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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
26 of 27 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent, like all of its predecessors,
By
This review is from: Deception on His Mind (Hardcover)
I consider Elizabeth George to be the best living writer of mysteries, by a wide margin. In this book, Barbara Havers goes more or less "solo" by getting involved in a case outside of London where she is supposed to be on vacation. In addition to being a superb mystery, this book examines the racial friction generated by the influx of Pakistani immigrants into a seaside resort town in England. I can't speak for the accuracy of her analysis, but her portrayals of the cultural misunderstandings between the police and the immigrant community ring true to my ears. I don't recommend this book as your introduction to Elizabeth George's mysteries. The previous books introduce both of the main characters, Havers and her boss, Inspector Lynley. This book makes several references to the things she learned from Lynley, and to their partnership. The reader will understand those references much better if (s)he has read at least one of the previous books. However, I want to vehemently disagree with a couple of previous reviewers who downgraded this book on the grounds that Havers is a less interesting character than the absent Lynley. I think Havers is a MUCH more interesting character than the pampered and superficial Lynley. I didn't miss him at all in this book. As always, George's writing, characterizations, and plotting put her in a class of her own among mystery writers. This is not a little paperback for an afternoon; it's a real novel. If you love mysteries or if you simply love well-written, thought-provoking fiction, you should read every one of Elizabeth George's books.
14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Cultural and Religious Errors Detract from Story too Much,
By
This review is from: Deception on His Mind (Mass Market Paperback)
I generally like Elizabeth George novels, but this one needed more research, apparently. Her story has at its heart Pakistani Muslims living in the UK, yet George displays shocking ignorance of the culture she spends so many wordy pages writing about. first of all, Pakistani Muslims by and large speak Urdu, not Arabic. Secondly, the dowry in Islam is required to be given from the man to the wife, not the other way around. It is primarily a Hindu, not Muslim, practice for the dowry to go from woman to man, although many Muslim families do prepare their version of a "hope chest" for their daughters to start her out in married life. She misrepresented the roles of women, arranged marriage, and even homosexuality. And she introduced some essential but strange concept of cutting off family that is 100% contrary to Islamic teachings. I wonder if she got her ideas from some amalgamation of Indian Hindu culture and popular media representation of Asians? In any case, it is so wrong on many points that it became impossible to overlook, confusing, and detracting from the story. I think Ms. George didn't try to be insulting by any means, but her lack of proper research is alarming, and it is more alarming that it was published with such inaccuracies, even as a work of fiction.
14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
I knew we had problems...but obviously so do the British!,
By
This review is from: Deception on His Mind (Mass Market Paperback)
First off, I didn't know Elizabeth George was an American writing about the English. Previous exposure to authors writing about other nations makes me a little bit nervous. I sure hope she knows what she is talking about. From her background material it looks like she talks to the right people to get information. In this case, the information needed to be about racial problems in Britain. As Americans, we often think that we are the only ones with the big problems between the races and with civil rights...but unfortunately this is a problem throughout the world. Prejudice is obviously something that all nations have to deal with. The only thing that changes is who is being discriminated against and why.George writes very complex stories. Her characters are never simple, the plot is never straightforward. I don't think I have ever picked up one of her books and known before her ending who the actual 'culprit' was, and I am always wrong about what the true situation is. This time her female protagonist, who for a change is more like us normal people (rather than the athletic women we see in American mysteries/PIs) is dealing with the aftermath of a brutal attack and her being 'put out to pasture.' She becomes involved in a neighbor's problem because of her concern for a child, and this problem involves what appears to be a racially-motivated killing of a Pakistanian man in another town. Barbara just happens to know the investigator in charge in this case, and respects her from a previous encounter. Wishing to be of help to all concerned, she involves herself into a situation without fully disclosing her previous knowledge of her neighbor or her own concernes and biases. Like many of us in the real world, Barbara relunctantly comes to understand that her former mentor (another woman) may be a good cop, but she also has feet of clay. The investigation revolves around race, not just because it looks like a race-based crime, but because the primary investigator has racial prejudices herself and brings those prejudices to her work. This happens all too often in the real world, in all fields of work. George is an excellent writer. My only complaint is again, the language used tends to be more colorful then I would like it. I know I am deaf, but surely people do not speak like that constantly. I am being naive, I guess...but maybe we need to put ratings on books to indicate language, violence, and sex for those who prefer not to be exposed to this stuff all the time? Just a suggestion!
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