Reviews

A posh ex-Eton New Scotland Yard inspector and his working-class Londoner sergeant catch a nasty death from one of those fancy British boarding schools. The politics and concept of "honor" keeps everyone hiding something, and they have to ferret out the truth in this tricky environment to solve this one.

judyward's review against another edition

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4.0

When an old school friend from Eton, who is working as a housemaster at Bredgar Chambers, contacts Inspector Thomas Lynley asking for help, Lynley knows that it is serious. Thirteen year old, Matthew Whately is missing from the exclusive public school in West Sussex. And then, unfortunately, the missing child case becomes a murder investigation. Elizabeth George is most impressive when describing and dissecting the contemporary English class system and in exploring the emotional and psychological make-up of her major characters. One word of caution--books in the Thomas Lynley series are most effectively read in order.

literatureatheart's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? N/A
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

tobyyy's review against another edition

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4.0

Unread shelf project 2021: book 6.

I love the Inspector Lynley series. It’s not just a series of murder mysteries/police procedurals, it’s an ongoing character-driven story where you see the relationships between Lynley, Havers, Deborah, St. James, Lady Helen, grow and shift and change as the years go by. That’s why I label this series as an “epic” — because each book builds on the last and there are ongoing subplots for those invested enough to read the series in the proper order.

Ugh, love these books so much!

thetomatowriter's review against another edition

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4.0

This is the second Inspector Lynley novel that I've read (I don't read them in any particular order--the first one I read was book 10) and geeze, she really doesn't mind taking her cases to that dark place. I'm not complaining, it's sort of bold of her to do so. In this case, a thirteen year old boy named Matthew Whateley goes missing from a prestigious independent school, Bredgar Chambers and his body turns up shortly thereafter, naked and covered in burns, in the distant Stoke Pogues. Questions are raised about anything from pedophilia to bullying to the school's shady sixth year social club, and the school is eager to have the case put behind them. An old Eton friend of Lynley's, now head of Matthew's old house at Bredgar Chambers, begs him to take the case...so of course, he does.

As with the first Lynley book I read, the case is interesting and full of twists and generally pretty uncomfortable throughout, but the lives of the main and recurring characters are almost equally interesting. In this book, we see a rift between Deborah and St. James. They've been trying to have a child and Deborah just had her fourth miscarriage. St. James thinks it might be his fault, but Deborah knows it's her past coming back to haunt her. We see Havers trying to balance work and taking care of her parents, her ill father and her mother suffering from dementia...without letting anyone know about her personal life. Lynley is receiving post cards from Helen--who promptly left on a trip to Greece after she turned down his proposal.

As with the first story I read, even though the series is Inspector Lynley and, despite his often pigheaded ways, I do LIKE Lynley, I really read the story for the characters around Lynley. Barbara Havers remains one of my favorite characters in any book, and I desperately wanted Deborah and St. James to heal...probably more than I wanted Helen to come back. I think Lynley definitely idealizes Helen and sees her as more than she is, and I can see how that would be a source of stress for her. I'd say he needs to work on that before they can get married, but I saw some of it even in book ten.

Elizabeth George doesn't often do the "least likely suspect" plot twist. Instead, she makes everyone suspicious and, at every page, gives you another reason to suspect one character more than all the others. The last fifty pages or so before the culprit is caught are always so intense with her. There's at least a dozen turns of SO HE DID--OH NO SO SHE--WAIT WHAT?! OH! OH SHIT IT WAS THEM! I really think she's the master of that, and this book definitely took me for a ride in the suspense department. Then the final chapters turned back to the personal lives of the main characters. Some loose ends were tied while some were left dangling, and I think it was really THAT that made me want to continue reading the series.

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