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tanja_alina_berg 's review for:
Just One Evil Act
by Elizabeth George
Rating 3.4* out of 5. I'm feeling a bit ambivalent about this book. I enjoyed it very much up until about page 500, but the last couple of hundred felt redundant. Not that they were, it just felt like the events could have been woven into the first five hundred pages and ENDED there.
The best thing about this book are the old familiar characters that I have followed for almost twenty years. Detective Seargant Barbara Havers with her undelicate hair cut and disheveled clothes. Inspector Lynley, also an Earl, who doesn't actually have to work but chooses to do so and is finally moving on after the murder of his wife Helen. Barbara is neighbor and close friends with microbiologist Taymullah Azhar and his daughter Hadiyyah. When Hadiyyah is taken by her conniving mother Angelina and disappears, Barbara tries to help. However, there is not much the police can do since Azhar's name isn't on Hadiyyah's birth certificate - so a private investigator is involved.
Months pass. Then suddenly Angelina is in London again, hysterical because Hadiyyah has been kidnapped in Italy. This time Barbara insists that the English police do something to assist the Italian counterparts. When a direct approach doesn't do any good, she gets a tabloid paper to print the story. The result is that Inspector Lynley has to travel to Italy to try be of assistance.
Barbara's descent to the wrong side of the law continues. She means so well, but she will do anything to help Azhar and to find Hadiyyah, regardless of the personal cost to herself - and the blights it puts to her career. Barbara's always been a mess. A clever officer yes, but messy and with no sense of personal style. Her burning passion will be the end of her.
One the problems I had with this story at around page 600 was the lack of plot twists. I did not see how anything could possibly be anything other than what they seemed. The ending did manage to surprise me and I am eagerly looking forward to the next book. Which will hopefully feature Barbara a little less.
The best thing about this book are the old familiar characters that I have followed for almost twenty years. Detective Seargant Barbara Havers with her undelicate hair cut and disheveled clothes. Inspector Lynley, also an Earl, who doesn't actually have to work but chooses to do so and is finally moving on after the murder of his wife Helen. Barbara is neighbor and close friends with microbiologist Taymullah Azhar and his daughter Hadiyyah. When Hadiyyah is taken by her conniving mother Angelina and disappears, Barbara tries to help. However, there is not much the police can do since Azhar's name isn't on Hadiyyah's birth certificate - so a private investigator is involved.
Months pass. Then suddenly Angelina is in London again, hysterical because Hadiyyah has been kidnapped in Italy. This time Barbara insists that the English police do something to assist the Italian counterparts. When a direct approach doesn't do any good, she gets a tabloid paper to print the story. The result is that Inspector Lynley has to travel to Italy to try be of assistance.
Barbara's descent to the wrong side of the law continues. She means so well, but she will do anything to help Azhar and to find Hadiyyah, regardless of the personal cost to herself - and the blights it puts to her career. Barbara's always been a mess. A clever officer yes, but messy and with no sense of personal style. Her burning passion will be the end of her.
One the problems I had with this story at around page 600 was the lack of plot twists. I did not see how anything could possibly be anything other than what they seemed. The ending did manage to surprise me and I am eagerly looking forward to the next book. Which will hopefully feature Barbara a little less.