A review by asteroidbuckle
Careless in Red by Elizabeth George
3.0
Thomas Lynley, mired deeply in his grief, comes across the body of a young man at the bottom of a cliff during his hike along the South-West Coastal Trail. Soon enough, he gets involved in the investigation into the boy's death, which, of course, has been determined to be a murder.
Enter Ben and Kerra and Daidre and Santo and Dellen and Aldara and Jago and Selevan and Madlyn and Max and Lew and Cadan and Bea and Ray and Pete and Alan and Will and Tammy and yes, Sergeant Havers, too.
Phew.
The biggest problem I found with this book is, as you may have guessed, there are too many characters. Not all of them are necessary to the plot and many of them are simply there to help Tommy find his way back to his life. To me, Elizabeth George was trying to do too many things at once.
The story was good enough - a young man killed, but not for the reason you think, with suspects aplenty. Who did it? Was it the scorned girlfriend? Her dad? The boy's dad? His sister? The young man who had a thing for the boy's girlfriend? They all had a reason to kill him, of course.
The local Inspector is a hard woman (why are all female cops borderline masculine, huh?) with personal issues that she allows to cloud her judgment. She's in charge and wants things done her way or no way at all. She forces Lynley to become involved in the investigation even though he tries to explain he's not a cop, not anymore at least. He's given it up. She, of course, wants none of it, because she plans to use him to get close to the woman she considers the prime suspect.
In the end, the killer is revealed, but there is no real justice. Tommy is still trying to find a reason to go on, but there are hopeful signs of life. He promises Havers he'll make his way back to London after he's finished his journey up the Cornish coast.
When I saw this book at the store, I was so excited. I had been dying to see what happened to Tommy after the deaths of his wife and son. And while it was great to "see" Tommy again and heartwrenching to discover what he's been going through, the book failed to reach my expectations.
However, to be fair to Ms. George, those expectations were exceedingly high and probably unattainable anyway.
A good book, not a great one, but I still can't wait for the next installment of this terrific series.
Enter Ben and Kerra and Daidre and Santo and Dellen and Aldara and Jago and Selevan and Madlyn and Max and Lew and Cadan and Bea and Ray and Pete and Alan and Will and Tammy and yes, Sergeant Havers, too.
Phew.
The biggest problem I found with this book is, as you may have guessed, there are too many characters. Not all of them are necessary to the plot and many of them are simply there to help Tommy find his way back to his life. To me, Elizabeth George was trying to do too many things at once.
The story was good enough - a young man killed, but not for the reason you think, with suspects aplenty. Who did it? Was it the scorned girlfriend? Her dad? The boy's dad? His sister? The young man who had a thing for the boy's girlfriend? They all had a reason to kill him, of course.
The local Inspector is a hard woman (why are all female cops borderline masculine, huh?) with personal issues that she allows to cloud her judgment. She's in charge and wants things done her way or no way at all. She forces Lynley to become involved in the investigation even though he tries to explain he's not a cop, not anymore at least. He's given it up. She, of course, wants none of it, because she plans to use him to get close to the woman she considers the prime suspect.
In the end, the killer is revealed, but there is no real justice. Tommy is still trying to find a reason to go on, but there are hopeful signs of life. He promises Havers he'll make his way back to London after he's finished his journey up the Cornish coast.
When I saw this book at the store, I was so excited. I had been dying to see what happened to Tommy after the deaths of his wife and son. And while it was great to "see" Tommy again and heartwrenching to discover what he's been going through, the book failed to reach my expectations.
However, to be fair to Ms. George, those expectations were exceedingly high and probably unattainable anyway.
A good book, not a great one, but I still can't wait for the next installment of this terrific series.