32 of 32 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
I love Elizabeth George's novels; I disliked this book, March 27, 2003
I'm a great Elizabeth George fan. She is one of a small number of writers whose works I buy in hardbound.
But I'm afraid she's no short story writer.
The collection gets off to a bad start with "Exposure," which ought to be interesting to George fans because of the presence of detective Thomas Lynley. But the story is a mess. I don't understand the perpetrator's motive. The "puzzle" aspect is poorly presented--we're not really given enough of a clue to solve the puzzle ourselves. The perpetrator actually commits two crimes--and I don't believe that the methods used to commit either crime would have worked in real life.
Three of the the stories feature "O. Henry endings," none of which, in my opinion, quite come off.
The title story, "I, Richard" intertwines a sort of pseudo-mystery story concerning the truth about Richard III and the Princes in the Tower, with a modern-day murder story. Unfortunately, to someone who isn't a "Ricardian," the Richard III part is muddled and boring--and the framing murder mystery is unbelievable, except for the ending--which is all too predictable.
Similar motifs recur in several of the stories--giving a slightly stale or repetitious flavor to the collection.
Perhaps the best is "Good Fences Aren't Always Enough," which comes close to being sad and touching. But all of them, even this one, read more like extended jokes than like real stories. The characters in them are paper cutouts. The author's attitude toward her characters is remote and almost contemptuous. She never seems involved with them, nor do we. The stories succeed neither as slices of life nor as clever little clockwork gadgets.
And, incidentally, the book is a rather poor value. There are only five stories in it. It's thin, the type is large, and the lines are widely spaced. By my estimate, it contains roughly about 70,000 words (for [money amount]) or about one-fifth as many as "A Traitor to Memory" ([money amount]). Distinctly short measure, to my way of thinking.
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13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
What a disappointment!, December 3, 2002
I was so excited when I saw that another Elizabeth George book had been published I wanted to read it right away - but what a disappointment it was! I was willing to give her plenty of leeway because I'd enjoyed all her other books so much. But some of the stories were not even well written, and none of them are up to her usual fine writing, characterization and plot development. I do hope she is at this moment working on a mystery novel that will make me forget that this one ever saw the light of day.
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31 of 36 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
George back on track, October 31, 2002
For the Elizabeth George fans who have been disappointed with her increasingly long-winded and convoluted novels - take note!. This latest offering - her first ever collection of short stories (to appear in the U.S. at least) - contains five stories which average around 30 pages each. This is indeed refreshing! George includes an introductory preface to each story explaining her inspiration for writing them. The first one is a reworking of an earlier story she did and is, in my opinion, the weakest of the five. It involves a murder among a group of architecture students visiting a manor estate. Thomas Lynley makes an appearance in this one and solves the case with ease. "The Surprise of His Life" was inspired by a famous celebrity murder case (and it is obvious from George's description that it was the O.J. Simpson case) and involves a man who, prompted by a psychic, becomes increasingly paranoid that his wife is cheating on him. The third story (and my personal favorite) shows what happens when an eccentric old woman with a peculiar fondness for rats moves into a cozy New England neighborhood. "Remember I'll Always Love You" is the story of a woman who discovers that her recently deceased young husband led a mysterious life outside their marriage and the final story, "I, Richard", follows a man whose literary masterpiece, an enlightenment on the life of Richard III, results in dire consequences. All of the stories are page turners and most of them end with surprising conclusions. Many are psychological in nature and reminded me of the works of Ruth Rendell. Recommended!
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