After the hugely disappointing "What Came Before He Shot Her" and a less disappointing but still quite boring "Careless in Red," this new book of the Lynley-Havers series is a welcome return to the components that have made George so popular with so many readers.I will not retell the plot of the book but I would like to mention some of the things that make me like this novel, even though I definitely do not consider it one of George's best works. For one, this novel is set for the most part in London. In my..
In spite of my dislike of her last novel, I purchased and read "This Body of Death" immediately. I am pleased to say that this a a great improvement and reminds me why I have liked so much of what she has written over the years. It is not, however, a great mystery novel. Why? I think the biggest "problem" with the book is tone. The story seems to be told by Elizabeth George coolly looking down from a mountain top. Somehow all passion is missing from this tale, engaging as it is. It is as if everything and e..
This book has received the full spectrum of reviewers' impressions, and I will not add to the confusion by attempting to reduce it. I will make a sole observation and criticism.The igniting event of "This Body of Death" is a toddler's abduction, torture-for-amusement, and murder by three pre-teen sociopathic slackers, described in horrifying, heartbreaking, and unnecessarily leisurely and graphic detail through the device of a sociopathologic analysis of the criminals by a PhD social worker. This dissertati..
