Customer Reviews: Read 98 more reviews...
 At last they're back August 6, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
While the reviews seem to split between longtime fans and newbies, if you haven't read George before you might not understand that all these stories link. This allows a depth of character development that's rare these days and creates a sense that the people in these novels live and breathe. I for one am glad to hear George back in voice with her characters full of doubts and contradictions as usual. She has an unerring eye for setting too, capturing the distinct atmosphere of the Cornish coast. I found this book particularly overloaded with suspects, but some new and interesting actors have appeared. I hope they stick around. I found Lynley's thoughts on Havers, which appear on the last page, particularly touching.
 George at her best August 3, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
This won't be long. Careless in Red is the very best yet of Elizabeth George's novels. I didn't want it to end. I've ordered all Inspector Lynley DVD's so I can relive this wonderful series and not have to watch tv drivel.
Lynley can't go on. Lynley goes on. August 3, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
I just finished listening to the audio version, masterfully read by the formidable John Lee. As with most of the series, I was awed by George's impeccable research, her large cast of characters (at least 20 important ones) and her architectural use of relationships to support the particular psychological areas she's investigating while Lynley, Havers and the frustrating, dogged and fascinating Bea Hannaford investigate a murder. George, in this latest installment in the vast Lynley-Havers canon, meditates on grief, vengeance, the ways each generation winds up deforming the lives of their children in the name of various abstract ideals. Each couple, trio or quartet of characters carries another piece of this monumental portrait of the human condition that also manages to be a page-turner. More! And what about Simon and Susan? Get to work, Elizabeth, we are insatiable!
Tommy returns August 2, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
Elizabeth George's fans have come to expect nothing short of perfection, and CARELESS IN RED is not a disappointment in craftsmanship, but it will ruffle a few feathers as Inspector Lynley moves on with his life post- Helen. I'd expect some protests. . . In no way is this novel comparable in emotional intensity to WHAT CAME BEFORE HE SHOT HER, but it is classic George and mystery writing just doesn't get much better than what she gives us.
 Not up to her usual standard by a long way. July 31, 2008
1 out of 3 found this review helpful
As a great fan of Elizabeth George's Inspector Lynley novels, all of which I have read over the years, I was looking forward to reading this one. As I expected, it was full of Lynley-angst following the shocking deaths in the previous book in the series, but it was strangely unmoving. It was peopled with a large number of characters - many with unlikely names, to no apparent purpose - none of whom I cared about or was interested in; there was too little Havers, and the plot was contrived, convoluted and at the same time obvious.
I finished reading it because a book has to be truly dire before I abandon it half way through, but I can only hope the next novel,if there is one, is a return to form. Another one like this, and I'll give up on this series. There are plenty of other great writers of crime fiction!
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