With No One as Witness (Thomas Lynley and Barbara Havers Novels) by Elizabeth George Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of With No One as Witness (Thomas Lynley and Barbara Havers Novels)
Book Review: another great book
Summary: 4 Stars
Elizabeth George has created true characters with the Lynley series. You care about these New Scotland Yard police and you want to know how they are developing - professionally and personally. George does a great job of making them real. Lynley, Havers, Nkata... all great characters following a serial killer in London. You'll read it as fast as you can to not only see who did it but how the "regulars" solve it.Book Review: With No One as Witness
Summary: 5 Stars
As you would expect from author Elizabeth George the characters are so well drawn that the reader can easily visualize each one. The victims of the crime are especially vivid. It is a dark and sad commentary of life for a certain class of young boys who have been lost between the cracks in society. It could take place anywhere not just in and around it's setting of the suburbs of London.
Once again Ms.George captures the reader from page one. While the Inspecter Lynley series on PBS may have fleshed out the main/regular characters those of us who have been reading her books for years have their own ideas and she serves us well in With No One as Witness.
Book Review: With No One As Witness
Summary: 5 Stars
Elizabeth George is a prolific writer. Her series featuring Detective Inspector Thomas Lynley and his partner, Barbara Havers has been made into a television series. It was for this reason that I read her latest in the Lynley-Havers series. It is certainly the best so far. This is a long book, but it never gets bogged down. Lynley and Havers, along with newly promoted Detective Sargeant Winston Nkata, investigate a serial killer who kills and mutilates adolescent boys. Nkata deals with a reluctant love interest, Havers with a deepening friendship with her neighbor, and Lynley with a family tragedy while pursuing this high profile murder case. George has woven this all together into a moving, beautifully written story.Book Review: An engrossing read
Summary: 4 Stars
I gave this book only 4 stars because having read D.H. Lawrence, I find it impossible to give a 5 star rating easily. That aside, what an engrossing read!
Ms. George's characters are real. Havers is a complex woman of keen instinct and tenacity. She's a real bulldog of a detective/constable. She's a whole lot more comfortable thinking than feeling. She is unflinching in the face of danger unless it involves emotional vulnerability. I love that the author handles Havers character so revealingly.
Inspector Lynley is even more complex than Havers. He comes from a background of privilege and yet he is drawn to a sordid world of killers and their motivations. His character is revealed through internal dialogue and reflection more than action in this novel.
Surprisingly, though this is a mystery novel, there were a few points in which I was tearful in the reading. The book is so engrossing that the experiences of the characters become very personal to the reader.
I would unhesitatingly recommend this book to any anglophile and fan of the English mystery genre.
Book Review: Memorable
Summary: 5 Stars
I started out thinking this book was too long and laborious (could have stood a bit less description of London districts and one or two fewer suspects) but ended up rationing myself for three days because I simply couldn't bear it to end.
One of the highlights is a short love scene, very moving, yet without a single word that could offend anyone. But the piece de resistance is an extraordinarily wrenching physical and emotional crisis. I've never experienced such empathy with and sympathy for a character. It's still reverberating, 11 days later.
Elizabeth George is an intelligent, thoughtful, educated writer; there are a few spelling and punctuation errors, but they can be laid at the doorstep of her editor or proofreader.
At the end, she leaves us with another compelling mystery: How will she keep Inspector Lynley going in the next book?