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106 of 110 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
A Disappointment, Though Not Without Some Merits, May 17, 2008
I've been a fan of Elizabeth George since 1988, when I read her first novel, "A Great Deliverance." Unfortunately, she has now and then produced a book that I've found rather tedious, largely it is heavily populated with secondary characters who have been of little real interest to me. These books, in my opinion, have included "In Pursuit of the Proper Sinner" and "A Place of Hiding."
Sadly, "Careless in Red" falls into that category. The premise is that Thomas Lynley, in dazed mourning after the violent death of his wife, Lady Helen, just weeks earlier, and having resigned (he thinks) from New Scotland Yard, is hiking the Cornish coastline when he stumbles across the murder of a young man. Naturally, he is recruited by the investigating officer to assist, particularly by looking into the background of a female suspect, while around him swirl intrigue and conflict involving the family of the dead man and several other people associated with him. As is usual in a George novel, these many characters have secrets -- some decades-old -- along with sexual/marital problems, parent/child problems, hatreds, resentments, and neuroses, which are examined at great length.
Normally, George's large casts of dysfunctional characters add depth and psychological interest. Here, however, the cast had me rolling my eyes in boredom. Perhaps I've read too many George books, so that her approach and self-consciously very studied prose style have begun to pall; or perhaps the surfing/rock climbing theme just didn't excite me; or perhaps I felt that the setting, a relatively isolated area of Cornwall, felt a little claustrophobic. (I tend to prefer George's London-based novels over those that take us to rural locations.) Whatever was irritating me, the reality is that I WAS irritated and grimly urging the author to "just get on with it, please."
The novel sparkles to life, not surprisingly, whenever Barbara Havers appears. There can be no doubt that Havers is George's most appealing and imaginative creation, given that the other regulars -- Lynley, and Simon and Deborah St. James, who do not play roles here -- tend to be a bit two-dimensional and repetitive in terms of their personalities and ongoing relationship crises. Havers crackles with energy in this book and manages to drag it out of the Slough of Despond in which everyone else is wallowing. George may once have been enchanted by the romantic and unlikely notion of a belted earl who is also a homicide detective, but she has clearly found that Havers offers considerably more scope for character development. If it hadn't been for Barbara in her rumpled clothes, puffing away on her ever-present cigarettes and puncturing the pretensions of everyone around her, I might well have chosen, for the very first time, not to finish a book by Elizabeth George.
But I did finish, and I'm not sorry. "Careless in Red" picks up a bit towards the end, which is laden with ambiguity -- not a fault, in my view, though some readers may experience frustration. And because the novel is undeniably well-written and thoughtful, I don't feel entirely negative about it and recognize that it simply didn't address my personal tastes. I can't fully recommend it, but there may well be some readers who will find it a considerably more enjoyable experience than I did.
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266 of 286 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Intense, disturbing thriller proves that Elizabeth George is back, May 11, 2008
After my disappointment with Elizabeth George's previous two novels, I was a bit concerned when the next book in this ongoing series, Careless in Red was announced. But in having gamely read her series, and knowing that sometimes an author will go off on a tangent, I decided to give this one a chance. If it failed, well, I could always go back to the earlier novels of the series, and leave it at that.
Thomas Lynley, aristocrat and Scotland Yard detective, has retreated to the wilds of the Cornish coast to cope with the loss of his beloved wife and unborn child. He has deliberately cut himself off from everyone he knows, heading off to a future that even he can't comprehend. But the real world is about to intrude and shatter his illusions.
A rock climber has fallen to his death in a remote cove, and unfortunately for Lynley, he's the one who discovers the body. Almost at the same time, the owner of the nearby cottage, Daidre Trahair, returns as he is breaking into her home, and together they report the death. The downside to all of this is that it presents both of them as potential subjects.
For Santo Kerne has been murdered, and as with a good thriller, there's plenty of potential criminals here. Santo was an energetic young surfer, mad for women, and still able to exercise a great deal of charm -- enough to where it's just odd that anyone would kill him.
And the local police chief, DI Bea Hannaford, has plenty of problems of her own. From an ex-husband who is also a police officer, to a teenage son that fill of fire and rebellion, and an assistant who makes mere incompetence look good -- she's not a happy woman. Especially when she finds out who Lynley is.
The victim's family are also not much of a treat either. They've been renovating a dinosaur of an Edwardian hotel, seeking to lure the tourists with promising adventures in the wild splendours of Cornwall, but money is tight, and when Ben Kerne's wife, Dellen, is less than stable, it threatens to bring back a lot of family secrets.
Especially when it seems that Ben Kerne was involved in a very similar death some decades earlier...
I have to say, Elizabeth George is back with this novel. There's plenty of details, an ingeneous use of the colour red, and the fraught relationships here are stretched so tight that they hum with tension. Which is a real plus. Right up to the final pages, the story keeps at a very tight pace, and I found myself reading well into the night, wanting to know just what happens next.
Fans of Barbara Havers may be disappointed that she doesn't appear until partway through the novel, but she is always a treat to watch in action, and she doesn't miss a beat in this one. Especially when she is working with Bea Hannaford, the two of them in a wicked variation of good cop/bad cop.
The exotic names and locals of the Cornish countryside add a very rich flavour to the story. Another plus are the use of sports such as surfing and rock climbing. It's an England that we're familiar with, but not quite.
But naturally, where Ms. George excells is in the internal worlds of her characters. This time, the one that really takes center stage is Thomas Lynley himself. Mentally fragile, adrift, the reader is treated to a very new and fresh look at a character that has appeared in previous novels as someone clever and forthright, seemingly unable to break. It works here, and works well. The relationship that he develops with Daidre is fascinating to watch, and we get to see just how human he is under the cool exterior of a posh swell.
I was really taken by surprise by this one. The story was tightly written and compelling, with the author plotting and drawing the reader into this story of families and communities tied together by secrets and old conflicts. The theme of family ties and the tenuous and rather tricky love between fathers and sons are explored. What I did like was that George is not at all shy about looking at the uglier side of human emotions and motivations, and she uses them to great effect to create this moody thriller.
Happily recommended, and a must-read for any fans of the series. Four and a half stars rounded up to five.
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68 of 76 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Unhappy families, May 9, 2008
Detective Superintendent Thomas Lynley has suffered a huge personal loss, and is walking the rugged cliffs of Cornwall to come to terms with it. "Careless in Red" is not only the story of his struggle with grief, it is the story of several families and their similar struggles, with a focus on the understandable (but vain) effort of parents to control the lives of their children.
In the course of his walk, Lynley finds the body of young Santo Kerne at the bottom of the cliff he had been climbing, and as the investigation of the death develops, the superintendent is drawn into it at the behest of local police Detective Inspector Bea Hannaford, who is having family problems of her own. DS Barbara Havers makes an appearance--and a somewhat unusual partner for DI Hannaford.
Cornwall and its surfing world are well handled in this new Lynley novel. (One minor complaint is that some terms of climbing are not explained.) While not all the characters are believable (voluptuous Dellen Kerne and her son Santo are among those who test that limit), most are fully rounded and lifelike; and several are very amusing. (I really savored DI Hannaford and company.) Some of the descriptive passages and dialogues are overwritten--meant, I think, to be poetic, but seeming instead over-literary. The resolution of the murder is not particularly satisfying, not because of the identity of the murderer, but because of the final mechanics of the solution.
I found the novel very enjoyable, and if you are a Lynley and Havers fan, I think you will too. The complications of parenthood are nicely explored, and the bittersweet consequences of love and loss, Lynley's and others, will draw you in.
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