A Traitor to Memory

Elizabeth George has an amazing imagination, I really enjoy all of her books!

I have read all of Elizabeth George's books and I love them. "A Traitor to Memory", however, is my absolute favorite. It tells a story of an artist who has amnesia and is forced to piece together the events of his early life from shreds of memories. A beautiful addition to the Inspector Lynley series, this book is very long but each page is a feast to read. Don't pass it by!

Is a real pager turner with its many surprising twists and turns. Love this writer, love this story, and I so look forward to her next book! I read a lot of the long-winded reviews of 'A Traitor to Memory,' and I have to say a few of them were almost as long as the book with their book-bashing remarks, and I completely disagree with what they had to say; 'the story, the writing and the plot being a bad write'! Not true, Ms. George's novel, is a compelling, and intriguing mystery well worth the read! Buy the book and see for yourself!

What a wonderfully perceptive book. George?s ability to draw characters that are real is exceptional. She understands psychology so well, and this is such an important part of a well-written book. In fact this was a book I have lived in for over two weeks. It had my attention the whole time, even when I was doing other things, I would be wondering about things I?d read. At the end it all hung together in a complete way. I discovered Elizabeth George?s books last year (2000) and read all of them in subsequent months. I have been waiting ever since for her next book. Unlike Ruth Rendall, who writes in the same genre, and whose books never have any hope for something better in them, George balances hers. In Traitor to Memory, hope is held out for several characters. Justice is done in the main, although for one character who is severely penalised unjustly, it is not, but this is a reflection on her character. Keep it up Elizabeth George. For serious readers, who are not shallow and simply looking for thrills, your writing is perceptive, gripping and satisfying.

It's hard waiting for a new Elizabeth George book, so the length of her latest felt like a reward for being so patient. Her writing falls into the category of "good things I can't get enough of," and very little of it turned out to be extraneous. The story requires a gradual unfolding of the characters' histories in order to understand their perceptions and motivations. Ultimately, the most bizarre behavior makes perfect sense in the context of each character's limitations. And just when you think one of them has succeeded in transcending those limitations there's an ironic - and inevitable - twist.George's ongoing characters take a backseat here, and that seems like a wise decision. Their presence gives us a touchstone in a story of people trying to come to terms with the past. We already know them as the good guys, yet their shared history haunts the present with enough angst to fuel a melodrama. Is it any wonder then that the less stable characters in the book have trouble escaping the events that shaped them? Altogether a satisfying foray into the psychological mystery genre.

This is a non-stop page turner from one of the best mystery writers around. I especially enjoyed the way Elizabeth George uses a major character's diary to show the process of psychoanalytically oriented therapy and the psychological changes he went through as his repressions began to unravel. If you like great writing and psychological insights, I highly recommend this book. This is a series with very interesting continuing characters, so if you enjoy this one, give yourself a real treat and read the series in order.