elizabeth George's books, and I couldn't wait to get my hands on this one. I wasn't disappointed either. A sign to me that a book is very good is when I get emotionally involved with the characters, and I found myself actually getting angry with Lynley and with Havers as they struggled to resolve their moral conflict. I also waited with anticipation to see how George would tie together the prologue with the murder investigation as the story unfolded.
Rating: 
Summary: Sodding Tiresome
Review: I give this book two stars only because it captured my attention enough to beguile me into reading it through to the end. At that point, I wondered why I'd wasted the time. Too long by at least 100 pages, this pretentious Elizabeth George effort starts with a bang and ends with a whimper from the reader who suffers from overexposure to too many extraneous characters doing way too little for way too long and mouthing way too much UK slang in the process. Sodding tiresome if you ask me. When I finally found out who did what to whom, I was less satisfied with the outcome than grateful that it was finally over. Ho hum.
Rating:
Summary: Is this a book?
Review: First book of Elizabeth George I have read.Grabbed me in first 10 pages and didn't put it down till I finished. Looking for another one.
Rating: 
Summary: Acceptable
Review: I've always enjoyed reading Elizabeth George for her superior quality of writing, however, I've noticed that none of her characters are genuinely likeable. Lynley is arrogant and self-entitled, Helen is, while nice, somewhat pretentious, Havers annoys me with her defeatist attitude, Simeon and Deborah aren't terribly interesting, and the revolving characters in her novels, whether they be good or bad, are just not simply likeable. I wonder why is that? Is it because George delves so deeply in the characters that she presents them in the full, including all their negative traits that ultimately turns us off? Another aspect of her novels that also bugs me is George's portrayal of England. She seems to focus on only two Britains: that of the aristocratic upper classes and that of the lower class/underbelly. The rest of the British, who are nice, normal and quiet people little different from the nice, normal and quiet Americans, she seems to ignore, offering at the most a token glance. It is somewhat annoying for the country that is presented in her novels is turn-off that does little justice to the real UK. I've spent a fair amount of time in the UK and have family and friends living there, and the Britain I am familar with is not the one presented in George's novel. Her plots are somewhat thin and relies heavily on suspicious coincedences and that, combined with characters that one really can't like, should make the novels somewhat unappetizing, but her geniunely superior quality of writing and excellent analysis of the situations ultimately saves the book at the end. Hence my awarding it four stars instead of three.
Rating: 
Summary: Good, not great
Review: This is the 4th or 5th Elizabeth George mystery I've read. It's good (she writes beautifully) but did not hold my attention as much as two previous works, "Deception On His Mind" and "In The Presence of the Enemy". As always, she keeps you guessing until the very end (I've never figured out who the culprit is before it's revealed!) and her descriptions are so exact you can visualize settings and people. Yet, I found this book a tad too long, too drawn out. I haven't given up on Ms. George and eagerly await the next novel.
Rating:
Summary: I certainly won't cast the first stone.
Review: I just moved to a small provincial town where the library boasts a few hundred novels max, so my choice was limited. I took home this book willing to give it a try because it seemed quite readable after a few pages, not clichéd or otherwise uninteresting. I always make it a game to see how long a book can hold my attention. Well, this one took me all the way, so it must have been quite an enjoyable read. What I found irritating was that most of the characters were, if not exactly cardboard, quite set in their ways, which is perhaps how Americans like their British characters (ever since Sir Conan Doyle, Agatha Christie and all the rest of them good old trendsetters? "Get on with it", I thought more than once, "we already know". For example the way Julian and his never-to-be father-in-law Andy Maiden never seem to be able to get out of their gloominess bored me. Same goes for Julian's dad, a dirty-talking sorry old geezer I started to dislike more and more (though of course in real life a lot of old geezers are loathsome, so maybe the writer deserves some credit here). I thought a lot of characters did get way too much airtime. Same goes for Sam, whose protectiveness of Julian seemed to me unending and nauseating, and not only to Julian. Come to think of it, most characters seemed to suffer from over-description. Maybe George should use her wordcannon more sparingly: You can easily write a character or, for that matter, a plot, to death. In this light I found it remarkable that the killer was drawn so sketchily, and I found his motives not entirely plausible. Another thought: the London traffic is indeed horrendous, but it does not deserve the major role in the plot that it gets. In the end though, there was something agreeable in the narrative which at least made me finish it. Reflecting upon the title I thought that none of us is without sin, but it is no sin to write imperfectly if you do it as well as Ms George does.
Rating:
Summary: Perhaps the best mystery writer ever, living or dead
Review: This is the first Elizabeth George mystery I've read, and I picked it up almost by accident. I was captivated from the first page, and the suspense never let up throughout the entire 700+ pages. I can't remember ever -- EVER -- reading any better fiction of ANY genre, and I've read a lot. She surpasses the most engrossing works of James Clavel, C.S. Forester, Agatha Christie, Ellis Peters, Tony Hillerman, and Robert A. Heinlein. George is a master of language, atmosphere, location, drama, and the human experience. I can't wait to read the other nine.
Rating:
Summary: Bored me long before the end was in sight
Review: This book has convinced me that I don't like Elizabeth George. Long before the end could be seen, I was thoroughly sick of the "victim", the detectives, the bystanders and even the English countryside. There is far too much here of Lynley's and Havers' whining about their personal problems; far too much irrelevent detail about the S&M underworld; far too much pseudo-Brit slang. It doesn't ring true to me- maybe because I read this directly after the far superior "River of Darkness" and "The Masters of the House" (again). So many scenes had absolutely nothing to do with the plot and so many threads were left hanging after the denouement. This will definitely be the last of this series for me.
Rating:
Summary: Great suspense, inventive characters
Review: This is my first Elizabeth George, which I REALLY enjoyed. While not having read her prior Lynley/Havers books, I was able to pick up on the threads of their previous relationship/experiences w/ no problem. The multiple plots are cleverly woven, and although some reviewers do not like the detective characters, I thoroughly enjoyed the doubting, unforgiving Lord, the croissant-devouring Havers fag-puffing (that's the British slang, there!)--sorry, folks, but that's a VERY accurate portrayal of many women, including myself on a stressful day. I also thought the more minor characters of Winston, Hanken, & Company were well done. This novel kept me guessing until the very end. Yes, the author's venture and depiction of the "underworld" of S+M sex in London was v. gritty, but, I'll postulate, quite accurate--if not, it was certainly interesting. Brought to mind the Helen Mirren "Prime Suspect" PBS series, accents and all. I've a feeling this is more England today than the tourists would like to think.
Rating:
Summary: Un-put-down-able
Review: Another wonderful installment by Elizabeth George. I enjoy the fact that her novels are intelligently written, well thought out, and interesting. She is the standard by which I judge all other mystery novelists, and I must say, no one has been able to compare to Ms. George. I do agree with another reader who questioned George's insistence on making Barbara Havers such a slob, but so be it. When I am finished with one of her books, I find myself missing Lynley and Havers.
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