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dennisfischman 's review for:
A Suitable Vengeance
by Elizabeth George
I really wanted to pan this book.
I wanted to talk about the crew of upper-class twits wallowing in their own confused love affairs in a way you'd expect from teenagers, not policemen and lab scientists. I wanted to compare their house party in the country with its drug abuse and bed-hopping to [b:A Dry White Season|65249|A Dry White Season|André Brink|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1407711279l/65249._SY75_.jpg|63299] and contrast Lynley's messing up the evidence in his emotional distraction to the superior work done by Peter Wimsey in [b:Clouds of Witness|192888|Clouds of Witness (Lord Peter Wimsey, #2)|Dorothy L. Sayers|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1287510321l/192888._SY75_.jpg|1576206]. I wanted to point out that the Lady Helen Clyde of this prequel bears little or no resemblance to the Lady Helen of later books. In short, I wanted to call it a mess.
There are two reasons I can't do that. "Elizabeth George" is so good at writing intricate plots that keep you guessing to the last moment without leaving a thread dangling or a clue unexplained that I have to admire the book just for that.
But the real, true, deep, and embarrassing truth is that I remember what it's like to be that confused young person (minus the country house, wealth, and title) and to put myself in terrible pain by saying things that shouldn't have been said and fearing to express the things I absolutely should have. And I understand romantic love. The last paragraph of the book made me cry.
Damn it. I guess I liked this book after all.
I wanted to talk about the crew of upper-class twits wallowing in their own confused love affairs in a way you'd expect from teenagers, not policemen and lab scientists. I wanted to compare their house party in the country with its drug abuse and bed-hopping to [b:A Dry White Season|65249|A Dry White Season|André Brink|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1407711279l/65249._SY75_.jpg|63299] and contrast Lynley's messing up the evidence in his emotional distraction to the superior work done by Peter Wimsey in [b:Clouds of Witness|192888|Clouds of Witness (Lord Peter Wimsey, #2)|Dorothy L. Sayers|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1287510321l/192888._SY75_.jpg|1576206]. I wanted to point out that the Lady Helen Clyde of this prequel bears little or no resemblance to the Lady Helen of later books. In short, I wanted to call it a mess.
There are two reasons I can't do that. "Elizabeth George" is so good at writing intricate plots that keep you guessing to the last moment without leaving a thread dangling or a clue unexplained that I have to admire the book just for that.
But the real, true, deep, and embarrassing truth is that I remember what it's like to be that confused young person (minus the country house, wealth, and title) and to put myself in terrible pain by saying things that shouldn't have been said and fearing to express the things I absolutely should have. And I understand romantic love. The last paragraph of the book made me cry.
Damn it. I guess I liked this book after all.