Careless in Red: A Novel
by Elizabeth George
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Book Reviews of Careless in Red: A Novel
Book Review: No Surprises, but a Good Read
Summary: 3 Stars
This latest installment in the Inspector Lynley series has all of the things I've come to expect from Elizabeth George's pen: A dense plot, lots of scenery, people in various relationships having problems with one another, and at least one sexual deviant who reveals that he/she was sexually abused as a child.
Seriously, does anyone in Elizabeth George's world commit murder merely for monetary gain and/or power? She relies on sexual tension in her Lynley stories to an extent that it has become de rigueur. In this recent novel we have one teen in a rage because the first boy she slept with dumped her; that same teenage boy having numerous conquests of his own; at least two women engaged in casual sex with various men; several other characters with unrequited raging hormones; and those who aren't included in the foregoing are generally having problems with those who are.
There are no surprises in this story. Tension is what drives a story forward, and the author builds it as she always does, which means it is primarily within families. In the past she has focused on mothers and daughters; this time it's mainly about fathers and sons.
In addition to those characters just mentioned, we are not surprised that Thomas Lynley is drawn to an investigation because he just can't stop being a police officer; that Barbara Havers is portrayed as a gifted detective with no fashion sense and a good heart; and that Lynley is still feeling misunderstood by those who are not born into his world.
That said, it's still very well written and it's a good plot. We don't see much character development for Lynley or Havers (or for those not mentioned, such as Winston Nkata or the St. James couple), but that's no surprise considering the most important issue was Lynley coming to terms with his wife's death.
So, chalk this one up as a necessary sequel, look forward to the next installment, and pray to heaven the author doesn't try to turn the back story of this plot into a novel called, "What Came Before He Shagged Her."
Book Review: A return to form for Elizabeth George
Summary: 5 Stars
I was disappointed with the last two Elizabeth George books and worried, along with many others apparently, that the Inspector Lynley series had run its course. This was particularly sad for me because her first novel, A Great Deliverance (1988) was one of my first introductions to the world of British police procedurals, and George just kept getting better and better with each subsequent book over these many years. Her rich attention to detail in setting a scene and her knife's-edge exploration of characters and relationships were her particular gifts.
In some ways, "Careless in Red" is much more than a return to form. It is a particularly tough meditation on family dynamics that includes the dead as well as the living. And it starts with our grief-mad aristocratic Inspector Thomas Lynley reduced to elemental human as he walks the Cornish section of the South West Coastal Path like a zombie, following the murder of his wife and son. He finds the body of a young climber who has fallen from a steep section above the path and is dragged back into the world of the living by this unfortunate incident. Lynley's police training kicks in and it is no small relief to see that there is still something of the old Thomas in this almost unrecognizable stranger.
The real world is populated with wounded people, both physically and in psyche, and investigating this possible murder is akin to traversing a minefield but slowly, surely, the story unfolds. For people who aren't as enamored of the journey, this peeling-of-the-onion-one-skin-at-a-time approach is probably maddening, but the writing was so good that I didn't mind. Plus, I found that I was truly interested in the characters and their eventual disposition. And I liked...really liked...the fact that Elizabeth George didn't feel the need to wrap up everything into a neat little package. Life is messy and her ambiguous ending to this book seemed exactly right. You'll see what I mean. It is a good journey.
Book Review: Flawed Look at Husbands without Wives and Children without Mothers
Summary: 4 Stars
Careless in Red will surprise most fans of the Thomas Lynley/Barbara Havers novels. Elizabeth George doesn't return to her roots, but attempts a more literary novel that primarily explores how fragile husbands and children are without wives and mothers to love and nurture them. Those who just want a good mystery will wonder why all the extra characters and plots are in place until they realize that the mystery is secondary to telling stories that build the major theme.
As the book opens, Lynley is a wreck following the murder of his wife and unborn child. He's been trekking along the coast without thought to comfort and safety, becoming little more than a homeless man. That mind-numbed state is disturbed when he spots a dead body and is pulled into the investigation. His police instincts are alerted when a woman he meets begins lying and he wants to find out why.
The book is rich in character development, relying on many different interacting narrators. Ms. George uses this device to explore many family mysteries, which may or may not be related to the crime mystery. If you find it fascinating to think about all the ways that families can become dysfunctional, this book is for you.
Within all these stories, there is a deep tragedy . . . the kind the ancient Greeks would have appreciated. Lynley senses that something like that might be looming behind the current events and helps to bring it to light.
I would rate this book higher, but the breakdown of Lynley and his fairly quick recovery didn't ring true to me. I can't exactly tell you why, but it set a false note that undermined the rest of the story for me. I also found the endings (which don't let anyone hint about to you) to be unsatisfying compared to the scale of the foundation for the novel.
I did find the book to be compelling. I stayed up late on two nights to finish.
Book Review: Wish that George would get back to basics
Summary: 2 Stars
Years ago, I picked up a book called Payment in Blood (Inspector Lynley) on a pure whimsy on a lunchtime break at a used bookstore.
After reading that novel, I was hooked and I tore through all the available Elizabeth George novels. At that time, her latest novel was For the Sake of Elena.
I adored the style that mixed a mystery with a dose of the human touch. I liked that the victims were made to be real instead of a prop in the series. But more than that, I enjoyed the rocky road to friendship and professional camaraderie of Lynley and Havers.
But then came Missing Joseph and something really felt missing for me. I thought it was a rare miss. But then the novels got longer and more esoteric and less about Lynley and Havers and more about people that were just names on a page instead compelling characters in a story.
When I saw that this story would be the reunion of Lynley and Havers, I jumped at it hoping that it would be George's return to the basics that made me fall in love with her work.
But that was just a tease. Sure, Havers comes into the story around pg 200 but she and Lynley don't work together. They barely have any interaction. Instead, we get a murder and then a bunch of people who come and go into the story and I couldn't keep up with them. Worse, I couldn't connect to any of them.
George is obviously a very good writer. But I really wish she'd get back to the basics of writing a tight mystery and for goodness sake, get the Havers/Lynley team back to work and doing what they do best: solving crimes.
Book Review: Better but George is not back to being the best
Summary: 3 Stars
Ms. George has been spectacularly successful with her Lynley and Havers characters, but it may be time to let go. Other reviews have some excellent comments, so to be brief:
Lynley, devastated by the murder of his wife, goes walking in Cornwall an stumbles on a murder of a sexy teenage boy in a small town. Suspects include an attractive female veterinarian with her own secrets, a nymphomaniac or perhaps her husband, a grandfatherly surfer, a scorned teenager, a bitter father of a long dead son, a local kid who loves his BMX and perhaps more. The lead detective is wrestling with the issues of her nearby ex-husband. There is no one in the book who is just an ordinary Joe to add contrast to the range of merely troubled to fully eccentric inhabitants of the Cornish coast.
This is better than With No One as Witness and What Came Before He Shot Her but it is not a return to Great Deliverance and the other earlier, fabulous books.
There is a great deal in the middle of re-explaining what the reader already knows--it feels like filler to meet a publishers requirement for length. The middle sort of grinds on. Ms. George needs a strong editor to bring the crispness back.
Bless her, Barbara Havers remains great: Lynley's sidekick is unattractive, a fashion disaster, plain spoken, and perhaps one of the best sidekicks in series mysteries. She can carry a book by herself but is better as the number two. Lynley feels played out as a character which is too bad because he is so darned attractive.
George's unquestioned talent for creating characters gets a little exuberant here: lots of interesting characters , some of whom go nowhere, some of whom are too shallow to carry the weight put on them, and some of whom just don't live up to their potential. Between the sense of padding and overpopulated cast, the book is hard to finish.