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This latest in the DI Thomas Lynley and Barbara Havers series has our heroes searching for a serial killer whose choice of victim is at-risk teenaged boys from the seedier side of London. The story itself is quite gripping, with many possible suspects and loads of red herrings. I wasn't sure who the killer was until the last 50 pages or so (which is quite remarkable, considering it's a 630-page back-breaker). George has built in a lot of character momentum (and a lot of it is quite sad) into this novel, leaving me to wonder what direction the series will take next.
George makes it clear in her acknowledgments that she is an American writing about London, which perhaps explains her insistence upon writing in dialect (ex: "You and 'nother bloke. What d'you got to say, then, blood?"). At first I was not certain that I liked that; it seems too forceful, hitting the reader over the head with Place. But it fades into the background of the book and becomes just another part of her writing style, like using rhythm and punctuation to get across tone. I read a lot of fiction set in Scotland and England, so honestly I should be used to this.
For some reason this particular book took me several weeks to get through, but it was worth the read -- complex, taut, and multilayered. In fact, the whole series is quite good. The characters of Havers and Lynley are very interesting, and all of the peripheral characters quite strongly drawn. I look forward to the next book with great interest, as several long-running characters are at crossroads and I want to know what path they'll take.
January 31 2006, 01:14:18 UTC 6 years ago
However, lately I've begun to feel toyed with, like with "Twin Peaks" where, for every question they answered, they brought up three more. To this day I haven't watched "Fire, Walk With Me" in protest.
George sometimes barely mentions major characters, and occasionally does things like make Linley an oaf or something equally horrendous. Also, she makes me really like those characters she introduces in the first chapter and then either kills or ignores throughout most of the rest of the book. I don't like the way she generally pushes at least one character irretrievably into the abyss. It's like she's making up for all those books where the characters have too much good luck by making hers have too much bad luck. I'm always crying my head off.
I once vowed never to read this series again. I decided I would make Robin read the books and tell me what happened. But then I somehow end up just glancing at the first page, just for a minute, and that's the end of that vow. It helps that I'm caught up now and am no longer reading the books back to back. There's only so much heartache and sorrow I want to experience all at once.
So do we get both Havers and Linley in this book? That would be a wonderful treat. Don't worry; I know that if they are both strongly present in the book, they won't both make it through the book unscathed. I still want to see them. I think.
February 6 2006, 20:10:19 UTC 6 years ago
Anyway, I decided to visit her website instead of Amazon. I think I've only read "For the Sake of Elena," "Payment in Blood," "In the Presence of the Enemy" and "Deception on His Mind". I know "Deception" only had Barbara Havers, but maybe I just got lucky with the others. It's good to know what to look for with George.
Yes, both Havers and Lynley are in this one, and both have a lot of development time devoted to them. Winnie Nkata is in this one, too, as is St. James and many of the usual suspects. I found the character arcs quite satisfying (if very sad in one case). Perhaps she took enough time with this book. Anyway, give it a shot. I'd love to hear what you think about it when you read it!