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3.81 AVERAGE
3.81 AVERAGE
I had read this book a few years ago, but didn't really remember the ending. It is a typical George book with lots of character analysis, and an attempt to portray a segment of British society not widely known. George is a wonderful writer in this genre with excellent skills.
As a mystery there are lots of twists to the plot, plenty of red herrings and lovely little sidetracks. In the end, George delivers a great story.
I have always enjoyed Barbara Havers in these stories, and this is a book without Lynley, but all Barb. And she never disappoints me. Her sense of right and wrong, her duty, her commonality, all make for a very sympathetic protagonist. In this story, Barb has to come to terms with her humanity and her need to see justice done. I was particularly intrigued by the introduction of bias and personal prejudice that inhabits us all, but is particularly devastating here. The police bias and Barb's awakening to it are done admirably.
However, there is never enough real angst in George's stories, for me. I love those dark, dreary, unrelentingly brutal Scandi-noir stories.
As a mystery there are lots of twists to the plot, plenty of red herrings and lovely little sidetracks. In the end, George delivers a great story.
I have always enjoyed Barbara Havers in these stories, and this is a book without Lynley, but all Barb. And she never disappoints me. Her sense of right and wrong, her duty, her commonality, all make for a very sympathetic protagonist. In this story, Barb has to come to terms with her humanity and her need to see justice done. I was particularly intrigued by the introduction of bias and personal prejudice that inhabits us all, but is particularly devastating here. The police bias and Barb's awakening to it are done admirably.
However, there is never enough real angst in George's stories, for me. I love those dark, dreary, unrelentingly brutal Scandi-noir stories.
So...we have a book where Havers is the lead and Lynley is only in it for a few moments. I don't think the book worked without Lynley being included. Also Havers started to bug me since based on her character it made zero sense why she got so invested in her next door neighbor. I also thought the ending of who killed the murdered man was a reach and a half. It just didn't make any sense from what we know. I honestly thought it was another character. Also there were too many loose ends that left me feeling unsatisfied.
"Deception on His Mind" takes place about two weeks after the events in the last book. Lynley has married Lady Helen and is now off on his honeymoon. Havers is recovering from the brutal fight she was in. With forced time off she is at loose ends and when she finds out her next door neighbors are going to Balford-le-Nez due to a family thing, Havers decides to go to keep them out of trouble. From there we have Havers being invited in to help by the local DCI into the murder of a Pakistani man named Haytham Querashi. Racial tensions are high and the local activist groups are demanding that whatever English person who did this be brought to justice. George follows several people in the village and we quickly find out that everyone has secrets they are hiding.
So Havers....nope. I honestly thought she was replaced by an alien in this one until the very end when she does something Havers like that may end up causing ripples in the next book. I didn't even get why she was so invested in the case and wanting to follow Taymullarh Azhar and his daughter.
The DCI on the case, Emily Barlow is no Lynley. It takes Havers a while to see her for who she is, but once again, I think it's going to take until the next book to unwrap that whole thing.
I do wonder at how things will go with Taymullarh and his daughter.
George also focuses on Taymullarh's relations in this one, his cousins Malik and Sahlah are interested in this case since Salah was to marry Haytham. Sahlah has a lot of secrets in this one and her English friend Rachel who wanted her to stand up to her family and refuse to marry Haytham. We also have a local English matriarch, Agatha Shaw and her family that want the case to be dealt with so it doesn't bring even more ruin upon the village.
Sahlah's POV's were the best in my mind in the book. However, George left a lot of loose ends with this character and I can guess at what is going to come next, but I hate that. I wish that George had been more explicit about things. Also there's still loose threads with other characters and the whole thing made my head hurt last night when I finished this one.
The writing was all over the place in this one. I couldn't follow a train of thought beyond Sahlah and Rachel's honestly. When we switch back to the case I found myself bored. The flow was pretty bad throughout I have to say.
The ending definitely leaves things up in the air and I found myself thinking that this was just definitely the very definition of a filler book.
"Deception on His Mind" takes place about two weeks after the events in the last book. Lynley has married Lady Helen and is now off on his honeymoon. Havers is recovering from the brutal fight she was in. With forced time off she is at loose ends and when she finds out her next door neighbors are going to Balford-le-Nez due to a family thing, Havers decides to go to keep them out of trouble. From there we have Havers being invited in to help by the local DCI into the murder of a Pakistani man named Haytham Querashi. Racial tensions are high and the local activist groups are demanding that whatever English person who did this be brought to justice. George follows several people in the village and we quickly find out that everyone has secrets they are hiding.
So Havers....nope. I honestly thought she was replaced by an alien in this one until the very end when she does something Havers like that may end up causing ripples in the next book. I didn't even get why she was so invested in the case and wanting to follow Taymullarh Azhar and his daughter.
The DCI on the case, Emily Barlow is no Lynley. It takes Havers a while to see her for who she is, but once again, I think it's going to take until the next book to unwrap that whole thing.
I do wonder at how things will go with Taymullarh and his daughter.
George also focuses on Taymullarh's relations in this one, his cousins Malik and Sahlah are interested in this case since Salah was to marry Haytham. Sahlah has a lot of secrets in this one and her English friend Rachel who wanted her to stand up to her family and refuse to marry Haytham. We also have a local English matriarch, Agatha Shaw and her family that want the case to be dealt with so it doesn't bring even more ruin upon the village.
Sahlah's POV's were the best in my mind in the book. However, George left a lot of loose ends with this character and I can guess at what is going to come next, but I hate that. I wish that George had been more explicit about things. Also there's still loose threads with other characters and the whole thing made my head hurt last night when I finished this one.
The writing was all over the place in this one. I couldn't follow a train of thought beyond Sahlah and Rachel's honestly. When we switch back to the case I found myself bored. The flow was pretty bad throughout I have to say.
The ending definitely leaves things up in the air and I found myself thinking that this was just definitely the very definition of a filler book.
mysterious
slow-paced
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
the one in which barbara havers leads the way! this was so enjoyable. save for the briefest of moments at the beginning, lynley is not in this one, and george moves the story to the essex coast, for a summery-hot mystery.
muslim culture and racism serve as the anchors, when a recent pakistani immigrant is found murdered in an english seaside town. havers, on leave recovering from injuries, follows her neighbours - azhar, and his daughter hadiyya - when they leave london suddenly, to help with a 'family matter.' a race riot in essex has been on the news, and the timing seems too coincidental for havers. leading up the investigation in essex is emily - an old police college classmate of havers' - and emily allows havers onto the case.
as with her stories, george spins quite the web, with characters and strands coming and going. i had actually figured this one out fairly early on (the whodunnit part, anyway), but george still manages to create surprises along the way. one aspect of the plot felt too unresolved for me this arc needed much more clarity for me. still, havers is a delight in this one, and she manages to land herself in way more hot water than usual. as well... is there romance in the cards for havers?? tune in next week, folks!
muslim culture and racism serve as the anchors, when a recent pakistani immigrant is found murdered in an english seaside town. havers, on leave recovering from injuries, follows her neighbours - azhar, and his daughter hadiyya - when they leave london suddenly, to help with a 'family matter.' a race riot in essex has been on the news, and the timing seems too coincidental for havers. leading up the investigation in essex is emily - an old police college classmate of havers' - and emily allows havers onto the case.
as with her stories, george spins quite the web, with characters and strands coming and going. i had actually figured this one out fairly early on (the whodunnit part, anyway), but george still manages to create surprises along the way. one aspect of the plot felt too unresolved for me
Spoiler
sahlah is raped by her brother (because he clues into the fact sahlah and theo (a white man) are in love) and becomes pregnant... and while her brother is guilty of human smuggling, takes off for Germany by boat in escape, and is rendered non-existent by his family, what happens with sahlah and her pregnancy is not revealed. sahlah had wanted to get an abortion to save her family the shame. she tells theo the truth about her pregnancy... but then what? does sahlah's family then know their son raped their daughter?? does she abort? what happens to theo?
emotional
mysterious
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
The first book in this series is still the best for me, but this one is a close second with the absence of Lynley’s intolerable three companions and the focus on my favorite character, Barbara Havers.
It’s a long book, but it’s also a page-turner for me. I had no idea who the murderer would turn out to be, and that’s such a refreshing feeling. Each character was so fully developed and so interesting it’s almost a shame we probably won’t be seeing many of them again.
My one complaint couldn’t really be helped, which was that you could tell, when it came to certain topics, this book was written in the 1990s. The at-times-archaic language made me cringe a bit. But a lot of it gets resolved in the end. Thankfully, author Elizabeth George doesn’t let casual racism slide by.
The intrigue, character development, and pace makes this an excellent murder mystery.
It’s a long book, but it’s also a page-turner for me. I had no idea who the murderer would turn out to be, and that’s such a refreshing feeling. Each character was so fully developed and so interesting it’s almost a shame we probably won’t be seeing many of them again.
My one complaint couldn’t really be helped, which was that you could tell, when it came to certain topics, this book was written in the 1990s. The at-times-archaic language made me cringe a bit. But a lot of it gets resolved in the end. Thankfully, author Elizabeth George doesn’t let casual racism slide by.
The intrigue, character development, and pace makes this an excellent murder mystery.
As Thomas Lynley is away on his honeymoon, this novel focuses on Barbara Havers, who inserts herself into an investigation involving her neighbors. Elizabeth George explores race, class, sexuality, and morality (along with all the underlying biases and prejudices that can accompany them…). Another complex, multi-layered masterpiece!
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Long winded as most of George's works. And so much racism. So much but it's integral to the story and how the characters react to each other.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism, Xenophobia
Moderate: Violence
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
It's very exciting to find a smart, new mystery series. Especially one that could sustain me for a long while. I enjoyed the pacing and the plotting (although it was at times ridiculously convoluted and contrived. I also liked the bigger exploration of morality and of racism.
Really fun.
Really fun.
adventurous
emotional
funny
relaxing
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes