A Traitor to Memory: An Inspector Lynley Novel: 10 - Hardcover

George, Elizabeth

3.93

11,862 ratings by Goodreads

9780340767078: A Traitor to Memory: An Inspector Lynley Novel: 10

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0340767073 ISBN 13: 9780340767078

Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton, 2001

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Virtuoso violinist Gideon Davies has lost his memory of music and his ability to play the instrument he mastered at the age of five. One fateful night at Wigmore Hall, he lifted his violin to play in a Beethoven trio . . . and everything in his mind related to music was gone. Gideon suffers from a form of amnesia, the cure for which is an examination of what he can remember. And what he can remember is little enough until his mind is triggered by the weeping of a woman and a single name: Sonia.

One rainy evening, a woman called Eugenie travels to London for a mysterious appointment. But before she is able to reach her destination, a car swoops out of nowhere and kills her in the street. In pursuing her killer, Thomas Lynley, Barbara Havers and Winston Nkata come to know a group of people inextricably connected by a long-ago crime and punishment no one has spoken of for twenty years.

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Review:

In A Traitor to Memory, Elizabeth George proves that she belongs firmly in the upper echelons of crime writers. Her 10 previous novels of psychological suspense have carefully consolidated the character of her aristocratic detective Thomas Lynley, and with this book she creates for him a narrative more tangled and (seemingly) impenetrable than ever before.

Gideon Davies is a classical violinist who has lost his ability to play. In the middle of a Beethoven trio, his mind has been wiped clear of everything related to music. But what he can remember is the weeping of a woman and a single name: Sonia. Davies is soon involved with the death of a young woman called Eugenie, who is run down by a car in the streets of London. On the track of her killer, Lynley and his associates Barbara Ramiz and Winston Nkata become aware of a connection with the violinist and a mysterious group of people somehow linked with a crime and its consequences that took place over 20 years ago.

As always, George is faithful to the demands of the classical detective narrative, and the reader is challenged by the slowly unfolding revelations just as much as her struggling protagonists. But, unlike so many of her contemporaries, George never forgets that the sense of place is quite as intrinsic to a mystery story as any whodunit elements, and the panoply of England unfolded before us here is richly and vividly realised. In earlier books, Lynley has seemed almost preternaturally gifted, but here his desperate attempts to penetrate the dark secret have much more of the quality of a struggle - and perhaps this is why A Traitor to Memory is possibly the most satisfying outing for George's detective yet. --Barry Forshaw

Review:

Absorbing . . . the pleasure of the book is the slow, surprising and often shocking unravelling of the various links between the main characters (Marcel Berlins, The Times)

'She belongs firmly in the upper echelons of crime writers. Richly and vividly realised . . . possibly the most satisfying outing for George's detective yet' Amazon.co.uk

'This can only add to her growing reputation as doyenne of English mystery novelists. . . consistently inventive . . . the most ambitious of the lot' Publishers Weekly (US)

Intricate, wide-ranging and compelling . . . explosive (Private Eye)

A long and absorbing read that will please lovers of the traditional crime novel (Scotland on Sunday)

'George still stands several runs up the ladder from her rivals.' Kirkus Reviews

Elizabeth George orchestrates the family-secrets theme like a maestro . . . worthy of a standing ovation. (Amazon.com)

'Ms George proves that the classiest crime writers are true novelists' The New York Times

keeps the reader on the knife's edge of suspense, thanks to George's skill at weaving together intriguing characters, disturbing action, police procedure, psychological insight, and mordant wit. First-rate suspense with a stunner of an ending. (Booklist)

'An emotionally satisfying and intellectually compelling read' New York Daily News

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