Customer Reviews

Playing for the Ashes

5 star:		(32)
4 star:		(14)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Numerous reviews have detailed the virtues of this work. I especially agree with the praise for George's integration of multiple plot lines and her employment of a "diary" element in the voice of Olivia.

I do have some reservations about Olivia, however. Though we may be persuaded to grant her a fair amount of native intelligence, it is hard to think she would have been a devoted student. So her level of articulateness frequently seems implausible.

The "romance" of Lynley and Lady Helen ranges from cloying to tedious. Helen describes herself as "utterly useless," and proceeds to do nothing to dispel this impression. (Elsewhere in the series she is depicted more favorably.) The best Lynley can muster is the assurance that she "distracts" him from the demands of his occupation. Some compliment from an ardent lover! On the other hand, Havers is surely George's most inspired character creation and does much to leaven the proceedings.

Despite its flaws, Playing For the Ashes is absorbing and mostly quite well written.

No one plots as well as Elizabeth George and her books are worth every penny for that alone. With the execption of Barbara Havers, though, I just don't like her characters and find them more than a little unbelievable. (I can usually overlook this, however, because the basic story is so darn good.) With this book, however, Ms. George veers into the wierd and the absurd. Olivia was so very disgusting that I could barely finish the book despite the engaging plot. George did do a fabulous job of intertwining the two stories but Olivia was just too much of a freak to feel any empathy for her or for her plight. Frankly, I wished she'd just drop dead. Olivia, that is. I'm probably one of the least prudish persons in the world, but there are things I prefer not to read about in an otherwise first-rate mystery. The softening of Olivia would have done a lot to improve this book and render it a true classic. I wish Ms. George would leave the sexually explicit themes to others, but I'll keep reading--her plots are simply the best.

George has made the error of focusing our attentions upon a non-recurring character, who is neither sympathetic nor interesting. One half of the story is consumed with a subplot that is only obliquely related to the mystery. If George wants to develop central non-recurring characters, she would do better to take as an example her character Elena in "For the Sake of Elena". I hope that her subsequent books do not repeat this error.

The opening scene of Playing for the Ashes is a masterwork. The first of Elizabeth George's detective series I ever read, this book's opening riveted me to the pages from start to finish. George masterfully interlocks the plot twists and involves you immediately in the characters. You care for them. Empathise and sympathise with them. And quickly begin your own journey of trying to solve the puzzle. George is a master, however, and the answer is not so easily determined. Which makes the book all that more challenging and enjoyable. But, beware! This book was so good, I soon bought and devoured every prior and subsequent Elizabeth George mystery.

Seventh in the Inspector Lynley Mystery Series. A famous cricket player dies in a suspicious fire, and New Scotland Yard's investigation is complicated by the professional jealousy of the local constabulary. The suspects include the dead man's not-quite-ex-wife, his angry teen-age son, his lover (who has conveniently gone missing), her former lover, and at least three other people whose motives and relationships are too complex to be so neatly summarized. What these diverse characters have in common is their distastefulness-they are by far the most unpleasant group of people assembled in any of Elizabeth George's novels, and most of them have the foulest mouths, as well. In a departure from the style of the previous Inspector Lynley mysteries, George uses first-person narrative for some of the chapters, in the form of a journal kept by one of the characters. Although this device turns out to have a purpose, the narrator is an extremely unsympathetic figure who tries the reader's patience before the strands of the plot are connected. Meanwhile, Inspector Lynley clashes with his superiors and has new misunderstandings with Lady Helen Clyde, while Sergeant Barbara Havers moves into a new apartment. There are a great many details that suggest this installment could have used a little more careful editing. For example, the issues that Lynley and Helen quarrel about seem forced and artificial, and it is very hard to believe that a detective sergeant's salary doesn't allow for a new refrigerator. In sum, a disappointing downturn from the quality of the rest of the series.

With this addition George's series takes up residence in your soul as well as your heart. If you're a new reader, start with A Great Deliverance, rather than the prequel, A Suitable Vengeance. You don't have to read them in order, but it's a good idea. In this book (like the last, Deception On His Mind), it is not Lynley and his friends who provide counterpoint to the mystery. As much as we like them, this is not a bad thing, although it may account for the seemingly slow start. But the several interwoven stories require no familiar backdrop. Once you're engaged, Olivia's tale brings enough beauty, mystery and pathos to etch her story into your soul. Read the other reviews. Even better, read the book.

This book covers a tremendous amount of ground, and it is sometimes unclear how all the pieces fit together. Where else would you find cricket, ALS, and animal rights activists all in one novel? This is a novel that takes all of these disparate subjects, plus the lives of Thomas Lynley and Barbara Havers, and manages to bring them together, in a way that is ultimately fascinating. The change of narrration from the rest of the books in this excellent series is particularly interesting. Olivia is a compelling narrator, and it is easy for the reader to get carried along in her version of her mother's and Kenneth Fleming's life and then have to remind oneself that this is her imagined version, subject to interpretation, personal issues, etc.

Barbara Havers has some new and perplexing characters to deal with here, who have promise for the future. Gradually her self-imposed isolation is starting to be broken down, leaving her puzzled, chagrinned, and more human than ever before. I was less interested in the continuing vaccilations of Thomas Lynley's relationship with Lady Helen.

This, basically, normal George. Exactly what we have come to expect from a practioner of some really beautiful english language.

Her books are always incredibly involving, centring not just on the lives of the main characters, but featuring lives of all the subisidiary characters heavily. This makes the book feel more realisitc, lifelike. More true. After all, it is more like a proper murder case.

The writing is excellent. Sometimes she needs to learn the secret of brevity, though. Also, on occasion she takes the "show, don't tell" rule a bit too far. Nonetheless, her writing is often beautiful, complex, and a joy to read.

Her characters are so well developed. Its more like watching a real-life drama than it is reading a book. All their small insecurities, personality traits, personal relationships, interactions with other characters, are brought to the fore, making them jump off the page, and sometimes going a bit over the top. (Which is Elizabeth George's only crime.)

This is probably the best book, in terms of plotting, solution, structure, etc. The parrallel tracks the story runs on are done gloriously well, and they finally both converge together brilliantly. The solution is unexpted, and the culprit a surprise.

Overall, this is a very good crime novel, but it does suffer a bit from some of George's normal flaws. Her depictions of english life are apt to be a little off and over the top. SHe sometimes takes character development too far. And most of the books are a bit too long.

Nonetheless, i can live with all that. After all, this is still a really good mystery.

This is simply the best mystery novel I have ever read, and I have read thousands of them over the years, including all books by this author. The character development is beautifully done, and the story is so well told that I almost couldn't bear to finish it. Well done!

Before reading this book, I had read all the previous books in the series, and loved them. As I began reading this novel, I was at first a little put-off by the sudden change in the author's style. With this novel, Ms. George had a adopted a new method of narration...the simultaneous telling of two stories. Both stories are completely compelling. However, the character Olivia quickly became one of the most vivid and well defined characters I've ever encountered in a novel of this type. The telling of her story left me stunned. On occasion I've had to remind myself that Olivia is a character in a novel and not a real person. Her impact on me was that great. In my opinion, the challenge now facing Ms. George is attempting to surpass with future novels, the heights she's attained with this one. I'm actually reluctant to read the subsequent novels. Playing for the Ashes has left some very big shoes to fill.