While I enjoy reading Ms. George's books, at times I've lost patience with the seemingly endless existential angst of the main characters.Constant ruminations on the emotional aspect of St. James' disability, Helen and Lynley's boringly circuitous path to marriage, the reader's forced participation in the minutiae of Deborah's constant ruminations on her infertility.............only Barbara Haver's coping with life and loneliness in her inimitable but realistic way saves us from disliking the other characters who cope so elegantly with their problems. Has anyone else noticed that Havers is the only one who is authentically unattractive?
With that said, this armchair quarterback always enjoys the deft writing of Elizabeth George. Her books are great sit-down- and-procrastinate-everything-else reads.Even though she sometimes drags, I'm willing to read those passages in order to enjoy the rest of the book.
I did enjoy this book. I think it was much better than last year's.I don't like the serial killer idea, as someone else has pointed out. I tend to think that writers get lazy when they exploit things like crazy religious nuts or serial killers.I've always thought that one of the main characterswasa two-dimensional character and the tragedy in the book didn't affect me as much as Haver's tears at the end. Therefore, I hopewe don't have two or three more books in which a different main charactergrapples endlessly with another round of angst/anquish.I hope Ms. George moves on in an efficient but interesting way.

I really did LOVE this series- bought them in hardcover, which I never do for other books.I thought the last one was weak, but I was even more extremely disappointed with this one.Part of what made George fabulous was the insight into all her characters- the detectives, the victims, the killers.She was great at creating the little details, the shades of gray, of helping us understand how these people got to where they were.Not anymore.Now we have random killings, no understanding of the killer, no insight into our beloved friends and their situations.Is she inflicting agony on the characters (and us) because she's running out of plots?Has she forgotten how to build a good plot?I'm not sure why this series has changed, but I do know it's not worth it anymore.

I was beyond thrilled when Elizabeth George's newest hit the racks. I consumed the others in the series. Her latest is fast-paced and very interesting. But after a surprising and unwelcome plot-twist 3/4 of the way through, I really had a hard time finishing it. Overall, it was depressing. Who wants to see your heroes bleeding thru the last page?

Books in the 'Inspector Lyley' series have been a source of reading pleasure since I happened on one crafted.

Therefore, I was so looking forward to WNOAW that I pre-ordered a copy of the publishers.I wish that I had waited.The day my copy arrived, March 15 as scheduled, was the day that I read a review; of course, it would be one with 'spoilers'. It is a good mystery, which certainly took a lot of time, thought and effort.

However, the book as a whole is not cohesive.There are so many things going on in so many directions with so many plots, sub-plots, 'red herrings' that it was slow going to read. And, then the 'tragedy' -- it almost seemed that the author had so many words that had to be used and she came up with this as a solution.It has only a slight connection to some issues.

However, I think there surely had to be another, better solution if she wanted the series to go in another direction!!!

I would have rated the book as a 5, but must give it a 3, for the, to me, outrageous way of the tragedy.

Linley, Havers, and Co. are on the hunt for a vehicular killer...they need to figure out why someone killed Eugenie Davies, and the solution lies 20 yrs in the Davies family past.To make matters worse, their Chief, Webberly, is connected to the case.Somehow, the events also connect to the fact that Gideon Davies, then an 8 yr old prodigy, now a world class violinist, has lost his ability to play music.

The plot is convoluted, needing 700+ pages to reach its end.Tho there are some interesting characters, the style can be annoying---Gideon's psychiatric analysis via a journal he shares with his doctor alternates with the traditional narrative chapters. One problem seems to be that the time frame for the journal chpaters doesn't mesh neatly with the "real time" narrative chapters.In addition, I saw the major plot resolutions coming very early--which is fine if the characters and story offer some other strong interest....but I'm sorry to say that this time George fails in that department...

And for those who like to see a lot of character development with Linley, Havers, and the other recurring characters...it just isn't here this time.......Nkata gets the most action on the personal canvas, and even that is limited.There's a bit about Linley and Deborah that resolves an old issue tho....

If you've read the rest of the George Canon, then you'll like this book well enough, but it won't be a favorite......I advise new readers to try her earlier works....this one is NOT a good place to start....even if you aren't interested in the development of the recurring characters.