Reviews

Corsa verso il baratro by Elizabeth George

hisdarkmaterials's review against another edition

5.0

I really need to read all of Elizabeth George's books, they are a mark above the average detective mystery. The dialogue is interesting and flows well, the descriptions are rich and detailed. She keeps you guessing, feeding out just enough clues to keep you on the edge.

lilias's review against another edition

2.0

Elizabeth George is so compulsively readable, but this took a while to get going, and there were so many horrible men in unhappy marriages I started to get them confused. I wish, since this was set at a university, there had been more of a dark academia tone ala Elizabeth George rather than miserable families everywhere. The important thing to note, though, is that Havers is back, and she’s the best.

edda99's review against another edition

emotional mysterious medium-paced

3.25

nonna7's review against another edition

5.0

This book is an emotional roller coaster from the very beginning. A well known artist who has been going through a creative dry spell discovers a body on a foggy morning. Despite the fog she has driven to a spot where she plans to sketch and paint. Because this is the death of a Cambridge student, Elena Weaver, who is also the daughter of a well respected professor who is in line for a lifetime Chair appointment, the Cambridge police request that that Scotland Yard become involved. Lynley volunteers despite having just finished a rigorous and exhausting case. He is wrestling with his own problems: his friendship with Lady Helen has change, in his mind, from friendship to love. She has been spending time with her sister in Cambridge who is wrestling with post partum depression after the birth of her third child. Meanwhile, Barbara Havers, Lynley's partner is confronting the issue of her mother's dementia and the attendant problems that come with that. The book is loaded with red herrings and personal issues of all of the characters. One example is Helen's sister, Pen, who was an accomplished art historian, but whose husband thinks her role should be nothing more than mother and wife. There's a tidbit about the Peacock Room, a dining room that James McNeil Whistler designed. It made me stop reading and look it up. It's fascinating. Google the Peacock Room @ Leyland. The pictures are amazing. This book is a turning point for a lot of people as well as a meditation on what it means to be an artist, a woman and more. I LOVED this book.

finsternuss's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.25

falconerreader's review against another edition

3.0

Elizabeth George and Reginald Hill are the only mystery authors whose books I can imagine re-reading. There is so much more than "whodunit" to their novels. I tested this idea on this book, and yes, I still enjoyed it even though the plot came back to me as I read.

elinevandm's review against another edition

4.0

"George’ weet telkens opnieuw te verrassen met haar karakters en een extraatje toe te voegen. Wederom heb ik genoten van een Lynley en Havers verhaal!" https://elinevandm.wordpress.com/2019/03/15/zand-over-elena-van-elizabeth-george/

dontmissythesereads's review against another edition

4.0

Book #10 read in 2013

I had to go back and reread the first chapter to see if I missed any clues in this one. I thought this was a great one from George. There was just enough personal mixed in with mystery in order to form a good balance. Great read!

cindywho's review against another edition

4.0

I liked this one - Havers & Lynley unravel a crime of passion while picking at issues in their own lives. It takes place in Cambridge and revolves around the murder of a young deaf student. Meanwhile Lynley's in a knot about Helen and Havers is trying to figure out what do to about her mother. The crime is interestingly complicated and the detectives grow as characters.

annabelbird's review against another edition

informative mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I really enjoyed this book. I particularly enjoyed reading about the challenges and decisions involved in bringing up a deaf child and them finding their place in society. 

I think she is great at setting and I like that she uses real places and names as, if you know the place (Cambridge in this instance), you can place yourself there immediately. 

Usually I groan when I see how long a book is but with EG the length always feels like a gift, as if she’s generously added more layers to keep her readers indulged in her worlds for longer.  Like when you find your favourite TV show has ten episodes instead of six. 

I found the motive didn’t quite come across well enough. I do believe in it as a plausible motive, but I think the terror the killer felt didn’t really come across so I felt it unlike they would have resorted to murder. 

I am reading these in order and hoping EG dispenses with St James as I don’t see the point in that character and his story. Stretches the plausibility of all these posh people working in crime detection a little too far for me.